How Honey Took Over Whiskey: A Short History and 56 Bottles To Explore

The first time I experienced a honey whiskey was years ago, at a now-ex-girlfriend’s place, when the only thing resembling whiskey in her kitchen was a bottle of Wild Turkey American Honey (which is technically a liqueur but I'll get to that later).

Fast forward to today and I've been encountering honey more often. Just take some of the recent new release announcements. In May, we got Green River Honey followed by Pursuit Spirits' Honey Hog in June and Cedar Ridge's Honey Bourbon in July.

It appears the song of the summer is "Honey Whiskey."

Sorry, Ella Langley.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this honey-finished trend, and what I found was something far larger than I expected. Honey whiskey didn’t suddenly appear in 2026; it’s been building for fifty years, from the honey bourbon liqueurs of the glut era to Belle Meade’s breakthrough to the new wave of modern honey finishes today.

To understand how honey has become one of the most popular finishing techniques in American whiskey, we have to start at the beginning.

The Liqueur Era

Honey’s first role in American whiskey wasn’t innovation. It was survival.

In the mid‑1970s, deep in the bourbon glut years, distillers were scrambling for ways to make bourbon feel friendlier. That's when we got Wild Turkey Liqueur: an 80-proof spirit made from bourbon and natural honey. Jimmy Russell explained the genesis on the Bourbon Pursuit podcast in 2018:

"Actually, we done that for people, mostly for ladies, back in the day that thought Bourbon was a little strong. And we made this bourbon with honey and sweetener and flavors added to it. And it's a huge market for us now."

In 2006, it was renamed Wild Turkey American Honey. It says it's "blended with real honey." Several years after that, it found its way into my ex-girlfriend's cabinet.

Other brands followed: Evan Williams Honey Reserve in 2009, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey in 2011, and Jim Beam Honey in 2012.

But as bourbon’s modern boom took off, honey didn’t disappear. It evolved. What began as a flavored product became something else entirely.

And that evolution starts with one spontaneous experiment in Nashville.

Belle Meade Honey Cask: The Breakthrough

Belle Meade Honey began with a favor. TruBee Honey in Eagleville, Tennessee, asked if they could get a few used bourbon barrels. After TruBee finished aging honey in the barrels, they asked co-founder Andy Nelson if he wanted the barrels back. Inspiration struck.

His Belle Meade Bourbon brand already had a cask-finished series; honey could be the latest addition. He and his brother Charlie quickly realized the challenges of working with a honey barrel. The honey pulled so much moisture out of the wood that the barrels leaked like sieves. Andy and the team found creative ways to bring the honey barrel back to life:

“We just started rehydrating the barrel from the outside… every couple hours we’d douse it with a hose. And it felt like that was going to take forever. So we went to the store, bought a baby pool, filled it with water, put it on the production floor, and set the barrel on top of it. Every few hours we’d turn it so every side got rehydrated.”

A baby pool in the middle of a distillery holding what would be the innovation in honey whiskey.

Once the barrels were watertight, Andy and the team filled them with 11-year MGP bourbon and began tasting every week, watching how the honey was influencing the whiskey. And from the start, they knew restraint mattered.

“We also knew that with this kind of thing, we don’t want to let it go too much. We don’t want to overdo it. We wanted it to be very clearly a bourbon with a hint of honey influence. We didn’t want it to taste like honey with a little bit of bourbon in it.”

That philosophy, honey as an accent, combined with the techniques of barrel finishing and thinking intentionally about the base whiskey, became the difference between Belle Meade Honey and the liqueurs that came before it.

The reaction was immense. Lines wrapped around the distillery on drop days. Belle Meade Honey won Double Gold at the 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, earning Best in Class in the Finished Bourbon category. Fred Minnick, one of the judges that year, gave it high praise:

"While you could taste a hint of honey, the product was clearly a flavorful bourbon, shining with notes of nutmeg and cinnamon...an exceptional, highly recommended product..."

