Elijah Craig Barrel Proof

[Bob_Loblaw]

13 hours ago, Kepler said:

 

I'm obviously out of it, because although I have a lot of the older bottle styles I don't think I've ever heard the term "pirate" style bottle.  What's up with that?

Well damn. If asked elsewhere I would have said probably on here!

 

I must have heard it somewhere and kind of thought I could kind of see.  Thick glass, a bit squat, looks good for rum.  

[Kepler]

1 hour ago, Bob_Loblaw said:

Well damn. If asked elsewhere I would have said probably on here!

 

I must have heard it somewhere and kind of thought I could kind of see.  Thick glass, a bit squat, looks good for rum.  

Now that you mention it they do kind of look like a rum bottle. I can see that.

[Bob_Loblaw]

On 5/8/2021 at 6:31 AM, GeeTen said:

 

Never heard that either - maybe Ben's sportin' an eyepatch?  Arrrgh, matey!   

 

No no, I WANT to sport the eyepatch, but cannot because I do not have any "pirate bottles"!

[flahute]

Opened an A121 this weekend and as expected it's great. Going to go snag a few more.

[B.B. Babington]

2 hours ago, flahute said:

Opened an A121 this weekend and as expected it's great. Going to go snag a few more.

lucky to be able to just go out and grab one.  Here, it only shows up about every 2 months and even then I have to carry a machete and look mean.

[Kepler]

3 hours ago, B.B. Babington said:

and even then I have to carry a machete and look mean.

 

New approach, I'll have to try that! 

[flahute]

8 hours ago, B.B. Babington said:

lucky to be able to just go out and grab one.  Here, it only shows up about every 2 months and even then I have to carry a machete and look mean.

Ha! Yes, it is nice. Not sure why but we've always had a decent supply here in Washington State. It offsets the nation leading liquor taxes we have to pay.

[GeeTen]

7 hours ago, flahute said:

Ha! Yes, it is nice. Not sure why but we've always had a decent supply here in Washington State. It offsets the nation leading liquor taxes we have to pay.

 

Shop in the outskirts of Portland.  I learned that lesson the HARD WAY when we stayed in a Residence Inn in Vancouver many moons ago.  Next time I have to go to Federal Way, I'm flying into PDX and driving north with "de-briefing" materials for my fellow officials.  

[GeeTen]

Batch B521 has hit the northland - still $59.99 OTD!   "Live Free or Die!"    

 

 

 

Sorry for the crappy pic, but I had to pee!   

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by GeeTen

[fishnbowljoe]

1 hour ago, GeeTen said:

Batch B521 has hit the northland - still $59.99 OTD!   "Live Free or Die!"    

 

 

 

Sorry for the crappy pic, but I had to pee!   

 

That excited Frank?

 

Biba! Joe

[GeeTen]

9 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

That excited Frank?

 

Biba! Joe

 

Nah, just getting old(er) and seem to "need" more often these days.    

 

[fishnbowljoe]

39 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

 

Nah, just getting old(er) and seem to "need" more often these days.    

 

Message received and understood. All too well mind you.

 

Biba! Joe

 

[LGC]

On 5/20/2021 at 6:59 PM, GeeTen said:

Batch B521 has hit the northland - still $59.99 OTD!   "Live Free or Die!"    

 

 

 

Sorry for the crappy pic, but I had to pee!   

 

How is it ?  

The one YouTube review that I found said burnt toast

[smokinjoe]

On 5/27/2021 at 8:47 AM, LGC said:

How is it ?  

The one YouTube review that I found said burnt toast

Pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, or,  Wonderbread, did this...whiskey savant with a video camera say?  

[LGC]

6 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

Pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, or,  Wonderbread, did this...whiskey savant with a video camera say?  

Fred Minnick: YouTube

[smokinjoe]

3 hours ago, LGC said:

Fred Minnick: YouTube

I should have known.  

[fosmith]

Interesting that this thread has been inactive for more than seven months.  I guess that shows how much the excitement for ECBP has died down. 

 

My comment is that 2021 was a very disappointing year for the brand, which, since 2017, has been one of my all time favorites.  The A121 batch was decent but not outstanding.  I bought just one bottle with no regrets when it was gone.  Same with the B521 batch.  It was a very good bourbon but no where close to the outstanding releases from 2020.  No regrets when it was gone either. 

 

This brings me to C921.  I had my fourth or fifth pour last night and I couldn't even finish it.  The nose is great with caramel, brown sugar and that classic graham cracker note.  The palate entry is promising with sweet spice but the finish turns exceedingly bitter and astringent.  I don't know what went wrong with this one.  Maybe a bad bottle?  It's not an off palate night nor a neck pour; the bottle is over 1/3 down from the neck.  And it seems worse every time I revisit it.  Maybe it will turn around with more air time?  Who knows?  If it does, I'll report back. 

 

I'd be interested to hear others' experiences with this batch.  

