The Spirit of Bourbon

I gave it 1 star just to acknowledge the effort that went into creating this product. Look I’m not a guy who turns my nose up to non-alcoholic beverages. I can enjoy a Budweiser Zero or other non-alcoholic beer. So when I saw this product advertised, out of curiosity I bought a bottle. After all why not? Lemme tell you all about this. First off, as soon as you pull the cork out, the aroma is a slap in the face to all bourbons everywhere. It smells like the aftertaste of vomit in your mouth. So right out the gate things weren’t looking good. But I was committed to trying it out so I dug in and prepared myself. I put a large ball in my glass and poured this over it. I let it settle for a few minutes before taking a sip. Oh my god it was bad. I can’t put it any other way. It begins with a familiar oak taste but a second after hitting my tongue, there was that vomit taste again with a prune finish. I had to force it down because I didn’t want to be wasteful. A week later I thought I would give it another try. But after a few sips I gave up. I poured out the glass and poured the rest of the bottle down the sink. The whole kitchen smelled like vomit and prunes for about a half hour afterward. I wouldn’t recommend this for anyone. If you’re looking for a non-alcoholic bourbon, this ain’t it. In fact you may just have to face reality. Because I have zero faith in these products now. I’ll be sticking with the real thing and only the real thing from now on. I had hoped to dabble with creating a non-alcoholic Old Fashioned with this, but I think I’ll go back to experimenting with iced tea to find that proper fix. And I’ll stick with my Woodford, Buffalo Trace, and Bulleitt for myself. I normally don’t leave reviews for products on here. I just buy my stuff and mind my own business. But I can’t in good conscience stay silent. If you’re reading this, trust me. It’s not worth it. Find something else.

Very good for a liquor substitute, whether to reduce real alcohol consumption or save on calories. Tastes just like an okay-bourbon. The capsaicin simulates the alcohol burn well, but lingers in your throat longer than real bourbon. Has a slight smokey/charred taste like a real bourbon. I recommend drinking it neat with a non-water frozen cube (to prevent dilution). I also added a little bit of real bitters to mine and that helped too. I’d be lying if I said 1:1 but the only thing that can taste like alcohol is real alcohol, which this is not. I hope they continue to improve their non-alc spirits and I will buy more someday!

I can only say that this purchase was a massive disappointment. I am an occasional bourbon drinker and my usual brand for mixing is Jim Beam. Nothing fancy. I have a friend who is big into non-alcoholic options and he used to like a proper Old Fashioned so I had high hopes of sharing a proper NA Old Fashioned with him. This is nothing even close to Beam, or Bulleit, or a Woodford. It's aroma is chemically, it's mouth feel is watery, and the aftertaste is lingering, strong, and unpleasant. It has a slightly "whiskey" kind of burn but everything else about this is off putting and very non-bourbon. Think Pine-Sol with a jalapeno kick and a B vitamin scent (it has B12 in it). I tried it neat, on the rocks, and in an Old Fashioned mix and tried to doctor it to something palatable but was unable to, so, I dumped the whole bottle down the kitchen sink. If you like bourbon don't buy this. You WILL be disappointed. If you might by this to try something that tastes like bourbon, don't, it's not an accurate representation of bourbon. If you want to see someone gag and shoot a video to post of them tasting it then THIS is for you! I don't like posting negative things but this is not good.

As much as I would love for this to be good, to call it a Bourdon Spirit or Whiskey Alternative is like calling Thunderbird a Wine Alternative. It tastes like watered down (with something funky in the water) corn based blech. I tried it by itself, then tried to add it to an Old fashioned mixer. It ruined the mixer and I had to pour it out (the Old fashioned drink it was in and the entire bottle - it was that bad). Buyer beware. As great as it would be to have a NA option, this simply isn't tasty or tolerable. If this was my only option, I'd just go without.

OK. When I pulled the cork out and took a sniff, it smelled like it had alcohol. So I had to double-check before I drank any. I'm not consuming alcohol these days for medical and other health reasons. The first sip was OK. The consistency is too thin for my taste - it seems watery, but a decent flavor, and it has a burn from some ingredient that stuck with me for a while after the initial tasting. I love bourbon - my favorite being Maker's Mark, but this came off to me as more of a scotch, with an unpleasant aftertaste that I get from Johnny Walker It's not terrible, but not great - it's interesting. I think, besides the aftertaste, it was the thin consistency that put me off. I probably won't buy it again unless my taste for it changes.