Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

Elijah Craig 18-Year-Old Single Barrel »

Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

95%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend

Charred to start. Toasted to Finish. This unique expression takes fully
aged, award-winning Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon and finishes it
in a custom-toasted barrel for even more sweet oak complexity.

Proof: 94 Proof

How to enjoy

Brand Awards & Accolades

Tasting Notes

Color: Roasted pecans
Aroma: Lots of toasted oak with rich caramel
Taste: Big, rich, and complex. Delightful spice and pepper notes fade to milk chocolate with just a hint of smoke
Finish: Complexity continues. Nicely warming, with lingering chocolate and baking spices

Tasting Notes

Color: Roasted pecans
Aroma: Lots of toasted oak with rich caramel
Taste: Big, rich, and complex. Delightful spice and pepper notes fade to milk chocolate with just a hint of smoke
Finish: Complexity continues. Nicely warming, with lingering chocolate and baking spices

The Bourbon
Connoisseur's Guide
to Elijah Craig
Toasted Barrel

For Heaven Hill Distillery, Bourbon in the 21st century is all about preserving time-honored
methods while pushing the industry towards new levels of creativity and innovation. Barrel
finishing is just one of the techniques that allows us to help nurture the future of Bourbon and
develop new, nuanced flavor profiles.

In finishing, we place fully-matured American Whiskey in a specialty "finishing" barrel,
either one that has been used to hold flavorful goods (other spirits, coffee, etc)... or a new
kind of barrel, something altogether different and exciting.

Fully matured Elijah
Craig
Small Batch
Bourbon

Finished in toasted
new oak barrels

Left to develop more
complex, sweet oak flavors

Bottled at
94 proof

For Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel, we worked with our cooperage partners to craft entirely
new barrels that were custom toasted and then flash charred to our exact specifications.
These finishing barrels fall squarely under the legal definition of "charred new oak
containers," and maintain all the requirements to be a Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

This Bourbon showcases our ability to innovate. We
are one of the world's largest whiskey producers, but
we are always looking at how to be nimble and take
our products to the next level.

Conor O'Driscoll, Master Distiller

Charring and Toasting,
Compared

Toasted oak, just before it
is flash charred.

As any American Whiskey fan knows, without a charred oak barrel, there is no Bourbon. But the high-heat charring process does much more than simply creating a blackened surface on a barrel's interior. In fact, the "char layer" has little to no impact on the final flavor, but serves an entirely practical function: filtration. This top layer of black, broken down wood fibers is essentially charcoal, and affects the spirit in the same way as the charcoal water filter in your refrigerator or those used to process other spirits like vodka: it removes off flavors and odors.

Level 3 Charred The intense heat of charring creates a blackened surface with fissures in the wood. Elijah Craig Bourbon ages in these traditional barrels until it meets peak maturity.

Toasted & Flash Charred The lower temperature darkens the oak but leaves the surface intact. The aged Bourbon is finished in these barrels, adding depth and complexity.

Instead, the beloved barrel-aged flavors of Bourbon come from the "red layer" that lives just
beneath under the char layer. Here, the intense flame from the charring process caramelizes
the hemicellulose and breaks down the lignin in the oak, forming the necessary flavor and
aromatic compounds that give Bourbon its signature taste and color. Typically, Heaven Hill's
barrels are a level 3 char, blasted with heat for about 45 seconds.

Our custom toasting process affects that same red layer, albeit in a different way. By using a
lower intensity heat over a longer period of time, toasting creates a thicker red layer, with a
unique concentration of flavors that the Bourbon can then absorb. Imagine cooking food over a
screaming hot grill vs. the low and slow approach in barbecue. Both delicious, just different.

Crafting the
Perfect Barrel

Most importantly, the toasting process gives the cooperage complete control over the flavors that
can be developed within the barrel. For Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel, we worked with the
Independent Stave Company over a period of several months to find the right toasting profile to
complement the signature spice flavors of Elijah Craig Bourbon.

We started with barrels constructed exclusively of premium white oak, air-dried for 18 months.
As we began the research and development process, our early experiments taught us that if we
heated the oak too quickly, the barrel lent strong, smoky flavors that, while interesting, ultimately
overpowered the complex fruit and spice notes that make Elijah Craig so special.