Not long after launching Belle Meade Honey, Andy found himself on the radar of the National Honey Board, the trade organization for honey producers and apiaries, who invited him to participate in a Honey Spirits Summit in Nashville.

The popularity drove Bourbon enthusiasts to try their own Honey Barrel finishes or try to re-create Belle Meade Honey Cask for themselves.

The success of Belle Meade Honey changed the game. There was now a new way to combine honey and whiskey, resulting in a different taste profile. And just like that, a new trend was born.

The Honey Whiskey Boom

Distillers and brands started to embrace Honey, with some sticking to the classic techniques of using a liqueur or infusing honey directly into the whiskey; others opted for barrel finishing, as with Belle Meade.

In researching this article, I searched for as many releases of honey-finished whiskies as I could find. Since 2018, when Belle Meade Honey Cask was first introduced, we have seen the rise of honey and whiskey:

Today, honey-finished whiskey has evolved into a product even discerning bouronists can appreciate. As whiskey enthusiast Matt Kusek told me, “I think a lot of the releases this year learned from the mistakes of the past where there was just too much honey in the barrel.” Andy's philosophy still lives on in today's expressions.

Like or not, honey is now part of the modern bourbon vocabulary, as common as toasted finishes, double oaks, and wine casks. When I asked Andy about Belle Meade's role in today's honey whiskey trend, he reflected fondly:

“It feels really cool, honestly. Because whiskey and bourbon are such big categories now, especially here in the U.S. There’s such a long tradition and history, all kinds of flavor profiles and mash bills — and only until recently did it start getting so much more creative or innovative.”

Belle Meade Honey’s run didn’t last forever. After 2021, as Belle Meade Bourbon shifted under Constellation’s ownership toward the Nelson Bros. line, the honey cask finish disappeared. A Nelson Bros. Honey Cask eventually arrived, but enthusiasts commented it wasn’t the same. The original Belle Meade Honey became a unicorn, a piece of history that now fetches high prices at auction.

But the story isn’t finished.

Belle Meade Bourbon is now back in the hands of Andy and Charlie Nelson, re-acquiring the rights in 2025. Andy told me at the end of our interview: “We definitely plan on — I’ll just go ahead and say — we will have a honey cask finish again in the future.”

For a whiskey that began in happenstance, became a phenomenon, and helped spark an entirely new finishing trend, Belle Meade Honey may one day have its return to the sun.

56 Honey Whiskies Over The Years

I have to admit: when I fall down a rabbit hole, I don’t just fall; I fall hard like a middle schooler with a crush on a classmate. What you’re about to see is my compilation of honey‑whiskey releases over the years, assembled after far too many late‑night searches and e-mail inquiries asking brands what kind of honey they used in their releases. The list omits private single barrel picks; otherwise this list may never end.

I tried my best to verify everything here (not every brand responded to my inquiries); some of the launch dates and other data points may be approximations; honey whiskey is a surprisingly sticky category.

Honey Liqueurs & Infusions (Non‑Barrel‑Finished)

Honey is added directly to the whiskey or infused.

Wild Turkey American Honey
Launched: 1976
Proof: 71
Whiskey: Bourbon
Process: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $20 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Originally Wild Turkey Liqueur, it was the world's first bourbon liqueur product, originally bottled at 80 proof.

Evan Williams Honey
Launched: 2009
Proof: 65
Whiskey: Bourbon
Process: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $15 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Originally launched as Evan Williams Honey Reserve Liqueur, it was bottled at 70 proof.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey
Launched: 2011
Proof: 70
Whiskey: Tennessee Whiskey
Process: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $14 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

A blend of honey and Jack Daniel's Old No. 7.

Jim Beam Honey
Launched: 2012
Proof: 65
Whiskey: Bourbon
Process: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $20 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

A combination of Jim Beam white label and honey liqueur.

