Reverend Elijah Craig was a Baptist minister who established a distillery in 1789 on the banks of Elkhorn Creek in what's now Georgetown, Kentucky — and is widely credited as the first distiller to age his whiskey in charred oak barrels, the single choice that turned clear corn liquor into the amber spirit we call bourbon. Whether the story is strict history or bourbon folklore, the name has earned its place: the brand launched in 1986 under legendary Heaven Hill master distiller Parker Beam as a 12-year age-stated small batch bourbon, and it helped define the entire small batch category before the term was in common use. It's made in Bardstown by Heaven Hill, which holds the second largest inventory of aging barrels in the world. The Small Batch flagship sits at 94 proof, dropping its 12-year age statement in 2016 as demand outstripped stocks, and it remains one of the best value-to-quality ratios in American whiskey. Barrel Proof is the cult item: a true barrel proof, meaning each batch is bottled at the actual proof of the 100-or-fewer barrels in that dump, often landing between 125 and 140. Beyond those sit Single Barrel releases at 18, 20, 21, and 23 years, Toasted Barrel, Straight Rye, and the inaugural Barrel Proof Rye — Whisky Advocate's reigning Whiskey of the Year.

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