Why the hype? | Elijah Craig Barrel Proof C923 | Curiosity Public's Ultimate Spirits Competition
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- Опубліковано 20 лис 2023
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THANK YOU for this. It took awhile for me to recognize what my bourbon preferences are but the following are now yellow flags for me:
1. Amazing nose (but it doesn't translate to palate and finish)
2. heat, spice, oak
I bought a $30 barrel pick of regular Larceny in 2021, K&L Pick "Butter Cream Frosting" and they sold it based on the nose. The palate turned out to be standard Larceny. I learned a lesson.
Heavy oak that isn't at least 70% transformed into other flavors like fruit, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc. is NOT good bourbon as far as I'm concerned. If the oak is still a 300lb gorilla atop the other flavors, at best, I'll experience a mixed bag of enjoyment. I bought a Eagle Rare Store pick and they chose a barrel that had a slightly heavier oak component. Some days, I recognize the bottle as very Eagle Rare. Other days, the oak jumps out a little to aggressively.
yes! These are 2 of the leading issues we see with today's bourbon hype train!
Who else puts out a bottle with a 12-13 year age statement for under $100 with this kind of proof and quality? Is ECBP the best bottle ever? of course not. Is it incredible value? Absolutely. I think ECBP is generally better than Stagg.
Love this release. Around me this bottle was $75 - $90.
I bought a bottle of C923 last weekend. Had to travel 2 hours from my home just to see one. Got it for 100 bones. Cheapest ECBP Ive seen since 2020 is 80 bones. Cracking it open my next day off. Thanks for the review. Your channel is truelyone of the best on the whiskeytube. Should have way more subs.
Dillon is right about the value, you're reviewing the specific batch not all ECBPs as a category. You can't find this one anywhere and secondary is 2x and upwards. I haven't been able to find this bottle yet and I go to all those grocery stores in SoCal also. I don't think it sits on the shelves for more than a few hours ANYWHERE.
Always like the banter. You all respect each other and drive your ideas in your own way. Your three personalities are different and you all hold to who you are.
The hype for this bottle isn't because everyone thinks it's a 100 point bottle. It's because the batches since C920 have been bad and this is finally close to being back to the older (previous years, not age) batch flavors. 2021 was terrible and 2022 was a little better but still nowhere near 2016-2020. Everyone is just happy in c923 we get big proof, lots of caramel, sweet corn, baking spice, brown sugar, and no paint thinner smell/taste.
I used to drink every batch. The better batches have strawberry not just cherry. The worse batches -- the oak always presents banana (suspect this is your paint thinner/glue), when it should be, say, peach. I've been wise not to buy any more ECBPs, and I'm glad to have passed on this at 120 an got a Weller 12 for the exact same price. Parker's Heritage is marked up 180 to 340 and ECBP will be 55 marked to 120. Not fair comparison. I want to know if it is better than Kentucky Owl #9. ????????
This exactly
The hype is absolutely because everyone thinks it's a 100 point bottle. Type in Best bourbon of the year elijah craig in the Google, and look at the whiskeytubers and commenters hype the damn thing like it's the second coming. I love ECBP but much like Bookers, in the grand scheme of things, they all oscillate around the same flavor profile and the distinctions are nominal at best. That includes c923. In my circle, my idiot friends who supposedly "didn't like" b521 loved it at my party asking which batch it was.
It’s definitely because people are putting at or close to a 100 point bottle from what I’ve seen. Some even claiming it’s their best barrel proof produced ever.
@@Hypee559Well, those people never had a good pirate bottle. The best ECBP is Batch #11. C923 falls way short of that.
I’ve seen it recently(11/21/23) for 65.99, 69.99, 79.00, and at 10 dollars per year? 130.00-140.00 definite value however I’ve got two picks that are 131 & 133 proofs for 65.00 each.
A barrel proof bourbon aged stated almost 13 years at $70-80 msrp that tastes good overall is a big win these days. My local store had it for a week on the shelves at $75
I got it for $73 when it first came out and $80 for a 2nd bottle about two weeks ago. It hasn’t been easy to find at those prices but it’s still out there. I’ve also seen it for $150.
