Elijah Craig 12 y/o

[funknik]

Here I am again to beat the dead horse, but this process has been akin to falling out of love with someone . . . the flavor of the bourbon I once loved is still here in the bottle, but another darker element has arisen in the flavor profile: a sharp, musty, mildew gremlin that run rampant through the finish & that I can't ignore no matter how good the initial sip tastes. I opened a new bottle last night. Oh, well . . . this is the best bottle I've had of this in a few months and that same musty taste has been present in the last few bottles I've had -- perhaps this is what EC12 is designed to taste like now -- even though it didn't used to.

[Gillman]

I'll have to try this again. Initially it had always struck me as having a eucalyptus-like aftertaste (greeny fresh wood), which seemed a house characteristic of HH at the time.

For the last 5 years or so, I find this taste has disappeared from all HH bourbon - I don't know whether the move to another distillery (in late 1999 I believe) had something to do with it or some other factor explains it.

I have never encountered mustiness in HH bourbons, in the recent period mentioned they have seemed exceptionally clean in fact, still with a light oily taste (a classic HH top-note in my view) but clean and natural-tasting.

I will have to buy some EC 12 and see how it tastes at the present time.

Gary