When distilleries make whiskey, one of the final steps before bottling is diluting the spirit with water to bring down the alcohol content to around 90 proof. Barrel proof whiskeys skip this step, and usually have an ABV between 60 – 65%, and are upwards of 120 proof. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch no. A117 is no exception, clocking in at 127.0 proof.

The spirit is distilled at Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, the nation’s largest family-owned distillery. Heaven Hill was also the site of a fire in 1996 that destroyed seven warehouses and…