Dylan is right on this one. The only time I see ECBP in stores it's priced between $90-$100, and that's not even for this batch, which is the oldest batch that has ever been released.
I got tired of looking for it and had to pay $90 with tax after a two hour search.
Looking forward to the TasteOff. C920 is one of my all time favorites. To make a point, I ALWAYS buy at least one ECBP at MSRP whenever they hit the shelves. They are always on the shelves at the military liquor stores at MSRP in my area. I try to buy one and a backup.
For me the A123 and B523 were fairly easy to find. The C923 was the elusive bottle that stores seemed to be holding onto for their more "special" customers. I also wonder if less of the C923 batch was produced.
I’m in Southern California. The big outfits like K&L, Total Wine, Vons and Ralph’s all have B523 in stock, or at least did until last week when I checked.
Ralph’s was selling B523 for $59.99, so I’m assuming they have lots. Employees at all of them except K&L have told me they were likely to hold on to the C923 until the older stuff cleared out (or mostly cleared out). K&L went the bundling route with the C523, pairing it with non allocated stuff.
A Pavilion’s in Pasadena had C922 out in some quantity. None of these retailers mentioned raise prices above regular retail for any spirits in my experience.
Meant to say C923 was bundled at K&L
seen between 85 and 90. Sometimes they required you bundle them. Did take forever to find, but was able to get several of them for under 100 otd.
Honest Good Review, Thanks guys. Also have a 10yr Private Barrel that's great. I have C923 and saw the stats High Age High Proof automatic hype.Stll second best bourbon on show I think behind that Parker Heritage.
I normally dont care for intros but you guys are funny
As of today I’ve yet to see C923 on the shelves here in Tennessee.
Got one for $65 at an Army base. Got another for $80 at a chain liquor store
I appreciate this honest review. I felt a bit let down when I got my hands on this after reading several sources basically saying it was the greatest thing ever. Not a bad bourbon, but I'm not going to go out of my way to get it.
I love that we saw Dillon being dishonest about his scoring, just to be against the grain, against the hype.😂 But on rare occasion, the hype is real, the hype is right.
Nice review, can you guys get your hands on the 4RLE 2023 for a review please. Would love to hear your thoughts.
I couldn't find this when it first started showing up around me. However, having given up on it, I, of course, found it on the shelf today for $69.99.
Haven't located the C923 in Orlando yet. I've been looking hard, but this review has softened my determination to find one. Unrelated... I found two more Ocho Puntas 2023s for $99 each and they are so worth it. My liquor spend continues to veer towards tequila lately. Good job on this review, gentlemen.
Nothing that I can find in the Tampa area either. I will still look but won't pay the high price.
Just curious (pun intended), how long was this bottle open for prior to the review? I think some of the ethanol will tame down once it has a chance to open up. I had an Old Forester Barrel Strength store pick that was straight jet fuel on first crack and it has opened up to be one of my best bottles of bourbon but it took some time.
I'm not 100% sure. This was Dillon's bottle. I think it was open at least a week or so before we filmed this though.
the OFBS stuff is well known to be like drinking fire on the first pour. You have to open it and wait many weeks before it settles down. Now I get a bottle, open it, and let it air out for hours before even drinking it
I got one early after release, and another last week for $71. I wonder if I can find someone with a spare Stagg to trade? 😉
Ec bottles have the best spout design. Look at that Dutch didn’t spill a drop!!
Othe channels posted this in September. Lots of hype back then. Got my bottle in Virginia in October at MSRP . Got a second in late October online for $80 (free shipping when I bundled other purchases).
Never found one in a store. FB was posting these all over town but were always gone before I got there. Oh well, have 10 other ECBPs.
Happy Thanksgiving! Curiosity, my have right now is the Magnus Cigar Blend. Have you guys reviewed this one?
Fave*
Not yet! Happy Thanksgiving!
