A Bit O' Honey

There was a little bit of discussion on flavoured whiskies on Connosr awhile back. A friend gave me some Wild Turkey American Honey. It was quite tasty...not that I will be buying a bottle.

I think of these flavoured whiskies as 'sweet cocktails in a bottle'.

I have tried two of these (Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey). I kind of enjoyed the Tennessee Honey better than the WT because it was sweeter on the finish. Anyways I have been reluctant to buy another after having those two.

@Victor -- I tend to think of them as what I feel Mead should be like.

@GotOak91-- If you're looking for less sweet, try the Bushmill's.

As long as all 'flavour added' whisky products (the honey's, the cherry's (like Red Stag), and the maple syrup added bottles like Crown Royal Maple, Sortiledge, Gibson's Grey Cup, etc.) are properly shelved in the liqueurs section of the store, next to the Drambuie, then I have no problem with having the general concept of flavoured whiskies exist. However, proper shelving does not always occur, doing a disservice to proper whiskies and the producers of the flavoured products.

Whenever my girlfriend comes along with me to buy whisky she always wants me to buy one of the honey/maple syrup flavoured ones because she loves maple syrup. As a non whisky drinker, she has a difficult time understanding why they're not the true whiskies that I prefer to buy.

@Pudge72 I agree with you. It irks me that at the Summerhill LCBO they're all put in the regular whisky section.

@Victor I agree. And personally, I'm not such a fan of 'sweet cocktails in a bottle'.

@michaelschout, @Pudge72 - at the LCBO stores I've been into here in Ottawa, everything is lumped into the regular whisky section, with the exception of the Sortilege, which is in with Liqueurs, but that may have something to do with the % ABV definition - Gibson's 100th Grey Cup, Tap 357, Wiser's Spiced, etc., etc., are all bottled at 40% ABV or higher, while the Sortilege is at 30% ABV, so it has to be classified as a Liqueur.

@Mantisking they actually are very similar to mead. Well, at least the modern versions of mead I have tried. Good thinking. I hadn't really even thought about that.

I was given a bottle of this Maple Whiskey Liqueur masterofmalt.com/liqueurs/… (Bourbon based). Nice over ice.

It didn't last long!!

@YakLord...my thought is that anything that has flavouring specifically added (cherry, honey, maple, etc.), rather than pulling the flavours from the aging process in the cask, and regardless of abv, should go to the liqueur shelf. Somehow, Spicebox (vanilla and spices added, like Wiser's Spiced Whisky) @ 35% abv is more often than not, sitting on the whisky shelf. The Wiser's bottling is at 43% but, to my mind, should also be seen as a liqueur.

Sortilege at least has the decency to properly label itself as a liqueur, so you at least know what you're getting into.

Crown Royal Maple is confusing me...their press talks about a maple toasted finishing process (that could mean they put maple syrup on some wood, toasted the wood, and ran the whisky through the "maple baked" wood...I haven't found any reference to aging the whiskey in maple wood casks). It goes to the point where one item of advert specifically states:

"The legendary taste of Crown Royal perfectly blended with natural maple flavor. Craft a flavored whisky with the quality of Crown, the credibility of whisky, and the approachability of flavor. Our master blender discovered that finishing our celebrated whisky with maple toasted oak results in a uniquely smooth experience. Crown Royal Maple Finished is a true flavored whisky, NOT (my emphasis) a liqueur." (source: streamcompanies.com/email/dmac/…).

Also, based on internet images, it would seem that the press photos use a label that is phrased differently from what is found on the bottles on Ontario liquor shelves...more investigation needed. In the meantime...colour me confused. :?

@Pudge72 - from the brief bit of reading I've done, the CR Maple doesn't seem to have any maple syrup "intentionally" added to it, unlike the Gibson's 100th Grey Cup, which admits that maple syrup has been blended into it. It seems to me that CR runs the whisky over "maple toasted oak" - no in-barrel aging from the looks of it - which means that it likely has absorbed some maple flavouring (much like wine finished whiskies). But yes, it is confusing, and why the sudden plethora of maple flavoured Canadian whiskies? I mean, Sortilege has been around for some time, so why is everyone else suddenly jumping on the band-wagon?

@YakLord...the US market as gone nutty for flavoured bourbon/whiskey (Red Stagg, JD Honey, Evan Williams 'pick a flavour, and they've made it', etc.). I believe the Canadian distillers still sell way more in the US, than they do in Canada, so they have had to respond.

@YakLord...the CR Maple is still a weird process that does not seem to be a natural cask aging/finishing process (i.e. I didn't think maple syrup is ever held in wood casks for its own aging purposes!).