Silverback Blackback Honey Rye
Launched: ~2017
Proof: 70
Whiskey: Lucky 13 Rye Whiskey
Honey: Hungry Hill Farm
Process: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $48 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Features Blackback's Rye Whiskey as a base, made from an undisclosed mashbill of rye, white corn, and malted barley, and aged at least 2 years. UPDATE: After this writing, Silverback showed up this month with an "Alpha Series" version of their Honey Rye, which bumps up the proof to 90.

Clark & Chesterfield Honey Whiskey
Launched: 2017
Proof: 60
Whiskey: Bourbon (70% Corn/25% Rye/5% Malted Barley, Minimum 2 Years)
Honey: The Colony
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $70 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

A fan favorite of the New England Sweetwater Distillery, an African-American, family-owned business in Winchester, NH. While the honey is sourced from a local bee farm in nearby Tyngsboro, MA, the farm also grows heirloom cider apples, blueberries, and juniper berries, which find their way into other releases.

MurLarkey Honey Whiskey
Launched: December 2018
Proof: 80
Whiskey: MurLarkey White Whiskey
Honey: Local (Master Distiller George ‘Papi’ Zwetkow's own beehives)
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $39.99 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Release (Spring and Fall)

Before starting MurLarkey Spirits, Zwetkow was a chef; it should be no surprise that he would have homegrown bees in his backyard to lend to a honey liqueur.

Blue Ash Farms Honey Bourbon
Launched: Late 2019
Proof: 90
Honey: Blue Ash Farms Honey
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $49.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Owner Bill O'Donnell, former financial trader and the older brother of actor Chris O'Donnell, infuses this expression with wildflower honey collected in the Pecatonica River Valley.

Revelton Distillery Honey Whiskey
Launched: ~2024
Proof: 75
MSRP: $52.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Revelton Distilling Company in Osceola, Iowa, is a craft distillery founded by owners Rob and Christi Taylor. They were inspired to start the business after finding out their home state was the source for a lot of the corn distillers use to make whiskey.

Spy Trail Honey Bourbon Whiskey
Launched: June 2025
Proof: 68
Whiskey: Bourbon (60% Corn/20% Wheat/11% Malted Barley/9% Rye)
Honey: Raw, natural New York State honey
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $47.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Spy Trail Distilling on Long Island's North Shore is named after a spy route where Revolutionary War spies smuggled messages to General George Washington.

Breckenridge Honey Whiskey
Launched: September 2025
Proof: 72
Whiskey: Breckenridge High Rye
Honey: Goldswarm Raw Honey
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $38 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Breckenridge Honey Whiskey originally started as part of their partnership with the Denver Broncos and is now a part of their regular portfolio.

Green River Honey
Launched: May 2026
Proof: 92
Whiskey: Bourbon (4 years)
Honey: Above the Dirt Garden and Honey Shop
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $24.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Green River's foray into finished whiskies has been a success for the distillery. Their entire planned inventory for the year was sold out in 6 weeks. They are currently working to have more by August. Brand Ambassador and Beekeeper Caryn Wells is going to be busy.

Honey Barrel Finishes

Whiskey is finished in honey-conditioned barrels.

Belle Meade Honey
Launched: May 2018
Proof: Cask Strength
Whiskey: Bourbon (Indiana, 8-11 years)
Honey: TruBee Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $120 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

As Steve Coomes noted in his review of the inaugural release, "I’d be hard pressed to do any cocktailing with this. The supple sweetness picked up from the honey darn near makes it a cocktail on its own. If you can find one, I wager you’ll be delighted."

Spirit Hound Distillers Colorado Honey Straight Malt Whisky
Launched: May 2019
Proof: 90
Whiskey: Straight Malt Whisky
Honey: Bee Squared Apiaries
Finishing: Barrel Finish (90 days)
MSRP: $70 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Colorado-based Spirit Hound lends its barrels to Bee Squared, where honey is added and aged for 100 days before the barrels are used for Colorado Honey Malt Whisky. The release is also marketed as a single barrel.

