Apple chip | Brown sugar | Oak chips | Light vanilla | Faint strudel

Brown sugar | Raisin | Light syrup | Cinnamon stick | Baking spices | Charred oak | Light leather

Brown sugar | Cinnamon spice | Dry oak | Leather | Dry lingering spice

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch C925 is the last of three batches planned for 2025, with “C” signifying the third batch of the year, “9” standing for its September release month, and “25” identifying the year of the release. While Batch A125 was under 11 years old and Batch B returned the brand to near its former 12 year age statement, Batch C925 finds itself boasting the first-ever single-digit age statement since the brand was started in 2013.

A pleasing aroma greets you with apple chip, brown sugar, and a faint strudel, providing a nice trio of sweet scents. The sweetness found in the nose transitions to dessert-like flavors at the midpoint, with a focus on brown sugar and light syrup before transitioning to drier flavors. This dryness carries through to the end, pushing aside a burst of sweetness in the form of brown sugar before settling on a dry lingering spice.

Batch C925 is a good bourbon; however, that is not what people will remember it for. Instead, many bourbon enthusiasts and lovers of the brand will remember it as the first Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Bourbon to dip below double-digits with its age statement. Right or wrong, Elijah Craig will always be associated with its original 12 year moniker. While it is nowhere near the level of bourbon that Batch B525 delivered, and is more in line with Batch A125, which was also good, none of that will matter. Instead, consumers will focus on the lower age statement and wonder what truly differentiates Elijah Craig Barrel Proof from other barrel proof bourbons in the marketplace now, and if the value it always provided, as a double-digit age-stated barrel proof bourbon, is a thing of the past.