Elijah Craig 12yo

1. Elijah Craig 12yo 47%

Elijah Craig is a  low rye bourbon offer from Heaven Hill, which is aged a little longer than their various Evan Williams offerings, which is probably made from the same mashbill recipe.

Evan Williams 12yo

Two days ago I reviewed some Evan Williams here :

http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.dk/2012/08/evan-williams-dusties.html

Back to the Elijah Craig. The thing I note from this bourbon is minty nose and flavours. Where as the Evan Williams current versions come as bourbons with a vanilla dominance to me. 

This has got a higher ABV, but the alcoholburn is nonexistant to me, so very drinkable. The few extra years in the cask has smoothened this one out a bit relative to the Evan Williams Single Barrel (EWSB) offering I tasted two days ago. 

There is offcourse more to this than just mint. There's a delicate background of wood, with a slight rye spicyness backing this up. Adding to this some hidden fruityness of bitter oranges and "raw" peaches. The finish is long and balanced with the mint edging in again

This is a very good companion to the EWSB, with plenty of differences as described. Where I live the 12yo is slightly cheaper than the EWSB and both are quite affordable at the danish whisky price level

Rating 87

Both Evan Williams and Elijah Craig are named after historical (near mythical) Kentucky bourbon distillers. 

Elijah Craig is(was) also available as an 18yo. This has just been replaced by a 20yo and doubled in price, showing that bourbons probably are going down the same sad premiumisation path as scotch did.