10 Year Archives - First Pour Cocktails

Elijah Craig All Star Wine & Spirits Single Barrel #5

Posted on October 11, 2023October 3, 2023 by Nick

Although less common than Elijah Craig Private Barrels bottled at barrel strength, there are Elijah Craig batches that are bottled at the small batch 94 proof. Given that the small batch is routinely one of our recommended bottles for beginning your home bar, are these viable options to add to your shelf? To find out, I grabbed a (now sold out) bottle of Elijah Craig All Star Wine & Spirits Single Barrel #5 [they still have batch #6 if you feel inclined as of the time of writing this].

Elijah Craig All Star Wine & Spirits Single Barrel #5

Barrel No.: 6071250
Age: 10 Years
Rickhouse: T
Floor: 4
Proof: 94 (47% A.B.V.)

Sight: Chestnut Oloroso Sherry – Slightly darker than their standard offering.

Smell: A significant amount of a vanilla and caramel sweetness lead off. Big touches of powdered sugar, peanut brittle, and maple come through. There’s more heat here than you might expect at 94 proof. There’s an underlying spice that compliments the sweetness here, giving good amounts of oak spice, cigar box, and cinnamon. A little hint of orange peel and apple comes through.

Sip: The sip starts off moderately, but immediately pulls through a good run of sweetness. There’s nice hits of caramel, oak, and a little bit of dark chocolate. The predominate nuttiness downgrades a little, turning more into a background note. That slight touch of apple or orange is still there. Overall, it’s pleasant, soft, and mildly assertive.

Savor: Sweet oak continues through out with nice amounts of caramel, touches of maple, and a little spice. It lingers pleasantly and softly.

Elijah Craig All Star Wine & Spirits Single Barrel #5 is well textured, decently layered, and subtly different than the standard offering. The flavors here are more bent toward fruit and nuts than the standard, but this makes it a little more fun to explore as it opens in the glass. The price difference being less than $10 makes this a nice option if you’re hoping to enjoy your Elijah Craig Small Batch neat.

In Cocktails

In a Manhattan, it gives a nice medium body and plenty of flavor. There’s good spicing from the oak and bitters that help to lay the background for some caramel and chocolate notes. The subtle apple notes gain a cinnamon element and it has a bit of baked apple. As Manhattans go, it’s very nice and slightly autumnal.

In Review – Elijah Craig All Star Wine & Spirits Single Barrel #5

Elijah Craig All Star Wine & Spirits Single Barrel #5 was very good value at only $40. The age comes through in the neat pour, while it’s versatile for cocktails. These sort of bottles (single barrels that are from producers we recommend for beginning your bar) are bottles you should consider when stocking or restocking your bar to introduce both quality and variety. While not all of them will be like exactly like this bottle, it’s reasonable to go with confidence when selecting an Elijah Craig single barrel selection.

Henry McKenna Single Barrel

Posted on November 9, 2022November 8, 2022 by Nick

Perhaps few bottles suffer so greatly from both hype and barrel variation as Henry McKenna Single Barrel. Amongst the bourbon lovers, Mckenna is notorious for consumers greatly enjoying one bottle, and then being disappointed in the next. While there are a variety of possible reasons for this, including actual differences in production and what the consumer immediately ate prior to enjoying it, it doesn’t change that this bottle has won some significant awards and has a strong hype train surrounding it.

Henry McKenna Single Barrel

Henry McKenna Single Barrel is a Bottled-In-Bond whiskey aged ten years from Heaven Hill. This age statement makes it among the older available Bottled-In-Bond offerings.

Sight: A rich tawny.

Smell: Rich caramel and nuts float out of the opening salvo. Zesty spice, tobacco, and notes of oranges and peach pits join in. There’s a slightly fruity character that comes in, a bit of heat, and a pops of toasted oak and a cereal like note. Something akin to peanut brittle in a fudge shop occasionally comes through as well.

Sip: The flavors are complex and layered, starting with caramel and spice it evolves into peach pits, tobacco, charred oak, cigar box, and nuts. The flavors are somewhat random in their progression, but consistently show up. There’s a fair amount of stone fruit, from peach to plum that comes around the edges. There’s very little burn despite the 100 proof, and the texture is rich. A very occasional oversteeped black tea note also appears.

