Breckenridge Spiced Whiskey

I’ve never tried a spiced whiskey before, but I’m curious. Nose: Christmas. It smells like a Christmas candle. All cinnamon and clove. Appearance: amber with medium legs. Kind of oily. First sip neat: tastes kind of like a Christmas candle might taste. Overwhelming clove and cinnamon, but not a lot of sweetness to balance it. It’s like if you soaked a handful of cloves and a cinnamon stick in some alcohol overnight. Maybe a bit of orange peel in there. But it’s bitter- like a cinnamon stick. Man, I wish this had some sweetness to it. It wouldn’t taste like bourbon, but it would taste like childhood Christmas nostalgia. With water: like an unsweetened holiday-flavored hot tea that’s sipped through a cinnamon stick. Finish: medium, bitter. I feel like I’ve been drinking the contents of a Bath and Body Works on Black Friday, condensed into liquid form. What a disappointment. This could’ve been so good. However, that being said, I think where it would really shine is in fall-themed cocktails, like a holiday Old Fashioned with orange bitters and garnished with a cinnamon stick. I’m not willing to write it off completely- I just won’t be drinking it neat. There’s lots of unique cocktail potential, though!

A Straight Bourbon Whiskey by Master Distiller Jordan Via for Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado made with a mash bill of 56% corn, 38% rye & 6% malted barley. Then put it in an open-top Scottish fermenter & distilled twice through a 550-gallon Kentucky-made copper pot still, then matured for at least 3 years in Char #3 American white oak casks, then brought to proof using the purest Rocky Mountain snowmelt from 14,000 feet. It has a fresh & aromatic birth with notes of under-ripe bananas & white pepper; while a spicy life adds notes of fruit, brown sugar, clove, rye, white pepper & toasted sesame; that led to a short & delicate death with notes of malted barley, thin honey & vanilla. April / September 2019 / August 2022

Great for the Fall/Winter. Sweet flavor but keep in mind that it’s 82 proof so it is not syrupy like the William Wolf or Ballotin products (which are delicious but a bit too sweet for me). Even if the spices were not in this, the whiskey would be considered a solid everyday drinker.

Liquid Christmas. The spices invoke memories of the holidays and family. It is good but I find I can enjoy it only in small doses. I suspect it will make some interesting cocktails but I only tried it neat.

sweet and spicey like winter or christmas. hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. smooth finish

Like the flavors, but the slight sweetness and thickness reminded me of cheap liquor.