Gift-giving season has finally arrived! While some folks are busy trimming trees and baking cookies, we’re making our whiskey shopping lists and checking them twice. Over the years, we’ve had the great pleasure of tasting thousands of whiskeys and discovered such a wide range of flavors. With that in mind, our recommendations this year are listed by flavor rather than by style.
We follow our peaty whiskey gift guide with another favorite flavor of ours: spicy whiskey. Recommendations include limited-editions released this year, as well as some of our all-time favorites. Along with our flavor graph, you can find more details like bottle descriptions, expert tasting notes and community ratings by clicking on each spirit link.
Spicy Whiskey
While styles like rye and bourbon often fit in the spicy whiskey camp because of their grain recipes, others achieve those flavors from the barrels used in the maturation process. You can find these whiskeys and more by filtering by flavor within the Distiller app.
Fruity & Spicy
Bardstown Bourbon Co. Collaborative Series Amrut (SRP $159.99)
warm and sweet spices, cherries and dark chocolate
Hatozaki Omakase Rye Mizunara Cask Finish (SRP $95)
Banana, dried sage, cardamom and gingerbread
Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series 2024 The Heart Release (SRP $74.99)
Spicy chocolate tart, cherries, toasted oak spices and roasted pumpkin seeds
Glendalough 7 Year Mizunara Finish (SRP $99.99)
Tropical fruits, warm sandalwood, toasted spices and chocolate-covered raisins
Rich & Spicy
Michter’s US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon (2024 Release) (SRP $110)
Warm gingerbread, tart green apple, brown sugar and apple butter
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Coy Hill Barrelhouse 8 (2024 Special Release) (SRP $79.99)
Apple peel, cloves, cherry menthol, caramel and chocolate
Woodinville 8 Year Bourbon (SRP $129)
rye spice, cloves, crème brülée, cinnamon and leather
WhistlePig The Boss Hog XI: The Juggernaut (SRP $599)
Bold and bittersweet with cardamom, anise, and cinnamon paired with fruit punch and grassy herbs
Sweet & Spicy
Parker’s Heritage Malt Whiskey Heavy Toasted Cognac Barrel Finish 14 Year (SRP $169.99)
hot chocolate with cloves and cinnamon, toasted sesame, caramel and baked apples
Old Forester 100 Proof Bourbon (SRP $28)
dark mint chocolate, charred wood, vanilla pudding, spicy rye
Teeling Wonders of Wood Virgin Swedish Oak (SRP $99.99)
mint, honey, baking spices and toasted oak
Old Elk Cognac Cask Finish Straight Wheat Whiskey (SRP $89.99)
toasted wheat flakes, maple, cloves, allspice and vanilla
Of course, there are dozens of additional spicy whiskey suggestions that we could make — hundreds, in fact! If you’re ready to dive deeper, you can discover them all with our Flavor Search feature available to all Distiller Pro users.
With Distiller, you’ll always know what’s in the bottle before you spend a cent. Rate, Review and Discover spirits! Head on over to Distiller, or download the app for iOS and Android today!
