Spiritless Kentucky 74 Non-Alcoholic Whiskey, 750 ML

The proprietors market this as if they spent ages coming up with the perfect recipe. I was certainly sucked in by the inflated and exaggerated descriptions. If you'd given this to me blindfolded and asked me what it was, I would have said something like a caramelized sour liquid. I would never have said bourbon or whiskey. It also has no bite, so clearly they didn't add capsaicin or anything else to imitate alcohol. I added vanilla, maple, cinnamon, clove, even angostura bitters to try and make it taste remotely like whiskey. Not even close. I hate to throw way a $35 bottle of any spirit, so I tried to mix it with sour mix. That worked. The sour mix was so potent I could only taste a hint of the imitation bourbon. Still, halfway through I gave up and pitched it. Personally, I think the sellers either have the most bizarre taste in whiskey, or they are hoping that enough one time purchasers will be fooled to keep their business going. I was fooled, and I wish they'd refund me my money, but alas that would mean standing behind their product. I'm not going to hold my breath except when a bottle of this ooze is uncorked and I need to spare my nostrils.

Update 8/25/22: 5 stars for customer service, 4 stars for product. Have made a couple of Old Fashioned cocktails with Kentucky 74 using my recipe. Using all Kentucky 74 and no other regular whiskey; the drink was good but you won’t mistake it for a cocktail using regular whiskey. For my taste purposes, I cut way back on the sugar since Kentucky 74 is on the sweet side. I can live with this version when I don’t want alcohol in my drink.The cocktail was much better when using the 50/50 method: half Kentucky 74 and half my usual whiskey. I still use minimal sugar to keep the drink from being too sweet. This version is a nice way to keep the alcohol content down. I also made a vanilla Old Fashioned using Bittercube cherry bark vanilla bitters, half Kentucky 74, half whiskey and 1 ounce of Vanilla Crown which was good!A classic Old Fashioned is my favorite drink for a chilly Fall evening so I am happy to have discovered a way to enjoy it while using less alcohol. I have not tried Kentucky 74 neat or rocks nor would I since it was not intended to be used that way.Final thoughts: The smoke is strong on the nose but don’t judge it by that. Don’t sip it neat or on the rocks by itself. Try it in your favorite cocktail and go from there. You will receive a nice booklet with recipes along with your bottle. The packaging and presentation are outstanding, as is the customer service! It’s a bit on the pricey side but I will order again and keep it in our bar.Update 8/15/22: 5 stars for customer service at Spiritless!! I contacted Spiritless directly via the customer service link on their website and, using the contact form, explained the issue. That was on Sat, 8/13. A representative for the company immediately reached out to me first thing today and offered to ship a new bottle to replace the compromised bottle I received from Amazon. Needless to say, I am very impressed with their customer service and will order directly off their website in the future. I am looking forward to trying the product in my one of my favorite Fall cocktails, an Old Fashioned!I just received my order. Upon opening the box and removing the bottle, I found the seal on the bottle was open. It looks as though it was intentionally cut open. The bottle is not returnable to Amazon and I cannot find a way to report the issue. Since the seal has been compromised I will not be using it and since I cannot return it I’m out the money. Very disappointed. Will not purchase again given the quality control issues. I will revise this review only if I am contacted by someone from Spiritless to resolve this issue.

I like drinking whiskey straight, this drink is not for that. It's fine for cocktails. But not for me.

It has an interesting flavor... maybe leaning towards scotch. Not my favorite. I'm using it up in mixed cocktails. It's been around for a few months, and every time I open the bottle, it pops, as though there's compressed air in there. Hopefully it's OK. It hasn't killed me yet :~)

Ok so I’m a scotch drinker— or was, 7 years ago. Single malt, high end blends and the like. Worked my way to rye and bourbon and discovered the flavors there.I’ve been dry for a while but do miss the flavor. Some NA beer is fairly good so I thought maybe there’s an NA scotch that comes close to the mark.Plus, I figured that I stomached enough bad scotch that I could handle whatever 74 tasted like. Cool bottle and label. $35. Plus it’s from Kentucky, so how bad could it be?“Oh boy.”That’s how bad. I wish it could be returned.Anyway the smell of it nearly had me sick. Mind you, it was poured on the rocks. I gave some to my 24 y/o son who sipped it twice and didn’t think anything too bad about it but didn’t ask for more either.So I held my breath and sipped a small amount. What can I say about the taste? Just two words.“Oh boy.”

Great

I should preface this review by noting I don't drink. I've found, in general, I don't care for the taste of alcohol. But I've been looking for something low in carbs that I can drink instead of water or diet soda. I've tried Ritual's whisky alternative and this has a similar flavor. Or at least I think it does. It's so watered down it's hard to tell. It has more of a flavor of water that was poured into a cup that had a little of something else left in it. I think I might have liked this had the flavor been a touch stronger.I did like that they didn't add an artificial burn to it. Ritual has an artificial burn to it that this was missing. That could have been a plus (though I don't mind it in the Ritual). But again, it tastes more of water than anything else.

I did not expect this to taste like real bourbon, so I wasn't holding it to a high bar. And they even say not to drink it neat, and it makes sense that this wouldn't be a fair comparison. Still, with some good reviews mixed with the bad, I thought I'd give it a try. I thought even if it doesn't taste like bourbon, a nice vanilla oaky flavor could be nice with some bitters and an orange peel. I was wrong. This stuff is vile. It has a weird cherry cough syrupy flavor along with some chemically tasting variation of vanilla extract. I don't detect any oak. I wanted to like it...