Elijah Craig Toasted Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

VITALS:
- $50

- 94 Proof

- NAS

- Kentucky

I feel like I'm usually up on new releases, particularly mainstay products from the big producers. Yet, this one caught me by surprise. In fact, when I was in the store and saw it on the shelf, I initially walked right past it thinking it was the toasted bourbon. I did a double take, as something was a bit different about the label, and I saw it was a toasted rye.

While I'm not big on toasted bourbon, I've has some positive past experiences with toasted ryes, so I didn't even bother with researching it.  I had no clue if this was a special or limited release or something that was going to be around consistently. I just put it in my basket without a second thought, and cracked the bottle as soon as I got home, just to satisfy my curiosity.

The nose provided a great mix of sweet and spice. I got a bit of a sweet malty note, as well as a distinct cinnamon note. But it didn't come across as spicy, but rather sweet cinnamon, kind of like the inside of one of those Fireball hard candies I remember from grade school.  There was also a bit of sweet spearmint to it as well.

The flavor brought that same balance of sweet and spice as well, and perhaps leaned a bit more to the sweeter side.  There was an undertone of shortbread cookie that I absolutely loved. Layered on top of that was a sweet honey note as well as a woody, earthy pine note. Yet it never came across as bitter.

There were malty notes, but sweet. It reminded me a bit of Honey Nut Cheerios. But along with that was a vanilla note, adding a sort of frosting quality. There was also a bright minty note, but, again, always leaned sweet.  It was that sweet mint and vanilla that really seemed to stand out on the finish, and I think that's what I liked most about this bottle.

I mention "sweet" a lot, but it was never overly sweet. It was just on the sweeter end of the rye spectrum. But it was delicious, and I was very impressed by what is otherwise now a mainstay on the shelf. I was surprised as the grade that I couldn't help but give this, but I liked it too much to give it anything lower.

Grade: A-