Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B522

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: Front label of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B522.

As I mentioned last week, I started with a personal trainer. I’ve got one workout under my belt…and I can’t move my legs. I literally fell down the stairs last night they were so wobbly. One 45-minute workout and my hips stopped working for a couple of days. Apparently, I am no longer young. And apparently, I also didn’t make my lack of fitness abundantly clear to the online trainer I’m using. I’ll have to fix that the next time we chat.

Well, I may not be young, but neither is tonight’s whiskey. This 12-year-old beast is a triannual release from Heaven Hill. It is barrel-proof at 121° proof and it is delicious. We’ve been covering these for a while now and I don’t need to tell you that they have all been great. You know it, I know it. So let’s dig in and see how this one compares to recent releases.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, B522

Purchase Info: This bottle was provided by the producer for review purposes. I have found previous editions locally for as low as $69.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine.

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.67

Details: 60.5% ABV. 12 years old. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Oak, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla.

Mouth: Hot in the mouth with notes of oak, leather, cinnamon, chocolate, and ginger.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of chocolate, mint, oak, anise, and ginger.

IMAGE: I really like this so it gets a lovely smile.

Thoughts: What can I say? This is delicious, as usual. It's hot, thick, and rich. There's a joke in there somewhere, but I'll let you make it. I'm getting a lot of oak influence this time around. If you are a fan of well-aged bourbon, pick this one up.

Comparison to A122: Both of these are quite hot. They really want a cube of ice or a splash of water. B522 showcases the oak notes that 12 years in a barrel can bring. A122 focuses more on the caramel and spice notes. Both are very good, and which you prefer will be highly subjective. I prefer B522 while my wife prefers A122. And the best part of that is that we are both right in our assessment. It’s not often two married people can both be correct.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B522

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

So I’ve had a love/hate relationship with my body almost my entire life. If by love/hate you mean just hate. Growing up I was the tall, lanky, scrawny kid who looked like a bundle of bones loosely tied together. No real visible muscle on my body. I hated how I looked and didn’t know how to go about changing things. As I got older, I had the opposite problem. From the age of 20 on, I couldn’t walk past a plate of food without putting on weight. It got so bad that at one point I was 70 pounds heavier than that scrawny high-school kid. My family liked to poke my belly and ask how things were going. Sometimes they came right out and said “putting on some weight, huh?” as a form of small talk.

Eventually, I worked hard and lost all that weight. And then put it back on. And then exercised hard and took it off, and then put it back on…you get the point. I’m currently about 50 pounds heavier than I was as a scrawny kid. So not as bad as in the past, but to the point that I feel the need to make some changes. And I found out that as I’ve gotten older, those changes are much harder to do on my own when you love smoked meat, beer, and bourbon as much as I do. So I’ve signed up with a personal trainer. I want to be the best me that I can be. Wish me luck.

And speaking of the best something can be, is there anything better than a delicious barrel-proof version of an already tasty bourbon? I haven’t seen one, and I’ve been looking (just ask that waistline of mine). Tonight we are looking at the sample of Larceny Barrel-Proof that recently showed up at the house.

Larceny Barrel Proof is a bourbon released three times per year, usually in January, May, and September. If you can find it, it is usually pretty affordable with a suggested retail price of $59.99. That if carries a lot of weight though as I’ve never seen it on a shelf before. Larceny Barrel Proof uses Heaven Hill’s wheated Bourbon mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. Every release so far has been super tasty, let’s see if that trend continues.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B522

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $59.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.00

Details: 61.9% ABV.

Nose: Cinnamon. nutmeg, brown sugar, almond, and oak.

Mouth: Hot and spicy. Notes of cinnamon, oak, and almond.

Finish: Long and hot on the finish. Notes of cinnamon red hots and oak.

IMAGE: I really like this so I gave it a smile rating.

Thoughts: This is delicious but really screams for ice or water. Super spicy and strong on the cinnamon. Water brings out mint and ginger notes.

Comparison to A122: Both of these are hot but A122 is more complex when consumed neat. B522 is all cinnamon until water is added. At that point, B522 gains almost as much complexity as A122. I’d happily purchase either of these at retail if I saw them. If forced to choose, I’d probably get B522, because I drink high-proof bourbon with a bit of ice or a splash of water and it seems to take the water better. A122 is a bit too drinkable at full strength for my liver to be happy with it.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Rossville Union 2022 Barrel Proof

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and the Ross & Squib Distillery for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Image elements courtesy Ross & Squibb Distillery.

Tonight is the NFL Draft. And while I only sort of follow NFL football, I am a college football diehard. And this is one event that cements the two together. And I love it. I used to watch the entire weekend way back when it was just Saturday and Sunday. I love it because I get to see the culmination of many of the storylines that ESPN has force-fed to us over the last few years on their college football shows. Whether it proves those stories correct or incorrect is part of what I find interesting. Team X decided to go with somebody from North Dakota State instead of an SEC or Big Ten powerhouse? Which paid shill is going to throw the biggest fit over that? The unintended drama is fun. Plus I like seeing kids have all their dreams come true.