Add water. Add water. Add water
C923 was available for $80 at three different stores in the San Fernando Valley
Typically, I wait for these to pop up at Costco which will be about $75 after tax. The grocery stores like QFC or Safeway have it for about $84 after tax. (In WA)
$75-$80 Cape Cod/MA stores. But have not seen it on shelves at all. I know of 2 stores that did raffle variations for this batch specifically. Most store have A123/523 on the shelves in abundance. I have even seen stores with plenty of the entire '22 lineup. Rumor has it something got messed up with the distributor.
I got two bottles C923 for $75. First sip was pretty oaky, (agreed with team) but I let sit the bottle for a week, and bottle is opened with no over oak. I still think this is the best release for several years. Some people like A123 and think that it's better than C923. Tried EC18 and this bourbon was way over-oaked, very bitter ;-)
I totally agree with Dillion on using older bourbons as part of a blend....it must not be worthy a single age release, and I can get the A and B batches and still haven't seen this around.... it's November going on December....I might put the dough towards the new Knob 18 which is suppose really good.
But that's sorta exactly what the distiller/producer is saying by putting it in a blend? If they felt it were good enough to stand on its own, they would release it that way, but by placing it in a blend of other stock, they're saying it's best expressed in this blend. That's more of a recognition of its specific strengths and the art of blending than it is just a condemnation of the bourbon they used
So in scotch they used to but much older whiskey in 12 year age stated bottles so that way the bottles would get tons of hype for being amazing for only being 12 year age stated, and then they can move much more product. I suspect bourbon distillers are also using this tactic
That's more an issue with lack of transparency-saying it's *only* 12 years then adding something older to enrich the 12 year old product without telling the consumer. Not the same as what we're talking about here where they're telling you the blend
@@mdstube1986 that’s a good point, you’re right
I'll agree with Dutch on availability. ECBP batches are always so large that they often have cases upon cases sitting at distributors and at the Heaven Hill Warehouse. C923 is hyped and moving fast when it hits shelves but a few more cases arrive every couple weeks and they will continue to drop every few weeks for at least another month. If you travel out of major metros you often find ECBPs just sitting on shelf for years. I recently picked up a C920 in a small town that had 2 of 3 batches for every year since 2020 sitting out. Only one bottle of each (except B523 which had like 3 bottles). I've even found C919 randomly in the past year. Sure, those older bottles are not the point of discussion here but my point is that so much gets distributed that you will find bottles of it pretty easily. If you have even a little relationship with a shop you can ask them to hold one for you. Some places are putting ECBP into raffles still but not many.
I still see them sitting on the shelf in NorCal at msrp
In this rare instance Dutch is correct over Dillion, ECBP is consistently available and it is not crazy priced like any other product at double digit age statements. Heaven Hill knows their customer and this bottle in their core lineup is always a buy. Not every release, but once you finish the one you have you never have to wait long to find another one. It’s always uncut unfiltered high proof high age, Maybe the only $80 “value” whisky left
You tell anyone, “I’m at the store right now, and there is a 13yr old cask strength KY bourbon for $80, you want it?” They are going to say yes!!
I bought my first C923 for $80 and backed it up for $70 in Missouri.
Best batch ive had since C919
Picked it up at a medium size chain in Pasadena for $70.
In NYC... C923 is $99.99 at least, if they even put it out in the open. Meanwhile, A123 and B523 can still be found for $69.99.
I’ve seen this bottle in so cal and walked right past it.
I can still find the pre-2021 bottles on shelves at multiple liquor stores still to this day because nobody but me and maybe 2-3 other guys actually blind hunt, so there’s no need to ever buy a current batch ever again.
I see both sides of the coin for the value. I purchased 3 of them at different price points but I still feel the highest I paid was worth it (about $85). However, like everything else this is going to be subjective. What I'm hearing is that since Dillon scored it the lowest he valued it the lowest. It's not an easy batch to find but quality for dollar at MSRP is high, which in this market is hard to find. Most allocated bottles of this caliber and status are much harder to find. So relatively for what you get I say the value is high.
Recently I have heard C923 has 2 batches inscribed in the glass. Were yall aware of this? A22 or A22 I believe.
