Review: Chicken Cock Flavored Whiskeys
Chicken Cock!
I can’t do the origin story justice. Here it is in the distiller’s own words.
Originally established in 1856 in Paris, Kentucky, Chicken Cock quickly became a significant 19th century Bourbon brand. Forced to move production to Canada during Prohibition, Chicken Cock was smuggled across the border in tin cans, where it rose to fame as a popular pour at some of the era’s most famous speakeasies, including the eminent Cotton Club in Harlem. When patrons ordered a “Chicken Cock,” waiters would present the tin can tableside and ceremoniously open it to reveal the bottle of Chicken Cock Whiskey inside. With an aluminum package and bold, new flavors, Chicken Cock Whiskey is back to once again bend the rules in the 21st Century.
Returning to its southern roots, Chicken Cock is bottled in Charleston, South Carolina in three different varieties – Chicken Cock Southern Spiced Whiskey, Chicken Cock Cinnamon Whiskey, and Chicken Cock Root Beer Whiskey. Each is a flavorful blend of all natural ingredients and 86 Proof American Whiskey. A salute to the legendary tin cans, the bottles are made of 100% aluminum to facilitate and retain the optimal temperature for sipping chilled shots or mixing signature cocktails. Whether in a Southern Spiked Tea (Southern Spiced & Sweet Tea), a Root Beer Julep, or a Chicken’s Inferno (Cinnamon & Ginger Beer), Chicken Cock is adding a new dimension of flavor and quality to Southern classics.
These three narrow aluminum cans o’ unspecified, flavored whiskey make quite a statement, with their boasting rooster and that unforgettable name emblazoned at the top. Here’s how they shake out. As noted above, each is bottled at 86 proof.
Chicken Cock Root Beer Flavored Whiskey – The nose is a perfect recreation of root beer, but the body mixes it in with some standard-grade, heavy-wood whiskey… and as you sip on it the whiskey takes over. What starts with a nicely biting, root beer character fades into little more than sawdusty lumberyard notes. It’s not unpleasant, and I expect root beer fans will get a little kick out of this, considering how easy it goes down in the end, although it ultimately has little of substance to say. B-
Chicken Cock Southern Spiced Flavored Whiskey – The spices in question appear to be vanilla and ginger, maybe a touch of cinnamon, giving this a bit of a pumpkin pie spice character to it. Not bad, and it’s more balanced with the whiskey than the root beer version, offering a sweet ‘n’ savoriness that’s pleasant on its own but blends well with mixers. B
Chicken Cock Cinnamon Flavored Whiskey – A quite credible cinnamon whiskey. The spice is present but not overwhelming and mouth-scorching like so many cinnamon-focused spirits. Again, the nose is strong and focused, with the body a looser conflagration of cinnamon spice and moderate wood notes. But here the cinnamon wins out, kicked with a touch of vanilla that complements the spicier notes well. B+
each $20 / chickencockwhiskey.com
Chicken Cock Root Beer Flavored Whiskey
$20
Can get an aluminum Fifth for $5.99 at my local Hyvee in Missouri.
I’m a root beer fan and enjoy it very well, plan to try the original next