5 Interesting Facts To Read About Elijah Craig

3 mn read

Names make all the difference in the world of fine bourbon because that remains etched in your mind due to its inimitable taste. As a true bourbon connoisseur will tell you, mixing up between Evans, Elmer, and Edmonds is just not acceptable.

What is also not acceptable is depriving yourself of tasting the very famous Elijah Craig, which is nothing short of art in a bottle as far as flavors and uniqueness are concerned.

Produced by the famous Heaven Hill Distillery, Craig got its name from the man who is the founding father of bourbon (we can’t thank him enough, right?). The simple introduction of charred oak into the aging process revolutionized bourbon, and the world still can’t seem to get over it.

So, what is so amazing about Craig? Read on to know five of the most interesting facts about the liquor.

You Are Sipping 200-Years of History

Reverend Elijah Craig was a respected and well-reputed luminary credited with the inception of bourbon and a couple of other things. It is difficult to point out how exactly he got the idea of aging corn liquor in the charred barrels.

Some people say a big fire at his farm accidentally put smoke in the barrels and changed the whiskey in it for good. Others claim that Craig started storing his liquor in old sugar barrels. In any case, storing the corn liquor in the unique barrels, along with the accidental process of aging, gave birth to the smoky brown and sweet liquor that you love.

This story of Elijah’s discovery dates back to about 200-years, so you’re sipping something that holds a rich legacy.

Craig Is A Carefully Crafted Masterpiece

When you know about the care and supervision that goes into creating Craig, you will understand why its taste is mindblowing.

It is a work that needs a lot of accuracy and precision. The work starts with choosing wheat grains, rye, barley, and corn at the local farms. Nothing but the freshness would satisfy the makers! Now, they turned all of that into a mash with generous amounts of Limestone water and a bit of distillate. The process brings out the sweet notes of vanilla.

The mash gets cooked and fermented to make it turn into whiskey, which goes through distillation carefully. Now, charred oak barred contains small batches for eight-twelve years. And, by small, it means only two hundred barrels just to keep the precision alive.

Out of the total mash, nearly 78 – 80% is corn and the rest is barley and rye. This higher portion of corn is the reason behind the smoothness, softness, or larger heat on the throat.

Craig Has Made Award-Winning Liquor

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition is one of the biggest events in the liquor world for the past twenty years.

The Craig team attended this beautiful event with their work of art and proudly left with four gold medals. Yes, you read that right! Achieving such double gold medals is not at all common if that’s what you are thinking. And that’s not the only time Craig has won.

They got gold at the Wine and Spirits Wholesaler’s Annual Convention and Exposition and got the Whiskey of The Year award from the reputed Whiskey Advocate Magazine. Whiskey Magazine gave Craig the Best-of-the-Best Honorary felicitation, and it won in the category of ‘Best Bourbon’ twice by the Whiskey Bible.

You Can Get a Curated List of Cocktails from Craig

So, you love the taste of Craig and would suggest anyone and everyone give it a try. But what happens when your family and friends are not able to appreciate it? After all, Craig is not for every palate out there.

The good news is that Craig has solved this problem for itself, as it offers a list of the best cocktails that you can make with this smoky and sweet delight. Of course, you know that an old-fashioned is the most sophisticated way of preparing any kind of top-notch whiskey, but the Craig team has not stopped at that.

They have come up with some pretty experimental and fresh cocktails that deserve a shot. Try them out, and maybe you will also fall in love with Craig all over again. You can consider these cocktails on any romantic date, have you heard of Facebook dating?

Craig Has the Oldest Single Barrel Bourbon

The 18-year Single Barrel from Elijah Craig is known as the oldest single barrel bourbon present in the market. Single barrel whiskeys are usually not aged that long mainly because of economic reasons.

The label ends up losing more than two-thirds of each barrel’s content when it ages for such a long time. There is also a name for this aged bourbon whiskey: angel’s share. A popular saying is that the thirsty angels are presumably consuming the whiskey lost from the barrel.

The Endnote

As you can see, that beautiful smoky brown liquor that you love comes with a rich history and exciting facts adorning it. Though you will love it all the same, whether you know the facts or not, there is no denying that now you appreciate this fine bourbon even more.