Head to head · same category, comparable price
Elijah Craig Small Batch vs Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select
No flavour axis separates these two, so the choice is price and occasion.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Elijah Craig Small Batch | Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Bourbon | Bourbon |
| Origin | Kentucky, United States | Kentucky, United States |
| Age | No age statement | No age statement |
| Strength | 47% ABV | 45.2% ABV |
| Cask | New oak barrel, Level 3 char | New charred American oak |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £43 | £38 |
| Per 10cl | £6.14 | £5.43 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £131 | £120 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both Kentucky whiskies, from different distilleries.
Neither carries an age statement, so neither discloses its youngest spirit.
Cask as each producer describes it: Elijah Craig Small Batch in new oak barrel, level 3 char, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select in new charred american oak.
Neither states chill filtration.
Colour: Elijah Craig Small Batch natural colour, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select silent.
What the price buys
Elijah Craig Small Batch is £5.00 dearer a bottle than Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select.
Strength keeps that ordering: £120 a litre of pure alcohol for Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select against £131.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Elijah Craig Small Batch is 11th cheapest and Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select 9th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Elijah Craig Small Batch | Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet | 7 | 6 |
| Fruity | 5 | 5 |
| Spicy | 6 | 6 |
| Woody | 7 | 6 |
| Sherried | 1 | 1 |
| Cereal | 4 | 4 |
| Oily | 7 | 6 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is sweet, 7 against 6.
Identical on peaty, fruity, spicy, sherried and cereal.
Each bottle in its own right
Elijah Craig Small Batch
Vanilla, toffee and charred oak at 47%. Still one of bourbon's better value propositions.
Heaven Hill removed the 12-year age statement in the week of 27 January 2016 and now ships an 8-to-12-year blend — it chose to hold the price and keep wide distribution rather than let the bottle go scarce, which is the opposite of what most brands did.
Full record →Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select
Dried fruit, mint and cocoa. Rounder and less sweet than most at the price.
Woodford is the rare Kentucky bourbon distilled in copper pot stills. The 45.2% we list is the producer's own figure (90.4 proof); a 43.2% UK/EU bottling is widely reported but we could not verify it on any producer or retailer page. Despite common belief, Woodford publishes no mash bill percentages anywhere.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Elijah Craig Small Batch for value and old fashioned, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select for mint julep and cocktails that need body.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Elijah Craig Small Batch and Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select: elijahcraig.com, woodfordreserve.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.