The company is headquartered in Bardstown, Kentucky, and its distillery (called the Heaven Hill Bernheim distillery) is in Louisville, Kentucky.
Elijah Craig opened a distillery in 1789, and in June of that year, one of his barns partially burned down.
This particular offering is sourced from a 'short barrel' and limited to just 70 bottles, featuring an uncut, unfiltered 8-year old single barrel bourbon that has been privately selected from Heaven Hill's flagship brand.
Uncut, straight from the barrel without chill filtering, the nose, taste, and finish created by 12 years of aging are preserved in their simplest form. At full barrel proof, you can enjoy Elijah Craig much the same way our Master Distillers do when they sample straight from the barrel in our Kentucky rickhouses.
Elijah Craig (ca. 1745–18 May 1808), Baptist minister and distiller, was born in Orange County and was the son of Tolever Craig and Mary Hawkins Craig. He received a rudimentary education and lived an unremarkable life until 1764, when the preaching of David Thomas led him to a religious conversion.
Reverend Elijah Craig was a Baptist preacher, an educator, and an entrepreneur who built the first paper and wool mills in Georgetown, Kentucky. But for all his industries, it was his gift as a distiller and an innovator that brought him his greatest acclaim.
The bourbon has a nice roundness to its mouthfeel that makes it a joy to sip, but it's more of a blunt oaky and sweet vanilla flavor hit, than a complex array of flavors. That said, it's an enjoyable sip. Cinnamon and oak aftertaste that does a good job lingering long after the sip.