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! :cool:

[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.

[QUOTE][/QUOTE]

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/2011/01/19/review-elijah-craig-18-single-barrel-binny%e2%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!

[T Comp]

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

excellent point!

Alls I'm sayin is not the 5/15/92 Binny's bottling. Seriously good to go from the start. Hell it'll never make it a month :cool: .

[Lost Pollito]

FYI...ya'll are welcome to come try the samples at the S. Loop. Just give me a heads up.

[Taggerung]

I have a 3.21.90 and it's phenomenal...but almost gone. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for the date on its replacement.

[bgageus]

My wife and I put tasting notes together every once and a while to create a library of what we like and dont. this is my personal log of our experience with a 9-15-90 bottle. I has not been revisited since this tasing if that tells you anything. After reading this maybe I will try again tonight.

Color: Russet to Auburn

Nose: My initial nosing was slightly prickly and medicinal, but contained the strong flavor of sweet roasted corn. Katie a lot more than me on this and picked up a woody vanilla scent and also a little apricot. With some water she was able to get the scent of grains and cereal.

Taste: Neat this bourbon had a bitter licorice and anise flavor. There was a medicinal taste that came through the anise. When water is added a new flavor appears which is almost caramel, and at the on the finish I realized that the bitter sour flavor is very similar to of lemon peel. Katie was able to identify an almond flavor, which I think may have been the caramel-like flavor that I tasted. She added water to her tasting and the medicinal flavor opened up.

Feel: Sharp and Dry.

Finish: Short

Overall: This bourbon tastes much better than the tasting notes reflect. This is not a sweet drink, but really works better on the rocks than neat. It is a simple and straightforward drink that is consistent from start to finish and does not try to trick you into tasting flavors that are not really there. Some have said that they have tasted a metallic flavor in this, and I was definitely able to taste that, on the finish, almost like drinking a canned beer, I don’t think this was vatted, but maybe so.

[B.B. Babington]

perhaps I'm easy to please, but I've never had one that didn't please. sure, they've ranged from merely great to super fantastic, but never found one yet that wasn't worth the bargain price these go for. How does one call it a let down when the next bottle isn't as wonderful as the last bottle? ...it's still very good.

[Young Blacksmith]

Have a bottle barreled 3/28/91, barrel 3423, tasted it after a few days of being open. With the whole line of HH in front of me, this was my pick of the night. Sweet, thick, flavorful, and just amazingly complex in a great way. I bunkered the last one on the shelf earlier this week.

The only other taste I've had of EC18 was at the distillery, and it was too woody for my tastes.