Elijah Craig replaces sold out Bourbon with older expression

Kentucky distiller Heaven Hill will release a new limited edition Elijah Craig 21-Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon to replace its sold-out 20-year-old version.

Distillers Heaven Hill hope that the new bottling will encourage consumers to enjoy older expressions

The company are also hoping that the more aged expression will encourage consumers to cultivate their taste for older Bourbons.

Heaven Hill portfolio brand manager Susan Wahl, said: “This release, like the 20 Year Old and the 18 Year Old Single Barrels, will take the consumer on a tasting tasting journey of discovery that will motivate them to move up the line, from the more widely available 12 Year Old Elijah Craig Small Batch and on through these more aged, rare bottlings.”

The new limited edition will share a similar bottle design to the younger version, with a flask shape, cork closure and marbled capsule, but a blue label showing barrel numbers and dates will replace the gold label of the 20-Year-Old.

Heaven Hill’s master distiller Craig Beam, said: “With the success we have had with the Elijah 20 Year Old Single Barrel, and the 18 Year Old before that, we are really looking forward to the release of this 21-year-old bottling.

“A number of years ago we carefully identified several hundred barrels that are at the middle of the high storage in our best rickhouses, and these are the source for this very special 21-Year-Old and for future Elijah Craig Single Barrel editions. These are some of the best older barrels of traditional rye-based Bourbon we have in our inventory.”

The new limited edition 750ml bottling, which carries an abv of 45%, will be rolled out across American markets in September at an RRP of US$140.