On today’s episode of “I Used To Only Like Bourbon,” it’s time to delve into another rye whiskey that I unexpectedly found very enjoyable. Heaven Hill launched Elijah Craig Straight Rye whiskey in January 2020, a decision that I still don’t quite understand…after all, the legend of Elijah Craig is that he was “The Father of Bourbon,” with a wild story about how he allegedly accidentally invented charred barrel aging. If it were my decision to make, I think I would have called this rye by some other name…but I guess the marketability of the Elijah Craig name won out. The Barrel Proof version of the whiskey appeared in September of 2025 and promptly went on to win Whiskey Advocate #1 whiskey of the year.
The mash bill for Elijah Craig Rye is 51% rye, 35% corn, and 14% malted barley, making it one of the “barely legal” rye whiskies that I tend to prefer. This same mash bill is used in other Heaven Hill products, specifically Rittenhouse Rye and Pikesville Rye. This is a trick they use with their bourbons, too, where Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Fighting Cock, Henry McKenna, and several others all come from the same juice, differentiated by age and barrel selection. This Barrel Proof rye is the A126 release (first release the year, released January 2026). It is 11 years and 11 months old and bottled at 120.4 proof (60.2% ABV).
The Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye is a beautiful medium-dark amber color in the glass. I’m guessing it’s non-chill filtered because when I swirled it around in the glass, it proved very viscous, sticking to the sides and only grudgingly allowing legs to form and slowly, slowly drip down the inside. On the nose, I got caramel and oak right up front, then detected a nice twinge of mint, something that a lot of rye fans talk about but I rarely actually smell. It definitely had an herbal aroma that you would expect from a rye, but backed up with the caramel of a bourbon, which was nice.
Taking a sip, that caramel was a sweet blast on the tip of my tongue, following by the one-two punches of rye pepper spice and sizzle from the high proof. The next sip, the proof wasn’t quite as punchy, so I could delight longer in the sweetness up front. It was almost a cherry cola note. That rye spice come coming in right behind the sweeter notes, and it was so good. Herbal and earthy flavors came through toward the end and left a finish that mixed all the elements flawlessly. I’m beginning to understand why the previous release won whiskey of the year. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Rye is a whiskey that I intend to buy pretty much anytime I see it in the future.
