Piehole Apple Pie

“Piehole Whiskies were inspired by our Grandma’s favorite pie recipes, served up in a delicious blend of Canadian whiskey and tempting pie flavored liqueurs.  So slice off a shot and share some with your friends – you may never want to eat pie with a fork again.”

Well then!  the Piehole Apple Pie mini (50 ml) bottle is clear plastic with a traditional, old-fashioned bottle shape with a light golden liquid inside.  Cracking the lid reveals a delightful apple pie fragrance, mostly apple and cinnamon.  A sip is quite pleasant tasting, like liquid apple pie!  Not too much whiskey, a perfect amount of apple and just enough cinnamon to change it from just an apple whiskey to drinkable pie.  Nice!  I could totally drink this straight but I had already poured myself a glass of half apple juice and half apple cider so in it goes and I stir it with a clean toothpick.

Really nice!  The alcohol flavor, which was not strong to begin with, is barely there now and the apple flavor completely melded with the apple juice, leaving a stronger cinnamon flavor.  Mmmm…

Their website shows three flavors, Apple Pie and Pecan Pie (which my liquor store carries minis of) and Cherry Pie.  Whaaaaa???  I want some Cherry Pie!  Huh.  I may have to track that one down…  Recipes as follows, although I think drinking it neat may be the way to go myself:

Aaaand… nope.  The recipes on their websites are not allowing me to copy and paste them so you don’t get any, you’ll just have to look them up for yourself.  But neat is definitely great.  Since I don’t actually love apple pie in it’s solid form it’s not a keeper for me but it is something to put on my list of things I would drink if offered to me.

The technical bits and pieces:

Bottle Esthetics:  Cute but plastic, the interesting label brings it just above the “Meh” level to a “Welll…”
Scent:  Just like apple pie!  Apples, cinnamon and somehow I even smell the pastry of the crust.  Quite lovely!
Viscosity:  Water thin.
Taste:  Again, just like apple pie – I taste apples and cinnamon but not necessarily the crust.  The whiskey flavor is less than the apple pie taste which makes me very interested in it.
Versatility:  Maybe a lot, maybe a little, I’d have to play around with it so I’m not completely sure right now.
Overall Score:  8 out of 10

 

Drambuie

According to their website “The taste of Drambuie is the result of infusing a unique blend of aged Scotch whisky with a secret combination of spices, heather honey & herbs. Its origins can be traced to a secret recipe created for Bonnie Prince Charlie by his Royal Apothecary in the 18th Century.”

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A Drambuie mini (50 ml) looks like a short, fat, clear plastic beer bottle with a pale golden yellow liquid that I would hesitate to describe as caramel colored.  Oh yep, there it is, the bottle says it “contains caramel and saffron color”.  So yes, more yellow than gold.  Once I get past the alcohol smell there is something warm in it’s scent.  Must be the herbs and spices since I don’t think it’s honey I’m smelling.  A sip of it is, oh God, wow, whoo!  I took too big of a sip there, dang!  Okay.  Once I’m past what must be the whiskey bit of it there’s quite a bit of flavor here.  But I can only take the tiniest of sips, just enough to wet my tongue.  I can absolutely taste the honey, it’s nice with just enough sweet to not be overwhelming.  There’s definitely some other flavors there that I can’t identify but they’re good, perhaps a hint of anise?  I wonder if this is what they mean by a sipping whiskey?

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Next step, on the rocks, since I like my drinks cold.  That’s good too.  Cuts down on the whiskey part of it, or maybe I’m just getting used to it, hee, hee…  still a lot of flavor in spite of being watered down a bit by the ice.  Curious as to what sort of drinks a person would put this in I turned to their website and found these, with more fun names!

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Hootenanny

1 part Drambuie

Cubed Ice

2 parts Grapefruit Juice

4 Mint Leaves

3 parts Weissbier

Lightly shake Drambuie, grapefruit juice and mint leaves together, then add beer to the shaker before straining over ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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Elixir

3/4 part Drambuie

1 Large rock of ice

3/4 part Pink Grapefruit juice

3/4 part Strong Brewed Coffee

3/4 part Tequila

Build into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

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Modern Manners

3/4 part Drambuie

3/4 part Gin

3/4 part Kirsch

1/2 part Lime Juice

garnish with a Maraschino Cherry

8-10 Tarragon leaves

Shake all ingredients and fine strain into a small fluted wine or grappa glass. Maraschino cherry to garnish.

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Allrighty then.  Since several of their recipes call for grapefruit juice I’m going to try it tonight, here goes…  Maybe 1/3 ruby red grapefruit juice to my Drambie mini goes into my rocks glass and I stirred it with my McDonalds straw like the classy lady I am.  A sip through said straw proves that the ruby red was a good choice.  I don’t taste the honey so much now or the whiskey hardly at all but the herbs and spices are still there.  It’s not an amazing drink but it would be good to have every now and again.  Probably not a keeper for me though…

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For the scoring:

Bottle Esthetics:  Another “Meh”.  Nothing special here.
Scent:  The alcohol hits me first, then the herbs and spices.  It’s a warm scent with a little sharpness and a hint of sweet.
Viscosity:  Water thin with just a tiny bit of essential oil-like slipperiness.
Versatility:  This is a very distinctive flavor that while it could probably be used in a lot of drinks will definitely make an impact on the overall flavor sooooo pretty versatile but bear in mind it’s always going to be a major player in any drink you use it in.
Overall Score:  6 out of 10