Savor: The ending maintains a stone fruit and toasted oak character with a moderate amount of oak. The flavor lingers in a balanced and inviting way.

Henry McKenna Single Barrel is quite nice as a sipper, displaying a good amount of complexity and depth. The continuing evolution of the flavors in the glass makes it inviting to come back to. The texture also helps in adding to the appeal. Overall, it’s far from a disappointing sipper.

In Cocktails

In a Manhattan the wonderful texture and proof helps to create the lanolin texture of a great Manhattan. Caramels, brown sugar, toasted oak, and stone fruit pastry notes all explode forth. There are pleasant baking spices throughout. The finish ends up carrying forward some of the spice, stone fruit, and caramel with just a bit of oak. It’s a phenomenal Manhattan.

Single Barrel Side By Side

A friend happened to have a bottle of Henry McKenna Single Barrel, leading us having the bottles in a side by side. The bottle my friend had was 2 years newer than my bottle. The other bottle was significantly stronger in the vanilla realm, but added a dustiness and reduced the spice. There were also fruity notes, but a bit more orange marmalade sort of notes. The palate is significantly lighter, still maintaining the vanilla notes, but also bringing in more floral elements with subtle spice. The oak notes are also still prevalent, but it doesn’t achieve significant oak or fruit. The weight of both is also different, with the newer bottle feeling significantly lighter.

The comparison feels shocking given both are bottled in bond products with 10 year age statements. While some variation is to be expected, these almost stuck me like two different distilleries due to the spread of flavors and textures.

In Review – Henry McKenna Single Barrel

Henry McKenna’s hype has been real on driving it’s cost up. When this bottle was purchased, the cost per bottle was $10 less than it is today. Pushing $60, the flavor is quite good, but the availability and bottle variation remain problematic. While it’s amazing in cocktails and neat, these factors might be reasons to shy away and instead choice a lower cost single barrel such as Four Roses or Wild Turkey Rare Breed.

Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon

Posted on July 2, 2021January 9, 2023 by Nick

There was a time (and in some states still is a time) when you could walk in and purchase a bottle of Eagle Rare in the mid $20 price point. Depending on where you live, Eagle Rare is now a borderline rare bottle that inspires truck chasers to wait in long lines for a chance to sample it. While one can debate the virtue (and value) of doing this, one thing isn’t up for debate. Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon is in fact very tasty for the MSRP.

Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon

Sight: A beautiful copper that leans toward oloroso sherry.

Smell: Beautiful notes of ripe, red cherries waft out followed by notes of caramel, roasted almonds, and spices ranging from nutmeg to cinnamon. The background has an almost mulled wine like character with cooked berries and orange notes. The nose has just the slightest about of heat and has a good oak backbone that doesn’t shine too aggressively.

Sip: The mouth feel is smooth and the texture is well rounded. The immediate flavor profile starts out with cherries, hints of orange, and touches of caramelized sugar. Hints of plums and spices enter back in before giving way to cigar box, cherry jam, and toasted oak.

Savor: The ending builds on the cherry notes and baking spices. It leans dry, and lingers for a long period of time bringing in more char.

Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon is delightfully complex and well rounded with a slightly dry finish. The complexity of the nose is matched by the great texture and complex flavor on the palate. The flavor profile is also dynamic, evolving throughout the experience of sipping it. It continues to open up new dimensions of itself. The most impressive part is the value, which at $30 is exceptional.

In Cocktails

Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon plays delightfully in cocktails if you can bring yourself to spare it for the application. The flavors of cherry accentuate the nuances of the sweet vermouth and building on both the spice of the bourbon and the bitters. The net result is a smooth Manhattan that’s well rounded between fruit, spice, and sweetness. In an Old Fashioned, it amplifies the spice elements while providing a red fruit hint from the bourbon.

In Review: Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon

Eagle Rare is an exceptionally good bourbon for the $30 price point. The hardest part of Eagle Rare is reliably finding it. While some states are known to have heavy allocations (to the point that it’s regularly available on their shelves), other states [like Ohio] are subject to some fairly out of control tatering. This could unfortunately means you’ll be driving out of state or sitting in lawn chair on delivery day to try to get bottle of Eagle Rare. That said, if you find it at retail, you should absolutely buy a bottle. The tight supply regrettably means that Eagle Rare will not be added to our recommended list of bottles for starting a home bar.

Eagle Rare Website