Chattanooga Whiskey Experimental Batch 012
Launched: October 2019
Proof: 102
Whiskey: Straight Bourbon Whiskey (w/honey malted barley)
Honey: Moonlight Meadery Heather Honey Mead
Finishing: Barrel Finish (1-8 months)
MSRP: $69.99 (750ml)
Availability: Single release

Chattanooga Whiskey is known for its experimental releases; at the time of this writing, they are approaching 50 such expressions. Batch 012 featured bourbon finished with honey mead. Like with many of Chattanooga's Experimental releases, once it's gone, it's gone.

ShortBarrel Bees Knees
Launched: 2021
Proof: Varies by batch/release
Whiskey: Special Base Blend (5-9 Yrs)
Honey: State-Specific Honey (GA, FL, TN, KY, TX)
Finishing: Barrel Finished (Conditioned Kelvin Cooperage, 8-12 months)
MSRP: $109.99 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Limited Release (Fall)

To add a level of terroir, ShortBarrel sources local honey to create region-specific releases. If you get a bottle in Georgia, it will feature local honey and will have a different profile than a release you get in Texas.

King's Ryeconic Honey Cask Finish

Launched: June 2021
Proof: Barrel Strength
Whiskey: Rye Whiskey (95% Rye/5% Malted Barley from Indiana)
Honey: Local East Tennessee
Finishing: Barrel Finished
MSRP: $90 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Limited Release

King's Family Distillery in Pigeon Forge, TN, took their normally double-barreled rye and finished it in a third barrel conditioned with local East Tennessee Honey. If you visit the distillery, you might also be able to find a toasted version.

King's Honey Bourbon
Launched: June 2021
Proof: 110
Whiskey: Bourbon (60% Corn/36% Rye/4% Malted Barley, 6 years)
Finishing: Barrel Finished
MSRP: $93 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Limited Release

Not to be outdone, King's also released a honey-finished bourbon alongside their Ryeconic. The bourbon is a familiar 36% high rye mashbill.

Nulu Honey Finished Whiskey
Launched: ~November 2021
Proof: Barrel Strength
Whiskey: Single Barrel Bourbon or Rye
Honey: Local
Finishing: Barrel Finish (3-12 months)
MSRP: $140 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

Nulu offers honey-finished whiskies as part of their Experimental Finish Series that can be procured as a single barrel pick. Later releases and picks added a double-barrel element, with the whiskey initially finished in a toasted barrel before the honey cask.

Nelson Brothers Honey Cask Finish
Launched: 2022
Proof: Cask Strength
Whiskey: Bourbon
Honey: TruBee Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish (3-15 months)
MSRP: $150 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

After the 2021 release of Belle Meade Honey, Nelson Green Brier transitioned their honey cask finish to the Nelson Bros Whiskey line. While they maintained the same honey source and continue to bottle it at cask strength, enthusiasts observed that the base whiskey changed to a younger Bardstown Bourbon Company liquid; in addition, the company stated that additional sources from Tennessee and Indiana are also used.

Red Line Honey Cask Finished Bourbon
Launched: 2022
Proof: Barrel Strength
Whiskey: Single Barrel Bourbon (Indiana)
Honey: Local Wildflower Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $115 (750ml)
Availability: Single Release

Red Line added honey-finished expressions to their Experimental Cask Series by filling their empty barrels with local wildflower honey and, after conditioning them, refilling the barrels with selected single barrels from their MGP stocks.

Blue Note Honey Rye Cask
Launched: January 2022
Proof: 117.2
Whiskey: Straight Rye Whiskey (95% Rye/5% Malted Barley)
Honey:  USDA Grade A, True Source Certified Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $65 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Release (Summer)

Earlier this year I got up close to some of these honey casks. It can get pretty messy as they age.