I get what Dylan is saying but I have to side with Dutch. My personal experience with ECBP 923 was the same as every single other ECBP that has come out in the last at least 4 years. My local store has a small window where you can get them and then once they're off the shelf they're gone. I've been able to buy every single ECBP I've ever been interested in for MSRP, regardless of hype.
This makes so much sense after watching you rip into Found North. I think it’s entirely possible for people to have totally different palates. That’s what makes the whiskey world fun, but we have palates and tastes that couldn’t be more different. You didn’t think this was that great and you didn’t seem to like any of the Found North batches, while I haven’t had a single Found North that I didn’t love. I loved this bottle too. Agree to disagree!
Got it at Costco socal for 59.99! Bought a few… it’s available
ive bought 3 for 74.99 its amazing.
The Kroger by me got a few cases of these and marked the bottles up to $120 and they were all gone in minutes
I got mine for 75, but all full proof Craig’s are hard to find where I live, I consider myself lucky to find 2 bottles.
I got one for $80. I could have bought more, but 1 is enough! Your colleagues like bourbon dopeys called it a Parker’s Heritage caliber bourbon. Ridiculous and adds to the hoarding and hype. Thanks for the level headed review. IMHO, it’s a buy for $90 and below. Since it dropped in my area, I haven’t seen it again. I only buy one of these a year.
At 80$ this is easily the best bottle around and even more importantly its available.
59.99 @ Costco was a nice find!
In Mississippi and I got one for $80, there were 8 more bottles too.
Hate to say it, but I have to agree with Dillon on value. I found the C923 a while back for $99.99. I passed. Now I can't find it at all. I can still find the A123 for $70. No idea how good the C923 is, but I would consider dropping the value to 3 given the availability and the price gouging.
Y'all are crazy about availability. Can't find this C923 anywhere a week after it was released. It's a great value.
I agree with availability. Distribution is annoying with ECBP. The wrong batch always feels like the one I have access to. Still a great value...just annoying.
Distribution is very frustrating. I'm in a good-sized city and this C batch hasn't even hit my area yet! (I know because I'm in a bourbon group and no one has seen it.) Never saw the A batch at all. Saw the B batch *once* for 90.
250-300 here in NY/NJ/CT
I paid 160
Nearly 14 years age statement 133 proof!
We pay 150 for stagg .. where’s is the outcry thn!
And Stagg doesn’t come close to c923(A23 laser code) period
This sells for $75 here when you can find it, which isn't often
I picked up a bottle at $69.99 when it was in my area. If Dillon was honest he would have given this an 80.
Yup bought this guy for $79.99. 100% worth it imo
Ya but that's just the because of the market these days on 12 year bourbon. Just like you'd buy 1792 12/KC 12 for $50, but do you really want those bourbons at all?
I've never paid more than 79.99 for c923 and I've bought about 10 so far
Only places around me that even have C923 have it anywhere from $90-$120...
I agree with everything from the guy on the right.
65 bucks at walmart! Worth every cent and not a penny more.
People has lost their minds on this bottle. It was a 68 at most the wood and spice was almost off putting to me. But on the brightside thanks to the youtube people I'm flipping them for something i actually drink and really enjoy woodford batch 128.3 yes and that isn't a joke. Thank you youtube
Do you still have your C923? Our group up here in Connecticut found that there are bad bottles out there. Bottle code starts with "A22...etc." They all drink like a mediocre to decent bourbon. The ones that are getting glowing reviews have codes beginning with "A23.." We even blinded them. A23 codes drink like something special.
I see it for $90 ish in my area
Personally speaking, I think any bourbon age more than 10 yrs. is over oak. (too much bitternes/dark chocolate/black coffee flavor on the finish) 10 yrs. is the sweet spot.
Sorry but you're all missing the mark on this one. This is a solid 90 or higher score for me. Best batch of ECBP in at least 3 years and I would easily pay $100 plus tax for this. Uniqueness is a 5 because it's the first highest age statement they've ever done. If they release a 14-15yr ECBP in the future then that also gets a 5 for uniqueness.
