Elijah Craig Barrel 12-year Proof Batch A123 (750ml)

Nose: Soft pottery clay, dry vanilla bean and hints of leather begin a mysteriously light array of aromas. Peanut brittle, confectioners sugar and sugar cookie sits delicately in the airy nose-feel. Deep inhales produce slightly oily tones with level oak and well-aged leather. Black pepper and anise begin to wake from a deep slumber as the glass is agitated slightly. Cacao sits lazily in the multitude of cracks of a richly aged slab of oak. Buttercream frosted cupcake aromas provide a nice sweet complexity before I find myself entrapped in a cacophony of barrel influence. Time for a sip.

Coming back after a few sips doesn't show off much evolution in the glass, but it does bring me back to my favorite aroma from before, which was the buttercream frosted cupcake. A swirl of the glass unleashes orange peel zest and plenty of stinging black pepper. The faint aroma of warm cinnamon toast can be found near the bottom of the glass. On the empty glass I smell cinnamon, red licorice and milk chocolate.

Palate: Excellent new additions to the nose include flavors of fig and red berry jam upon first sipping this glass. Cherry skins and dark grape juice come across slightly tannic. The mouth feel is rather thin and ladened with bountiful oak. The linger is quite long despite the texture with a lot of the peanut brittle from the nose coming through well. Another sip does well to layer in some new surprises such as raspberry and Christmas fruit cake. This brings a multitude of messy layers of apricot, orange peel, nutmeg, cardamom, clove and brown sugar to the linger. As the glass gets lower, things get even messier. Menthol has now crept into the stonefruit in a way that doesn't quite jive. As the glass wanes, the complexity shrinks with the remaining volume of liquid. My last sip is solidly fruit forward with cherry, plum and raspberry predominantly coming through. The finish carries a soft and sweet mix of floral and fruit flavors.