Laws Honey Cask Finish
Launched: July 2022
Proof: 95
Whiskey: Straight Bourbon (60% Corn/20% Heirloom Wheat/10% Heirloom Rye/10% Heirloom Malted Barley, 3+ years)
Honey: Bee Squared Apiaries
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $84.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Beth's Bees makes another appearance for another Colorado brand.

Woodford Reserve Honey Barrel Finish
Launched: September 2022
Proof: 90.4
Whiskey: Bourbon (72% Corn/18% Rye/10% Malted Barley)
Honey: Local
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $59.99 (375ml)
Availability: Single Release (Distillery Series)

A blend of Woodford Reserve finished in honey barrels and regular Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey. Woodford Reserve released this distillery-only item to celebrate Bourbon Heritage Month. The honey used in the process came from a local farmer also in Woodford County, KY.

Dragon's Milk Origin Honey Barrel Bourbon
Launched: April 2023
Proof: Varies by batch
Whiskey: Origin Small Batch (6 Years)
Honey: Great Lakes Bee Co.
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $119.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

New Holland Brewing takes its high-malt pot-still bourbon and finishes it in honey barrels.

Three Chord Honey Toasted Whiskey
Launched: May 2023
Proof: 111.3
Whiskey: Bourbon Whiskey (Indiana, 5-6 years) & Corn Whiskey (8 years)
Honey: Fern Valley Farms (Arkansas)
Finishing: Barrel Finish (1 month)
MSRP: $60 (750ml)
Availability: Single Release

This release takes a blend of 2 MGP bourbon mashbills and a KY-sourced corn whiskey, which is finished in a toasted barrel for 3 months before entering the honey barrel for a final month finish.

Blue Note Honey Bourbon Cask
Launched: July 2024
Proof: 115.7
Whiskey: Bourbon (70% Corn/21% Rye/9% Malted Barley)
Honey:  USDA Grade A, True Source Certified honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $65 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Release (Summer)

Following up on the success of their Honey Cask rye, Blue Note now has a Bourbon version utilizing the same techniques as their Rye.

J. Henry Ambrosia Reserve
Launched: July 2024
Proof: 105
Whiskey: Straight Bourbon Whiskey (5 years)
Honey: Local
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $85
Availability: Annual Release (Summer)

J. Henry's Ambrosia Reserve uses a base whiskey blend specifically designed to be finished with Honey. The blend focuses on fruity and floral flavors to balance with the honey finish. This year, proceeds from bottle purchases will go towards Sunshine Place, a community organization supporting the local Dane County community.

ShortBarrel The Afterswarm
Launched: October 2024
Proof: Varies by release
Whiskey: Rye Whiskey (95% Rye/5% Malted Barley, 6-13 years)
Honey: Varies by release
Finishing: Barrel Finished (Conditioned Kelvin Cooperage, 12 months)
MSRP: $114.99 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Limited Release

ShortBarrel expands its honey-finished series into rye whiskey (using rye from both MGP and Green River). Unlike the Bees Knees, The Afterswarm features a single honey source. Their original release featured a Georgia wildflower honey, and their follow-up release featured an Oregon meadowfoam honey.

Kentucky Nectar
Launched: November 2024
Proof: Cask Strength
Whiskey: Bourbon (64% Corn/24% Wheat/12% Malted Barley)
Honey: Organic Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $99.99 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Release (4x a year)

Old Commonwealth Distillery revived the vintage brand in 2024. Before that, the label was owned by Heaven Hill, last produced in 1967. Back then it was a bottled-in-bond bourbon.

Southern Star Bourbon Finished in Honey Barrels
Launched: December 2024
Proof: Cask Strength
Whiskey: Straight Bourbon Whiskey (7 years)
Honey: Local
Finishing: Barrel Finish (12 months)
MSRP: $49.95 (375ml)
Availability: Annual

Similar to Belle Meade, their only cask-finished expression was born when a local honey producer asked for a barrel to age some of his honey in.

