A few years ago, the world’s first peanut butter whiskey, Skrewball, earned double gold medals in the “Best Flavoured Whiskey” category at the 2019 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition. For some, even just the thought was enough to hurl, but many others seemed to have a soft spot for the wildly experimental release. It was never as widely distributed in Australia as it was in the US though, which makes the new Sheep Dog Peanut Butter Whiskey from US distillery Sheep Dog officially the first to launch on a large scale down under.
While it’s already been doing the ’rounds over in the States, Sheep Dog Peanut Butter Whiskey has only now arrived in Australia and is available from BWS, Dan Murphy’s, and First Choice stores for roughly $55 per 700ml bottle.
The flavoured peanut butter whiskey is described as having natural peanut butter flavours alongside notes of vanilla and caramel popcorn with, according to a press release, “warm whisky undertones”. There are already a few reviews floating around the internet, with some of them crying average, while others seem to quite enjoy the slightly gimmicky flavoured whiskey.
One review from Drinkhacker claims “more butterfinger candy than peanut butter” and describes a nose of maple syrup, cake frosting, and buttered popcorn. The conclusion there is that the Sheep Dog peanut butter whiskey is “incredibly, overbearingly sweet” and “drinks like melted vanilla cake frosting”.
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While that’s not particularly favourable for spirits giant Sazarec and their Sheep Dog distillery, we’re sure the profile would work quite well if used properly to bring a bit – or probably a lot – of sweetness to a cocktail. Sheep Dog’s official website already lists a suggested serve of a PB&J Old Fashioned, with the Sheep Dog Peanut Butter Whiskey built on Rye Whiskey, 4 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters, and 1 Luxardo Cherry.
I imagine it might also be a fascinating addition if you wanted to play around with the typical Espresso Martini.
From the reviews it sounds like a dram of the Peanut Butter Whiskey wouldn’t get over quite as well as the distillery would hope. But at least it’s not expensive and makes for a versatile addition to any at-home bartender’s bar cart. If nothing else, it’s also just a really interesting conversation piece.
Sheep Dog Peanut Butter Whiskey is bottled at around 35% ABV, which for American Whiskey is quite soft and easy-drinking. Much softer than fellow sweet US whiskey Fireball.
