A few months ago, Heaven Hill added a 15-year-old version of its Elijah Craig Single Barrel Bourbon to the lineup, and it was a indeed great whiskey. And now this month, the distillery announced that a new batch of its classic 18-year-old single barrel bourbon was being released, a whiskey that has long been a fan favorite (and pretty hard to find)—and apparently it’s a precursor to something even older on the way.

Elijah Craig, a brand that has been around since 1986, is named after the man that Heaven Hill likes to say was the first to put whiskey into new charred oak barrels to age. The story goes that in the late 1700s Craig was a Baptist preacher in Kentucky who also liked to distill whiskey (and used enslaved people to run his operation, as the brand notes). This “father of bourbon” story is really more folklore than verifiable fact, but it is one that has been engrained into bourbon history due to repetition and savvy marketing.

Whatever the case, Elijah Craig has become one of Heaven Hill‘s most popular brands. Over the years, the whiskey removed its 12-year age statement from the core bourbon, introduced a lineup of barrel-proof expressions (which are now given exact age statements), and even added rye whiskey and toasted oak-finished versions to the portfolio. The 18-Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon arrived in 1994, followed by even older versions ranging in age from 20 to 23 years, but there have been a lot of changes along the way. In 2012, the 18-year was discontinued, only to return three years later. The older versions culminated in the 23-year-old, which is still available albeit in very limited numbers. And there may be an older age statement on the way, but the distillery is not yet revealing what that might be.

Elijah Craig 18-Year-Old is bottled at 90 proof, which is significantly lower than the 108 proof of the new 15-year-old expression (and some whiskey fans do wish the 18 was a bit stronger). Like any single barrel release, the flavor will vary depending on which barrel it comes from, but generally speaking you can expect a fair amount of oak on the palate, along with deep notes of milk and dark chocolate, leather, tobacco, maple, honey, vanilla, and a bit of pepper spice, with a relatively soft finish at just 90 proof. The new batch is just rolling out (SRP $TK), and you can find it (and previous batches) available at local retailers and websites like ReserveBar now.