Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey

I’ve crushed my fair share of Twisted Tea out on the golf course, the water, or wherever I may be. Deep Eddy’s Sweet Tea Vodka was also my favorite alcohol back in high school. So, naturally, when I walked by Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey, I just couldn’t help myself.

I’m not in high school anymore, so sweet tea whiskey or vodka isn’t really my go to drink, but I figured I could make a little review about it. I’ll discuss a little about Twisted Tea before getting into their whiskey. Then we’ll see how it drinks neat, on the rocks, and in some different mixies.

What Is Twisted Tea?

I could do a full, separate post on this question, but I don’t want to bore you with details, so we’ll keep this brief.

Twisted Tea started out, and still is, a hard iced tea – much like a Mike’s Hard Lemonade. It’s a beer based drink (fermented using malt grains) that’s brewed with real tea, using real leaves, and other “natural” ingredients.

Much like Truly did with their Truly Vodka, Twisted Tea came out with their Sweet Tea Whiskey.

Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey Overview

• Spirit: Specialty flavored whiskey
• Owned By: Boston Beer Co.
• Distilled By: Beam-Suntory
• Availability: Select markets
• Aged: Unknown
• ABV: 32.5%, 65 Proof
• Price: $15

The first thing you should know is where you can actually get yourself a bottle of Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey. It was originally released in 5 markets: Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Missouri, as well as military outlets, according to this news report.

Boston Beer Company is the owner of Twisted Tea, and they also own brands like Truly and Angry Orchard, to name a few. They partnered with Beam-Suntory in July of 2021 to bring some of their staple products to market in the form of distilled spirits, hence Truly Vodka and Twisted Tea Whiskey.

Specialty Whiskey

Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey is not like your typical whiskey, so to say. It is a specialty whiskey, so some rules don’t apply to it. When it comes to American Whiskey, there are a lot of regulations and restrictions. For one, whiskey must be 40% abv, 80 proof, or above. There’s restrictions on what you can and can’t add as flavoring or coloring. The whiskey label is also required to state the age of the whiskey if it’s less than 4 years.

Specialty whiskey like Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey is often bottled at less than 80 proof. In this case, 65 proof. They, also, are not allowed to make any statements about aging at all. And, most importantly, this whiskey is made with tea.

Caffeine…?

Just like their regular hard iced tea, Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey is made with real tea from real tea leaves. That means there is caffeine inside a bottle of TT, both the whiskey and hard iced tea.

Is Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey Good?

This is really the most important question we’re looking at today. Is it good? So many people love Twisted Tea, but many also think it’s way too sweet. Is their whiskey any different? Does it still taste like tea? Well, we’re gonna find out! Then we’ll jump into some cocktails.

Tasting Notes

The first thing off the nose is a very astringent smell. There’s lemon, oak, and a black licorice. It reminds me of those Good & Plenty licorice candy. There’s also the smell of alcohol which, combined with everything else, gives a medicinal quality to it. The nose is not very appealing at all, especially if you get your schnozz a little too far in the glass.

Bitter tea and licorice hits the tip of your tongue, but it quickly fades into a sour lemon. The lemon fades and that’s pretty much it. I mean, this is a flavored whiskey. There’s a dusty quality left in my mouth at the end.

Taste Summary

The nose is waaaay worse than the taste. There’s some funky stuff going on with the nose and it really only transfers over to the palate for a split second. When the Sweet Tea Whiskey first hit my mouth, I thought it was going to be horrid, but the lemon came in and took over.

This isn’t something I’m ever going to sip neat or over ice, but it would work great as a house-party shot – something a little easier and less alcoholic than cheap tequila, whiskey, or vodka.

Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey Mixed Drinks

I’m not a mixologist over here, and I like to keep my mixed drinks simple. Seeing as how Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey is probably more of a house party item for younger kids, I tried just two mixed drinks with readily available mixers. A sweet tea whiskey coke, and a whiskey version of a John Daly.

1. Sweet Tea Whiskey Coke: Not bad, but no thanks. Coke can cover up almost any bad whiskey, but the tea/lemon in this just doesn’t mix well with coke. You’re better off using Kentucky Deluxe if you’re looking for a cheap whiskey to make a whiskey coke.
2. Sweet Tea Whiskey and Lemonade: My go-to growing up was sweet tea vodka and lemonade, so I had very high hopes for this. Ultimately, it was pretty good. I think this is your best option if you’re looking to make a mixed drink. It’s not as good as deep eddy’s, but it plays.

Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey Summary

It’s easy to be critical of something like Twisted Tea Sweet Tea Whiskey when you consider yourself a whiskey connoisseur. But when you look at it through a lens of how it’s meant to be consumed, it’s not so bad.

This is a 65 proof flavored, specialty whiskey that relies on the popularity of Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea to market itself to college aged drinkers. It’s a shot you give out at parties. It’s an easy John Daly (with whiskey instead of vodka). And at the end of the day, it accomplishes all these things.

Not something that’s going to be on my shelf, but I certainly won’t hesitate to rip a shot of it at a party.