$74.99 in Virginia Beach.
Question for you gents: What is your bottle laser code begin with?
I ask as up here in CT our whiskey group identified "bad bottles". We had two codes in circulation here: the just ok, mundane "A22" and the other "A23"s drink like something special, in direct comparison at least. Weve swppaed samples and did them blind and unamimously prefer the A23 bottles.
I wanna say you have an A23 when Dillon mentions the grape and jam, however your troubles with the overly spicy and oaky palate make me lean toward an A22. The A23s seem to carry the berries into the palate which had flavor progression and dilineations that our A22 bottles havent shown.
I emailed Heaven Hill but havent heard back about the variation...probably in their trash by now....
Thanks, as always for the video. Cheers fellas!
Also, I paid $74 for my first bottle. Which turned out to be a meh "A22 code". Three weeks later I found an A23 which I had to talk the guy down and got it for $100. Which I am very happy to put into the bunker.
very interesting. I will check the bottle and post what I find shortly!
Ok. Ours is A23.
@@CuriosityPublic damn, imagine what the turd bottle would have scored! 😂
But it does make me wish we knew more about how distilleries batching processes. We're looking at a 30k plus bottle release...are there vatting tanks that large out there? Is the first drop out of the spout just as consistent as the last when thousands of barrels are involved? I remember Springbank saying they vat the 10 year old and let it sit for a year before bottling. That's nut, but there is a reason SB is beloved in the whisky world.
@@javieracosta3439 lol! I'm really intrigued about the sub batches for ECBP now!
Dillon is so salty!!😂😂, for the age of course there will be a little less availability . Its a well aged oak with a kick which will be a downfall compare to your stagg jr , Jdssbp, OFSBBP which is half the age an more mellow
Found it here in SoCal For $69.95.
I'm not sure Dillon's argument is valid, especially in context of past reviews. There will always be an issue with scarcity for seasonal/limited releases when you attempt to find them month/s after they are released. The ability to find them will also be market dependent. For example, I was able to buy C923 five days ago in a northern KY store for $85. In my past experience living in NC, both NC and VA ABC stores may not receive their ECBP allocations until 1-3 months after initial release. This is pretty typical with other limited releases like Booker's and Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series. I also do not recall Dillon making such a vociferous argument about value in past videos for other limited releases that would similarly decrease in value over time. The desperation to have a definitive contrarian take on this release colors the validity of his points, as opposed to other videos where I generally agree with him.
By the way, C923 is pretty good, and I wouldn't pay more than $90 for it. I've had multiple barrel picks in the past 2 years that cost $80-85 and were better. The barrel picks are much easier to find, even in a place like KY where it's tough to find anything I actually want.
Deep thought Dillon
Value is a 5. I got 2 without much work.
C923 is best ever....even better than 2020 releases...BUT Michters 10 2023 beats it by a mile....Dylan I bought mine for 80
Jules MVP
This is not close to the best batch of ECBP. Batch #11 absolutely smokes it. It's still good. I bought a backup.
A $70 damn near 14 year old BP is a …10 uniqueness…4 on value lol
As a ECBP fanboy I find this whole review offensive lol
Low value to me is Canadian Whiskey which isn’t worth msrp it’s so awful. High value is when Whiskey is underpriced at msrp, and I would consider paying above just for the experience.
Somebody needs a nap.
Don’t agree with the value I believe more dilon cuz i still see a batch and b batch but none for c batch
I strongly disagree with you guys.. for the PRICE this is a +90-- i will say i think this is the bourbon that bourbon proof junkies love and usually have to pay 150+ in sceondary to get similar flavor for, this delivers at price range we can all afford.
You guys rate this bottle a C+??? Just no way…
Where was the other guy that used to be on the old channel? He actually know something about whiskey. Just saying . .
I like A123 better. 🥃
16👍
I came here to randomly say that I went to School with 4 or 5 dudes named Dillion. I wish I could Trade all the other Dillions for this Dillion from Curiosity Public. 😂 Can you be my Friend? 🤣