The Right Balance
of Flavors

As we continued, we discoverded that starting the barrel over a medium-low flame, but then employing a smooth and steady increase in both time and temperature, we were able to produce the right balance of dark sugar flavors that resonated with the warmth of Elijah Craig.

With this new information in hand, we continued to work with Independent Stave Company's engineers to develop our own a signature toasting profile, exclusive to Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel.

A medium-low heat to start with a slow and
steady increase in temperature created the
perfect flavor balance to complement
Elijah Craig Small Batch.

It's crucial to understand where you can and cannot take barrel
finishing. Adding the wrong flavor, or too much of the right flavor,
will make the whiskey one-sided or “over oaked." Through several
synergy trials, we identified the right toasted oak compounds that
paired well with Elijah Craig. We then designed a brand new,
custom toast profile that would deliver those flavors in the
correct concentrations to complement its signature flavor.

Andrew Wiehebrink, Independent
Stave Company

In the Glass

Once poured in the glass, the sweet oak complexity rings forth. The sipping experience is
excited by chocolate notes, spice, pepper, and just a hint of smoke.
The finish is exceedingly smooth and conveys the nuance of the toasted oak.

Every time I give it a taste, I just think ‘Wow...there’s a lot going
on in that glass.’ This is a seriously rich & complex whiskey.

- Conor O'Driscoll, Master Distiller

See the Entire Process

Play the video to see the making of Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

Reviews Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

Write A Review

Review Snapshot

4.7

19 ReviewsWrite a Review

Ratings Distribution

Most Liked Positive Review

Tidal Wave

Versus

Most Liked Negative Review

Never in my life

I am a huge EC fan. I have every barrel proof since 2018 and they are by far my favorite bourbon. Caramel, oily, butterscotch, cherry, maple, all my favorite notes. However, the toasted barrel could not be more opposite. It tastes like tannin, bitter and soapy. Might be my least favorite bourbon of...

Reviewed by 19 customers

Yes

Submitted 4 months ago

By Jay

From Maryland

Reviewed at

elijahcraig.com/

Submitted 2 years ago

By Faldi

From NYC

Well, I'm under huge impression how good that golden liquor is!!! I found it in my local store, nicely loaded shelf with it and after many good reviews I decided to drab one. Seal was broken same day and WOW! Is super delicious, so different but good way. So I returned and purchased additional 2 bottles for back up. Great job EC, just fallow this direction!

Would buy again!

Submitted 2 years ago

By JoAnn

From Saint Charles IL

Reviewed at

elijahcraig.com/

Perfect!

Tidal Wave

Submitted 2 years ago

By Paul

From Chesapeake, VA

Reviewed at

elijahcraig.com/

As a recent bourbon fan I have been starting my bourbon journey on recommendations from friends, not a bad way to start. Recently I was in Ohio and looking for a new bourbon to call my own. I saw this bottle behind the counter and decided to give it a try. I was all in after the first sip. The flavors hit you like a tidal wave and it only gets better from there. After reading how hard it is to find I am now stuck with enjoying it and wishing the bottle to stay full.

« ELIJAH CRAIG RYE WHISKEY Elijah Craig 18-Year-Old Single Barrel »

Show us some ID and we’ll show you some great whiskey.

Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

Brand Awards & Accolades

Tasting Notes

Tasting Notes

The Bourbon Connoisseur's Guide to Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

This Bourbon showcases our ability to innovate. We are one of the world's largest whiskey producers, but we are always looking at how to be nimble and take our products to the next level.

Charring and Toasting, Compared

Crafting the Perfect Barrel

The Right Balance of Flavors

In the Glass

Every time I give it a taste, I just think ‘Wow...there’s a lot going on in that glass.’ This is a seriously rich & complex whiskey.

See the Entire Process

Reviews Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

4.7

Ratings Distribution

Most Liked Positive Review

Tidal Wave

Most Liked Negative Review

Never in my life

Want to learn more about Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel?

The Bourbon
Connoisseur's Guide
to Elijah Craig
Toasted Barrel

This Bourbon showcases our ability to innovate. We
are one of the world's largest whiskey producers, but
we are always looking at how to be nimble and take
our products to the next level.

Charring and Toasting,
Compared

Crafting the
Perfect Barrel

The Right Balance
of Flavors

Every time I give it a taste, I just think ‘Wow...there’s a lot going
on in that glass.’ This is a seriously rich & complex whiskey.