Boone County Founder's Reserve Honey Soaked Cask Finished
Launched: December 2024
Proof: 108.8
Whiskey: Founder’s Reserve Bourbon
Honey: Local
Finishing: Barrel Finished
MSRP: $60 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

A part of Boone County's Cask Finished series alongside their Toasted, Amburana, and Maple cask finishes.

Lost Lantern: Starlight Distillery finished in a honey cask
Launched: April 2025
Proof: 110
Whiskey: Bourbon (4 years)
Honey: Starlight
Finishing: Barrel Finish (Zak Cooperage, 3 months)
MSRP: $80 (750ml)
Availability: Single Release

Lost Lantern is no stranger to Starlight Distillery, but this was their first release that was finished. This particular release was a blend of two bourbon mashbills that was then finished in barrels that previously held honey from the Huber family farm.

Circle City Whiskey Company Honey Finished Rye
Launched: May 2025
Proof: 115.1
Whiskey: Rye Whiskey (95% Rye/5& Malted Barley)
Honey: Local
Finishing: Toasted Honey Oak Staves soaked in Honey
MSRP: $73 (750ml)
Availability: Single Release

Like many others, Circle City made sure their honey was local for their Honey Finished Rye release; co-founder Drew Black sourced the honey at a local farmers market.

Seelbach’s Private Reserve "The Beekeeper"
Launched: July 2025
Proof: Varies by batch
Whiskey: Bourbon (75% Corn/21% Rye/4% Malted Barley, Indiana) 
Honey: White Oak Pastures, Georgia Wildflower Honey
Finishing: Ex-20-year Light Whiskey Barrels (4+ months)
MSRP: $69.99
Availability: Annual Release

The online craft spirits marketplace sports its own Private Reserve brand that has been turning out quality releases at great prices.

Starlight Distillery Honey Reserve
Launched: July 2025
Proof: 106
Whiskey: Starlight Sweet Mash Bourbon
Honey: Huber Family Farm
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $65 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Edition

Starlight Distillery is no stranger to cask finishing. They have offered single-barrel bourbons and ryes finished in honey barrels (conditioned with honey from their farms) since Fall 2021. This release represents their first small-batch expression of the finish.

Wenzel Honey Cask Finished Bourbon
Launched: October 2025
Proof: 104.1
Whiskey: Wheated Bourbon (7.5 years)
Honey: Local Source
Finishing: Barrel Finish (1 month)
MSRP: $109 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Release (Seasonal)

This release recently won Best In Class (Special Barrel Finished Bourbon) at the 2026 Sip Awards.

Wood Hat Queen's Reserve Bourbon
First Launched: November 2025
Proof: 80
Age: Bourbon (3+ years)
Honey Source: Local
Finishing: Blue Corn Bourbon finished in a honey barrel
Finishing Length:
MSRP: $85.88 (375ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Queen's Reserve features Wood Hat's Blue Corn bourbon, which is featured in a number of their releases, including their Ol' Blue and All American Red White & Blue releases.

Dark Arts Sweet n' Sour Honey
Launched: January 2026
Proof: Cask Strength
Whiskey: Bourbon Whiskey (5+ years)
Honey: Diverse pollinators across the world
Finishing: Barrel Finish
MSRP: $79.99 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

Their Long Strange Drip Sweet n' Sour release is named after the blend of sweet and sour mash bourbon whiskies from both Indiana and Kentucky.

Cedar Ridge Honey Bourbon
Launched: July 2026
Proof: 105
Whiskey: Bourbon (74% Corn/14% Rye/12% Malted Barley)
Honey: Local
Finishing: Barrel Finish (14 Months)
MSRP: $44.99 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

Cedar Ridge becomes one of the latest to enter the honey bourbon game. Their honey cask joins the ranks of other cask finishes they have released, including port, sherry, and maple barrel expressions.

