Here we have the first of our flavoured whiskies, Revel Stoke Spiced Whisky. We’re broadening our horizons and widening our palates by letting strangers put chemicals in our drinks.
Revel Stoke comes from Phillips Distilling, makers of the Phillips Unions Canadian Whisky/Kentucky Straight Bourbon (but called a Whiskey) melding (meddling? meddling), and this appears to be another Canadian whisky-fueled project. As with Phillips, the Revel Stoke web presence is conflicting and inconsistent. First off, Revel Stoke isn’t a thing or a place. Revelstoke, however, is in British Columbia, not Minnesota where Phillips comes from, and there’s no Revelstoke or Revel Stoke in Minnesota. The website refers to this spirit as “Imported Canadian Whisky with Spice and Other Natural Flavours” (super specific), but the label just says “Spiced Whisky”. The bottle and the website image both show “45% abv” but the footer legal information on the website say “35% abv/70 proof”.
One place that seems to have some more information than the producer seems to be forthcoming with is canadianwhisky.org. They have this insightful paragraph that sheds some light on Revel Stoke’s backstory:
Named after Revelstoke, the mountain resort town in British Columbia, Revel Stoke Spiced Whisky is actually distilled in the next province over: Alberta. It is distilled from Canadian prairie wheat and rye, and after ageing, it is infused with spices and natural flavours. On the nose these evoke essences of vanilla, camphor, and cherry. Phillips, prides itself on its innovation and modeled Revel Stoke on spiced rum, noting that about a third of all rum sold in North America has had spices added. If adding spices worked with rum, they gambled that adding spices to whisky would similarly spice up whisky sales.
Please be sure to read the rest of the article here.
Enough information. Since we’re dealing with a different type of fish with these intentionally flavoured drinks, we’ll be doing the reviews differently as well. We may pick and choose from the traditional 5 categories (colour, nose, neat, finish, splash) and we may add some free jazz categories like mix or pairings. Here’s what we thought
nose
Dan – vanilla
Simon – butterscotch
Goran – very sweet caramel
Ryan – nice vanilla, scented playdoh
neat
Dan – coca cola, cherries
Simon – cinnamon, cloves
Goran – maple, coke syrup
Ryan – tastes like jack & coke
finish
Dan – burn
Simon – burn
Goran – burn
Ryan – burn
splash
Dan – sweet beverage
Simon – same just less burn
Goran – n/a
Ryan – n/a
skor
Dan – dark chocolate mouthfeel, coffee
Simon – so good, draws out the caramel elements
Goran – oregano, chocolate
Ryan – chocolate
Revel Stoke Spiced Whisky – 45% 750ml – $25.95 – USA/Canada
Try it? Be prepared for burn. Buy it? Interesting for mixed drinks.
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