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What Fresh Whiskey Hell Is This?

If you hate these products, blame Sazerac's phenomenally successful Fireball, another whiskey/liqueur mixture.
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On Monday, it was “The Death of the Brand Ambassador.” Today, it is “Revenge of the Global Partner,” reminding us that fanciful titles for paid celebrity spokesfolk are also a hot new thing. Just ask Wild Turkey Creative Director Matthew McConaughey.

McConaughey got his gig about a year ago. Kunis has been global partnering with Jim Beam since 2014. Today she recommends that we drink Jim Beam Vanilla, for when “you love the taste of bourbon but are sometimes looking for something a little different.” A mixture of vanilla liqueur with Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, it adds to the Jim Beam flavored portfolio that includes Jim Beam Apple, Jim Beam Kentucky Fire, Jim Beam Honey, and Red Stag by Jim Beam Black Cherry.

Jack Daniel’s Honey is the leader in the flavored whiskey segment. It is a mixture of Jack whiskey and honey liqueur. By mixing whiskey with a liqueur you can introduce grain neutral spirit (i.e., vodka) as part of the drink’s alcohol content, as neutral spirit is the alcohol component of most liqueurs. A blended whiskey that contains neutral spirit must disclose that fact on the label. Liqueurs are assumed to contain neutral spirit, so a whiskey blended with a liqueur doesn’t face that requirement. It is classified as a ‘distilled spirit specialty,’ not a whiskey.

Neutral spirit costs a lot less to manufacture than whiskey. That makes flavored products more profitable and helps stretch currently tight whiskey stocks. Products classified as ‘specialties’ can also be sold at a lower proof, 70° (35% ABV) rather than the minimum of 80° (40% ABV) required for whiskey.

But to the typical consumer, it says Jack Daniel’s or Jim Beam on the label so it’s whiskey, right?

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If you hate these products, blame Sazerac’s phenomenally successful Fireball, another whiskey/liqueur mixture.

When Jim Beam first got into the flavored whiskey game, they said it would never get as crazy as flavored vodka.

We’ll see about that.

Editor’s Note: This column is republished with the permission of its author.

Chuck Cowdery

Charles K. Cowdery, a Kentucky Colonel and member of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame, is an internationally recognized whiskey writer specializing in American whiskey. He is the author of several acclaimed bourbon books, including "Bourbon, Strange: Surprising Stories of American Whiskey," and contributes regularly to Whisky Advocate Magazine. Chuck also holds the position of editor and publisher for The Bourbon Country Reader, the longest-running publication solely dedicated to American whiskey.

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