Elijah Craig 18-year old

[AaronWF]

From what I've gathered, this product is very erratic with sour-tasting duds a persistent possibility. I took a chance a few months ago on a Binny's bottle barreled 5/15/92, and while it took me some time to warm up to the profile, by the time the bottle was empty, I had developed a real affinity and taste for the stuff.

I have seen a myriad of barrels in various Binny's and snatched up all the 5/15/92 bottles I've seen (not all for me). I ordered a TPS bottling, and it happens to have the same barreling date. I have yet to open it to compare. What I see now on the shelves are Binny's barrel dates ranging from Jan to April of 1990, as well as standard bottles with similar dates on them. It would seem that the bottles barreled in 1990 would be 20+ years old, but I haven't tasted them to see how they measure up to the 5/15/92 that I know is great.

I was browsing a shelf yesterday, looking at barrel dates, and when I got to the check-out, a manager struck up a conversation with me regarding my date browsing. He remarked that somebody at the distillery had told him to look for barrels with dates in the warmer months - that when the whiskey is barreled in warm weather, there is more evaporation and the flavors are more bright and concentrated than whiskey barreled only months earlier in colder weather.

Can this be true? I was more concentrated on the year for vintage identification, but I wanted to run this idea by you folks to see what kind of insights you might have. Can barreled-month really make a big difference in a whiskey that spends 18 years in barrel? The bottle I found yesterday has a Binny's barrel date of Feb '92, and despite my skepticism, when I first tasted the bottle last night, it came off as slightly duller in comparison to my previous bottle.

The store employee also mentioned this was a factor for the 12-year old. I have yet to taste the EC12, having been scared away by my impression of its extremely erratic profile. Of course, the EC12 is not single barrel, but I'd be interested in learning a way to pick up a good bottle beyond random guesswork.

[hectic1]

Feel free to bring a bottle of that 5/15 barrel date by...I'll taste to confirm that it's good juice!

[T Comp]

I bought a 5/15/92 Binny's hand picked two weeks ago and it's half gone and with 40 others open that's saying how much I like it. The sooty taste that plagues prior EC 18's is non existent. I do wonder/worry that Binny's latest release, which was barrelled on 4/2/90, is going backwards from the superb '92's and if the soot will return.

I don't know anything about the warmer weather barreling theory and am quite sceptical of it. Oscar, whose palate I respect, reports a 1/30/92 EC 18 is also tremendous.

[LikeItWasSodaPop]

Aaron is a nice guy and snatched a few of the wonderful Binny's 5/15's for me. I think he was only halfway smitten with this particular Binny's bottling at the time and might not have been so kind if he could go back in time ...

These EC 18s are freakin' erratic. As is the EC 12. So what would make me very happy is an attempt to catalog -- albeit erratically and even with contradictions -- the good vs. bad EC 18 bottles, just as was done on SB with the EC 12 bottles.

So, c'mon, people ... post your barrel dates and experiences w/ EC 18. Unlike with the EC 12 bottles, where we were going on some rather random bottle numbers, here at least we have barrel dates to go on, which should be a better guide.

I'm also curious about private bottlings of this label. The Party Source is sold out for now. Binny's new bottles are 1990, not 1992. Are there any other stores that have a private barrel of EC 18?

[OscarV]

So, c'mon, people ... post your barrel dates and experiences w/ EC 18.

The EC 18's that were barreled from Jan 1992 are good.
Before that, espicially the early '80's are a dice roll.

[Josh]

Too lazy to cut & paste today so here are my thoughts on a Binny's selection barreled 4/2/1991:

http://sipology.wordpress.com/2011/0...80%99s-select/

I have a Kahn's selection in the bunker, I may have to open that one up now...

[AaronWF]

The EC 18's that were barreled from Jan 1992 are good.
Before that, espicially the early '80's are a dice roll.

Did you mean early 90's? Most bottles on the shelf right now were barreled in 1990, early 80's bottles I would imagine are long gone.

I just opened a Binny's bottle barreled 2/20/92. It's pretty good, no off notes to be sure. Perhaps it just needs some time to open up, but so far it lacks the assertive character of the 5/15/92.

[TBoner]

Most stuff available now was barreled in 1990 or so, but there are dusties of this one around most everywhere I travel, presumably due to a combination of price point and the fact that most consumers of bourbon aren't used to such extreme age on an American straight. I bought a bottle that was barreled in 1982 about a year ago. I could buy a dozen more this week from that time period if I wanted to, but I've had the same hit-or-miss luck as others. The one I have open now is very good, so I'll enjoy it and wait for some 1992 issues to hit town.

[White Dog]

Did you mean early 90's? Most bottles on the shelf right now were barreled in 1990, early 80's bottles I would imagine are long gone.

I just opened a Binny's bottle barreled 2/20/92. It's pretty good, no off notes to be sure. Perhaps it just needs some time to open up, but so far it lacks the assertive character of the 5/15/92.

FWIW, every EC18 I've had needed at least a month to open up.

[Josh]

FWIW, every EC18 I've had needed at least a month to open up.

excellent point!