Barrel King Honey Finished Rye
Launched: ~November 2026 (Coming Soon)
Proof: Cask Strength
Whiskey: Rye Whiskey (95% Rye/5% Malted Barley)
Finishing: Barrel Finish
Availability: Private Release

The bourbon NDP and membership club is revisiting its first honey finish release in four years, targeting a release later this Fall.

Hot Honey Whiskies

Whiskey featuring honey with some heat!

Wild Turkey American Honey Sting
Launched: 2014
Proof: 71
Whiskey: Bourbon
Process: Liqueur Blend/Honey Infusion
MSRP: $22 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Not resting on their laurels, Wild Turkey launched a spicier version of American Honey featuring "just a hint of ghost pepper."

Ironclad AR's Hot Southern Honey Cask
Launched: October 2018
Proof: 90-100, varies by batch/release
Whiskey: Bourbon Whiskey
Honey: AR’s Hot Southern Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish (3 Months)
MSRP: $45.99 (375ml)
Availability: Ongoing

This Richmond area distillery taps another Richmond business in AR's Hot Southern Honey. AR describes their chili-infused honey as "not too hot, but not too sweet."

Catoctin Creek Hot Honey Rye
Launched: October 2023
Proof: 80
Whiskey: Rye Whiskey (100% Rye)
Honey: Virginia Wildflower, Clover, and Buckwheat Honey
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $52 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Catoctin Creek can be credited with the first hot honey-finished rye. They create the hot honey in-house through a blend of local Virginia honies and chilies. Founder Becky Harris tells Bourbon and Banter, "I really wanted to have the whiskey be fully present and then the real honey and the pepper be there as part of the journey, but not dominating it."

Broken Antler Hot Honey Flavored Whiskey
Launched: October 2024
Whiskey: Roaming Man Bourbon & Light Whiskey
Proof: 70
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $19.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Broken Antler is a product line of flavored whiskies from Sugarlands Distilling Company, also home of Roaming Man Whiskey. According to Sugarlands, they use a proprietary Hot Honey flavor that was developed in partnership with Flavorman.

Gervasi Spirits Honey Heat Whiskey
Launched: January 2025
Proof: 80
Honey: Timber Ridge Honey
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $42 (750ml)
Availability: Single Release

Gervasi Vineyard Resort and Spa in Canton, OH, sports a distillery that produces a full range of spirits from vodka to bourbon. Head distiller Shae Pridemore developed a special blend of hot peppers for this blend featuring smoky and dark fruit flavors that he infuses into the whiskey.

Celebrity / Collaboration Honey Releases

Honey isn't hands off for collabs.

Roaming Man Honey O.A.R. 25th Anniversary
Launched: December 2021
Proof: 95
Whiskey: Roaming Man Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey (32-to-36-month)
Honey: Pap’s Hilltop Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish (22 months)
MSRP: $40 (375ml)
Availability: Single Release

Perhaps one of the first celebrity honey-finished whiskies, the band O.A.R. partnered with Sugarlands Distilling Company to release a honey-finished rye in honor of the group's 25th Anniversary.

Amber & Opal Whiskey
Launched: August 2024
Proof: 80
Whiskey: Rye Whiskey (75% Rye/25% Malted Rye, 2 years)
Honey: Locally sourced orange blossom honey
Finishing: Liqueur Blend/Infusion
MSRP: $69.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

Hip-hop artist Ja Rule, alongside co-owners Sandy Sandiford, Herb Rice, and Kelvin Barton, started the spirits brand that features Maryland Straight Rye Whiskey from Baltimore Spirits Company and is infused with honey and "an elegant blend of all-natural botanicals—fig, ginger, cinnamon, and a whisper of Lapsang Souchong black tea."

