| Type | Bourbon whiskey |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Heaven Hill |
| Country of origin | Kentucky, United States |
| Alcohol by volume | 47.00% |
| Proof | 94 |
| Related products | Heaven Hill |
Elijah Craig is a 12 year-old super-premium bourbon whiskey produced in Bardstown, Kentucky by the Heaven Hill Distillery. The brand is sold as a straight bourbon. It is sold in glass 750ml bottles.
Elijah Craig whisky is made in both 12 "Small Batch" and 18 year-old "Single Barrel" bottlings. The 18 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon is touted as "The oldest Single Barrel Bourbon in the world at 18 years . . ." made in oak barrels that are "hand selected by Parker and Craig Beam," losing nearly 2/3 of the barrels contents in Angel's share.[1] The barrels are later sold to the Scotch Whiskey industry or used by microbrewers for making Bourbon Barrel aged beer such as Goose Island Brewery's "Bourbon County" Imperial Stout (see Brewing methods).[2][3]
In the San Francisco World Spirits Competition of 2010, the 18 year-old Elijah Craig Single Barrel Bourbon was awarded Best Bourbon and a Double Gold Medal rating. In previous years, it had received a Double Gold Medal rating in 2008, a Gold Medal rating in 2004, and four silver ratings in other years (2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007).
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The bourbon brand was named in honor of Reverend Elijah Craig (1738/1743 – May 18, 1808), who was a Baptist preacher, born in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky. The Heaven Hill company dubiously[4] credits him with the invention of "true Kentucky Bourbon" by improving the locally made distillate from an un-aged corn liquor to the familiar reddish drink through barrel-aging in charred oak casks.[1] Today, Elijah Craig is most widely known in association with this brand of bourbon produced by the Heaven Hill distillery.
In approximately 1789, Craig founded a distillery. About a century later, the Rev. Craig was dubiously[4] claimed to have been the inventor of Bourbon whiskey by being the first to age the distillation in charred oak casks, "a process that gives the bourbon its reddish color and unique taste."[5] The Heaven Hill company uses this claim in its advertising of their product.[1]
Bourbon whiskey derives its name from the general area originally established as Bourbon County, which was originally established as the name of a county in Virginia, in honor of the French royal House of Bourbon family.[4] The naming was a gesture of gratitude, as France had assisted the colonial rebellion in the U.S. revolutionary war against England. However, although the borders and naming of the counties in the area shifted over time, Rev. Craig's distillery site has never actually been in a county named Bourbon County.[4] When founded, the distillery was in the nearby territory of the original Fayette County of Virginia, which had been named in honor of the noted Revolutionary War Gen. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (who was a member of the House of Bourbon).[4] Later government actions would name the area as Woodford County in 1788, and then as Scott County in 1792. The area became part of Kentucky when the state was created from part of Virginia in 1792.
As American whiskey authority Charles Kendrick Cowdery has observed, "By the time Bourbon County was formed in 1785, there were dozens if not hundreds of small farmer-distillers making whiskey throughout the region… Ultimately, most of the corn-based whiskey made west of the Alleghenies was called 'bourbon', to distinguish it from the rye-based whiskies that predominated in the East."[4].