 

Cheers! 

[IamMatt]

Could it also be that there are so many new competing offerings in the "barrel proof" proof range? 

I have a bottle of C921 but haven't opened it yet.

[flahute]

1 hour ago, fosmith said:

Interesting that this thread has been inactive for more than seven months.  I guess that shows how much the excitement for ECBP has died down. 

 

My comment is that 2021 was a very disappointing year for the brand, which, since 2017, has been one of my all time favorites.  The A121 batch was decent but not outstanding.  I bought just one bottle with no regrets when it was gone.  Same with the B521 batch.  It was a very good bourbon but no where close to the outstanding releases from 2020.  No regrets when it was gone either. 

 

This brings me to C921.  I had my fourth or fifth pour last night and I couldn't even finish it.  The nose is great with caramel, brown sugar and that classic graham cracker note.  The palate entry is promising with sweet spice but the finish turns exceedingly bitter and astringent.  I don't know what went wrong with this one.  Maybe a bad bottle?  It's not an off palate night nor a neck pour; the bottle is over 1/3 down from the neck.  And it seems worse every time I revisit it.  Maybe it will turn around with more air time?  Who knows?  If it does, I'll report back. 

 

I'd be interested to hear others' experiences with this batch.  

 

Cheers! 

I read the Fred Minnick top 100 list yesterday and was surprised to see B521 at #94 and C921 at #78. Lots of craft and NDP ranked better than these. A121 didn't make the list.

Like you I enjoyed A121 enough but wasn't blown away by it. B521 was very meh until the last third of the bottle where it really shined. I haven't seen C921 yet.

[Clueby]

50 minutes ago, flahute said:

I read the Fred Minnick top 100 list yesterday and was surprised to see B521 at #94 and C921 at #78. Lots of craft and NDP ranked better than these. A121 didn't make the list.

Like you I enjoyed A121 enough but wasn't blown away by it. B521 was very meh until the last third of the bottle where it really shined. I haven't seen C921 yet.

When WLW is #21, I'm not sure how much stock I can put in that list.

[flahute]

1 hour ago, Clueby said:

When WLW is #21, I'm not sure how much stock I can put in that list.

He tastes all these blind and I've heard that this year's WLW isn't as good as usual so who knows?

[Phil T]

How the heck do you rate 1-100?? A top 10 rating I can believe, but a top 100?

I call B.S.

 

Prost!!  Phil 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Phil T

[flahute]

20 minutes ago, Phil T said:

How the heck do you rate 1-100?? A top 10 rating I can believe, but a top 100?

I call B.S.

 

Prost!!  Phil 

You do it over the course of many days and since it's blind you give ratings and then simply rank them when done.

[tanstaafl2]

On 1/7/2022 at 6:11 PM, Phil T said:

How the heck do you rate 1-100?? A top 10 rating I can believe, but a top 100?

I call B.S.

 

Prost!!  Phil 

 

On 1/7/2022 at 6:32 PM, flahute said:

You do it over the course of many days and since it's blind you give ratings and then simply rank them when done.

 

A list of 100 gives one a lot more brands that can reference you and perhaps use you when they want advertise on a blog site. Not that I am a curmudgeon or anything! Umm, excuse me a minute.

 

 

HEY! YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

 

 

Now, what was I saying?

[fosmith]

On 1/7/2022 at 11:27 AM, fosmith said:

Interesting that this thread has been inactive for more than seven months.  I guess that shows how much the excitement for ECBP has died down. 

 

My comment is that 2021 was a very disappointing year for the brand, which, since 2017, has been one of my all time favorites.  The A121 batch was decent but not outstanding.  I bought just one bottle with no regrets when it was gone.  Same with the B521 batch.  It was a very good bourbon but no where close to the outstanding releases from 2020.  No regrets when it was gone either. 

 

This brings me to C921.  I had my fourth or fifth pour last night and I couldn't even finish it.  The nose is great with caramel, brown sugar and that classic graham cracker note.  The palate entry is promising with sweet spice but the finish turns exceedingly bitter and astringent.  I don't know what went wrong with this one.  Maybe a bad bottle?  It's not an off palate night nor a neck pour; the bottle is over 1/3 down from the neck.  And it seems worse every time I revisit it.  Maybe it will turn around with more air time?  Who knows?  If it does, I'll report back. 

 

I'd be interested to hear others' experiences with this batch.  

 

Cheers! 

Well, I thought I should report back as I have finished my bottle of C921.  I have to say, that the last half of the bottle was pretty good.  The bitterness and astringency finally mellowed into an attractive, spicy finish.  The bottle was still quite off profile from what I'm used to with ECBP which I also found to be the case with B521 although that batch was never astringent or bitter. 

 

So, I guess the lesson is don't give up on a bottle that may just need some "air time".  Although I kind of object to paying $70 for something that I only like drinking half of...