#WhiskyInSV
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- Опубліковано 30 гру 2023
- In episode 51 of Whisky in SV, AJ and I did a blind tasting to investigate whether there is any validity to the rumors that the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof C923 has significant variation between the laser codes. This was initially brought to our attention a couple of day ago by Cameron from "Drums and Drams" and since then he did a follow up episode where he reiterated that there is indeed a significant variation with the later A23x bottles being superior to the earlier A22x bottles. The speculation is that while C923 is all the same vatting, the first three letters after the laser code on the back of the bottle indicate bottling day of year (a serial number) and somehow the batch got better towards the end of the bottling. We reached out to Heaven Hill to get to the bottom of this but have not heard back yet, so decided to do a blind tasting to see if there is any validity to these claims. It was a fun episode to make and this time AJ made sure that I don't make a mistake on the cap assignment! • #WhiskyInSV 051: Elija...
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Link to Drams and Drums original video: • ELIJAH CRAIG C923 - RU...
Unless the bottles were opened at the same time, and are equally empty, its' BS. Just did this comparison, and there is hardly any difference. It's in peoples heads, or they aren't comparing equal to equal versions. There might be some very small differences between the first bottles poured out of the batch/blend, and the very last, but the whiskey verse needs some controversy to drum up views. We spend about 30 minutes with 2 1 oz pours of the A22 and A23. At first, we were convinced there was a little difference, not 6 vs 10. But the longer we spend, and swapped eachothers glasses around, the more similar they became. It became almost impossible to perceive a difference. The A23 bottle was the most empty, and had a little less ethanol because of it, as the a22 was fuller and not opened as long. Even with that, it was splitting hairs.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Will be sure to revisit in a few weeks
A is the bottling line. 222 is day of year. So 234 would be 12 days later.
I drank both bottles from the neck to the middle of E. Woke up 5 hours later wondering where I was.
No difference.
Drank from the middle of the E to top of label…… woke up 5 hours later laying in my front door with my legs on the porch and body inside…….. difference was waking up in a different location.
Both are great and it’s splitting atoms at this point. They are both great pours and do a great job.
LOL! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Well I shall be happy with the C923 A22 batch I got. It was the only one I could find in a Mom n Pop store. I had to pay $108 all in so I’ll make do.
Thanks for making a video about the codes, instant thumbs up and subscribed because of the MM hoodie! :D
Cheers 🥃
Good review!
Thanks for the comparison gents!
I find it funny that people are now referring to the laser codes as batches A22 and A23. I read somewhere that the first letter refers to the bottling line, and the next three numbers refer to the day of the year, the next number “3” would be designating the year, and the last 4 numbers would be the time the bottles were filled in 24hr. time. So ECBP C923 bottles in question should all be from the “A” bottling line (probably meaning EC) because when I checked the laser codes on a Larceny barrel proof C923 and a regular small batch Larceny, they were started with “M”, probably meaning Larceny.
So, it seems the laser codes are really just timestamps generated as the bottling line is running. If this is the case, what folks are referring to as A22 “batches would actually be bottles filled between the 220the day of the year through the 229th day of the year, so the third number actually matters. Same would be true of the A23 “batches, meaning they were bottled between the 230th day and the 239th day. So, if the bottling line for C923 was running continuously from start to finish, “A222*****” bottles were filled 11 days earlier that “A233*****” bottles, with many bottles in between those times.
If the questionable variants were all from the early bottles, it could be that once the bottling line process stabilized, the consistency stabilized as well. It’s all just theory on my part, but it would be interesting to see comparisons from so-called “A22 batches” that have the first 3 numbers of 224, 224, or even 229 with any so-called “A23 batches.”
My theory is that since almost all of the bottles I’ve seen where folks compare the “A22” batches that seem to come up less favorably they were all actually A222*****, which would be perhaps right at the beginning of the bottling process, which we don’t know how many days was continuously running. We do know they did get at least as far as A233****, since I have two bottles I bought together which have laser codes that only differ by the last two digits, (A23331525, and A23331527) which would mean they were filled 2 minutes apart at 3:25 and 3:27pm, so they probably came out of the same shipping case.
Anyway, I just think with all the hysteria now being floated around it’s primarily focused on some imaginary cutoff between “A22” and “A23” as if it were that simple, and these designations somehow have reached the status of “batches” or “mini batches” which doesn’t take into account the third number following the A. If the three numbers are in fact the day of the year each bottle was filled, some “A22” variants would actually be closer to “A23” variants, maybe even minutes apart, and more than a week apart from earlier “A22” variants.
Maybe Heaven Hill can lend a little transparency about how their bottling line works, and the purpose of the codes laser etched onto each bottle. Until then, I’ll wager that some of the imaginary “A22 mini batch” bottles will be much more like the imaginary “A23 mini batches” than everyone freaking out about this realize. Anyway, that’s just my take.
Great take! Thanks for sharing!
A buddy mentioned this last night. We checked my bottles (1 opened, 2 in back up). The open was A23, the backups A22. As soon as we tasted the A22 we noted the difference. No side by side needed. The A22 is woody, not the vibrant spicy cinnamon I associate with C923 or even B523. So now I'm bummed. The real C923 will be saved for special times and the A22s will be regular drinks. I suspect lesser quality or older barrels were dumped early in the A22 batches. Funny thing, I bought the A23 at the Navy Ex a month or more before VABC released the C923 during a drop at which I bought the A22s at.
See my latest short about this. Heaven Hill claims it is the exact same juice but we are all definitely noticing the difference too!
Very cool
I had basically the same result with A223 vs A234 both bought same day, opened for two weeks.
Nice! Thanks for sharing your findings!
I have A22131820 and its excellent. Mine drinks very easy for 133 proof with almost no burn just a little hug on the finish. I also have A22131814 bunkered.
IMO you would need to get 10 ot so samples from a wide range of serial numbers and then blind. I would definitely believe that inconsistencies exist with the flavor because there are massive inconsistencies with the laser codes. Some folks claim to have no laser codes or say they have codes on the front but no letters just numbers starting with 17 and of the Axxxxxxxx numbers I've heard that A22 A23 and A24 exist with maybe even more variations.
So if they cant even label the bottles consistently then why is it so hard to believe the juice could also be inconsistent.
All very good points! Thanks for sharing!
I think you have to triangle the blinds to truly make this test.
Where did you purchase the glasses your using ?
Those are whisdom glasses. They are about 25 a piece and you get free shipping when you buy 2.
Check the video description. I have an affiliate link for them! Thanks for watching and your support!
So who won 222 or 233 ? cheers..
I watched the end of the video four times over and still unclear on what was concluded.
I think 233
233 was slightly better but not enough to go crazy about it. I am perfectly content with my 222 as well.
So only 11 days apart. I have two bottles a a222 and a223 so 8 and 7 days away from a230
You went into the test knowing that the samples were different, which immediately creates bias. You were, literally, looking for differences. Let someone give you blind samples that might be from the same laser code.
Fair point
You need to develop a more systematic approach to identifying what whiskey is in which glass. At the end of the video, I'm left feeling not very confident you even had the glasses correct as to which glass held which bourbon! (And is sounds like, in the past, you've had a similar issue with unclear "cap assignment.") Most of the other channels would put a sticker on the bottom of each glass marked "A22" or "A23."
You are right. Thanks for the feedback. I will think about a more fool-proof approach
These guys don't really have a clue
Just a data point, not claiming to be experts :)
You guys are kinds hard to hear. Cheers...
Thanks for the feedback. Not sure why no one else has pointed that out...