Pursuit x Meat Church Honey Hog Barrel Bourbon
Launched: June 2026
Proof: 105
Whiskey: Bourbon
Honey: Burleson's Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish (3 Months)
MSRP: $79.99 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Release

Back in January, Meat Church BBQ founder Matt Pittman became a minority investor in Pursuit Spirits. The partnership between the two brands has resulted in Honey Hog featuring Texas honey and bourbon (from Bardstown Bourbon Company and Tennessee Distilling Group) that's designed to complement the flavor profile of Meat Church's Honey Hog seasoning.

Hybrid / Multi‑Cask Honey Finishes

Honey + another finishing element and other non-barrel finishing techniques.

Garrison Brothers HoneyDew
Launched: July 2020
Proof: 80
Whiskey: Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey
Honey: Burleson’s Texas Wildflower Honey
Finishing: Steel tank w/honey infused barrel cubes (7 months)
MSRP: $79.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

HoneyDew was one of the first expressions I've ever tried from the Hye, TX distillery. It was at a BBQ festival, so I'm not going to pretend I recall the notes. Instead of barrel finishing, Garrison Brothers goes for a vatting method of adding honey-infused barrel cubes.

Oak & Eden Wheat & Honey
Launched: September 2022
Proof: 90
Whiskey: Wheated Bourbon (51% Corn/45% Wheat/4% Malted Barley)
Honey: American Honey
Finishing: Honey-Infused American Oak Spiral (Medium Toast)
MSRP: $69.99 (750ml)
Availability: Ongoing

In line with Oak & Eden's other releases, Wheat & Honey takes finishing in a different direction with their "in-bottle" finishing. For Wheat & Honey, a 5-inch oak spiral is used.

Broken Barrel Honey Smoke Rye
Launched: September 2022
Proof: 101
Whiskey: Rye (95% Rye/5% Malted Barley)
Finishing: Honey Barrel & Anejo Mezcal
Availability: Single Release

Broken Barrel, known for their "Oak Bill" finishing process of adding broken barrel staves into vats of whiskey, uses a 50/50 split of honey barrel staves and mezcal staves for a sweet and smoky profile.

Bronze Bull Spirits Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Honey & Fig Barrel
Launched: February 2023
Proof: 100
Whiskey: Bourbon (80% Corn/10% Wheat/10% Malted Barley, 3 years)
Honey: Buckwheat honey 
Finishing: Barrel Finish (4 months)
MSRP: $49.95 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

Liberty & Plenty Distillery in Durham, NC must have found success with their original Batch #3, a Honey and Fig barrel finish; they re-released it 20 months later. The current Batch #4 features an undisclosed 3-year-old bourbon, but the mashbill matches liquid from Tennessee Distilling Group.

Penelope Rio
Launched: May 2023
Proof: 98
Whiskey: Bourbon (74% Corn/16% Wheat/7% Rye/3% Malted Barley)
Finishing: Honey and Amburana Barrels
MSRP: $80 (750ml)
Availability: Annual Limited Release

A part of Penelope's Cooper Series that likes to name releases after cities around the world, Rio combines honey-finished bourbon with amburana-finished bourbon. A marriage of all the whiskey trends!

Red Line Elements: The Hive
Launched: October 2023
Proof: 112
Whiskey: Bourbon (75% Corn/21% Rye/4% Malted Barley, 5-6 Years)
Honey: Local Wildflower Honey
Finishing: Barrel Finish (6-12 months)
MSRP: $100 (750ml)
Availability: Limited Release

Not to be outdone by Penelope, Red Line created their own honey and amburana barrel-finished blend.

Broken Barrel Honey Smoke Reserva American Whiskey
Launched: November 2023
Proof: 110
Whiskey: American Whiskey (99% Corn/1% Malted Barley, 6 years)
Finishing: Honey Barrel & Texas Sotol Staves (5 Months)
MSRP: $79 (750ml)
Availability: Single Release

Following up on their Honey Smoke Rye, Broken Barrel took whiskey from Green River and finished it by adding oak staves: 50% honey barrel staves and 50% Texas sotol staves, a spirit made from distilled Dasylirion that typically has a smoky and earthy flavor.