Meeting #6: July '24 - Elijah Craig, Clyde Mays, Larceny Barrel Proof

Expensive doesn't always equal great. Conversely, there are some spectacular bourbons out there for a steal! Obviously, there are a lot of factors that go into price - availability, hype, age, barreling technique, and so much more. For this meeting we chose 3 bourbons at 3 different price points ($40, $55, $70). At the end of the blind tasting and scoring, members choose what bourbon they felt was the most expensive before the grand reveal!

And here's the lineup, in the order of tasting, from our July 2024 meeting...

#1) Elijah Craig 1789 Toasted Barrel Bourbon. (94 proof / $55 / HF Avg score: 3.34)

Nose: Caramel sweetness, toasted marshmallow, beautifully oaky that becomes more prominent as it airs out.

Palate: Caramel, Burnt Sugar, cinnamon, with a smokey/oaky bitterness.

Finish: Warm, toasty, oaky that sits with you. Quite nice.

This bourbon starts as a fully matured barrel proof small batch bourbon, which is then transferred into new oak toasted barrels (with a flash char) for finishing. This process adds a beautiful woody quality that I kept diving in for another sniff. You can really smell it in the empty glass afterwards! It has the underlying Elijah Craig sweetness, but the toasted oak adds a smokey/slightly bitter quality. Definitely a good sipper! This was our middle price point bourbon, and the extra effort of transferring and barreling twice understandably raises the bottle price from the standard Elijah Craig.

#2) Clyde Mays Straight Bourbon Whiskey (92 proof / $40 / HF Avg score: 2.77)

Nose: Ripe apples, bright fruit, sweet sherry.

Palate: Fruity. Cherries, vanilla, some oak at the end of the sip.

Finish: Lingering apple sweetness, with a dry oaky mouth feel.

Clyde Mays is located in Troy, Alabama, and has been distilling since 1946. While this bourbon isn't exactly "Alabama Style", which involves the addition of dried apples to the barrels, it is definitely inspired by it. There's an immediate bright apple scent (which I personally enjoyed), which carries through the sip and finish. However, a few of our members noted a medicinal cherry "cough syrup" quality, which seemed to disappoint. Member scores reflected the disappointment, with an average of 2.77. Sorry Clyde - HF was underwhelmed! At least this wasn't the expensive option! Barreled once, aged 5 years in alligator charred oak barrels.

#3) Larceny Barrel Proof: (Batch C923 / 126.4 proof / $70 / HF Avg Score: 3.23)

Nose: Wheat, Barrel Char, brown sugar, with some fire.

Palate: Browned Butter, oak, maple pancakes, with a warm hug.

Finish: Sweet and spicy. Dry oak. Warmth that sits with you!

A very polarizing bourbon for HF! Half of the group LOVED it, and we saw some 4.0 scores in the group. However, we also saw some low 2's entered on the score card. I'm in the high-scoring camp, and since I have the power of the blog, we are going to talk it up! Larceny's regular small batch is a great affordable bourbon ringing up at $29.99 here in PA, and is very easy to find. This barrel proof version really kicks it up a notch... or three! Bold and balanced, and for $70, is a really good deal for a barrel proofer with some age (6-8 years)! We tasted C923, but their A124 batch earlier this year won double Gold Medal Bourbon-of-the-year. So while HF gave it an average of 3.23 (still slightly above average, not a bad score!), some may argue it deserves more than that... but, the club has spoken!

We have our next meeting Thursday August 8th at our usual spot. Hoping for a good turn out to help fund our September gala (which Is SAT September 7th!) Please RSVP promptly!! We may invite more guests this go-around, so we'll need a headcount for open spots.