And yes, I’m old enough that I refer to kids in their mid-20s as “kids.”

And what does that have to do with tonight’s whiskey? Well, for the longest time, MGP (now branded as Ross & Squibb) was a powerhouse in American Whiskey much like North Dakota State is a powerhouse in college football. There is no argument that they dominate their competition, but you’d have to be a pretty knowledgeable fan to know about it.

MGP supplied whiskey for the biggest rye brands in the country. Think Diageo’s Bulleit rye as an example. But they didn’t get much credit for that outside of hardcore fans. Mostly because no one wanted to tell anyone that what was in the bottle was purchased from a distillery in Indiana. These days that is changing as Ross & Squibb have their own brands that they produce. One of which is Rossville Union Rye.

Rossville Union is a rye that I find on the shelves quite often. I also see a lot of store picks of it as well. They tend to be very delicious. I pick them up quite often. There is a Barrel Proof offering that I really like but seldom see. And that’s because I recently learned that it is released annually as a limited edition product. (It’s probably good that I didn’t know that, or I’d have spent a lot more money on Rossville Union seeing as I would actually be purchasing those bottles when I saw them instead of saying “next time.”)

18,000 bottles were produced this year from a batch of 82 barrels. The final proof is 117.2° proof, it is age stated at 7 years old, and it retails for a suggested price of $69.99. Let’s see how it tastes.

Rossville Union 2022 Barrel Proof

Purchase Info: This sample bottle was sent to me by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $69.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.67

Details: 58.6% ABV. 7 years old.

Nose: Herbal mint, cinnamon candies, cedar, and oak

Mouth: Hot, spicy, and sweet. Notes of herbal mint, cinnamon, cedar, vanilla, and hints of dark chocolate.

Finish: Long and warm. Notes of cinnamon candies, cedar, and mint.

I love this so it gets a heart.

Thoughts: This is delicious. So much so that, should I see them and if the store allows, I will be a jerk and buy two. Rossville Union 2022 Barrel Proof is just a deliciously-spicy rye that has enough age to notice but not so much that it takes over. I freakin’ love this one.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Yellowstone Family Recipe

I’d like to thank ByrnePR and Limestone Branch Distillery for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: A sample bottle of Yellowstone Family Recipe from Limestone Branch Distillery.

I am a huge supporter of the National Parks. About half of my annual charitable giving goes to organizations that support the National Parks and the Park Service. And Yellowstone is one of my favorites. I have a goal to visit every National Park and in light of that, I don’t do a lot of return trips. Yellowstone is one that I’ve returned to multiple times.

So, when I found out that the good people at Limestone Branch were honoring the 150th Anniversary of Yellowstone National Park with a new addition to their Yellowstone Bourbon lineup. I knew I needed to showcase it. And it was an easy decision as I’ve liked almost everything that has come out under the Yellowstone name since the brand moved production to Limestone Branch and their Master Distiller Stephen Beam.

So what makes this one so special? Here is what the distillery has to say about that:

Inspired by a recipe found in notes from Beam’s grandfather, Guy Beam, and containing cloned yeast using DNA from a yeast jug belonging to Beam’s great-grandfather, Minor Case Beam, Yellowstone Family Recipe reflects the original Yellowstone Bourbon mash bill and carries its original namesake’s six-year age statement. It is this recipe that Stephen Beam has been distilling at Limestone Branch Distillery since 2015 and is now ready to share with the world.

This will retail for about $70 and will roll out in three allocations throughout 2022. The first will be in Wyoming and Montana to celebrate their namesake Park’s momentous anniversary. Shortly after it will also release in Kentucky, both at the distillery and at retail. The second release will be nationwide in August 2022. The final will be sometime in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Going back to the press release for a quote from Stephen Beam:

“Even before opening the doors at Limestone Branch Distillery, I dreamed about producing a bourbon that was faithful to old family recipes and maintained my family’s heritage and tradition of distilling,” said Beam. “Yellowstone Family Recipe Bourbon is the culmination of decades of dreaming and more than 10 years of effort at the distillery. I believe bourbon lovers will enjoy drinking Yellowstone Family Recipe as much as I enjoyed recreating it!” 

So let’s see how it tastes.

Yellowstone Family Recipe

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is: $69.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.67

Details: 50% ABV. 6 years old.

Nose: Clean Hay, tobacco, caramel, and apricot jelly.

Mouth: Apricot jelly, green apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, oak, tobacco, and mint.

Finish: Medium to long and warm. Notes of apricot jelly, tobacco, cinnamon, and menthol.

A smile because I like this one.

Thoughts: I like this, but it is certainly a "change-of-pace" bourbon for me. As it doesn't follow the stereotypical bourbon flavor profile (the apricot and tobacco combination is right up front and runs throughout), I wouldn't want it everyday. But I would happily grab this when I'm tired of the same ol' thing.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.