This week my good friend Charlie Berry and I did a review of honey bourbon that was interesting and local. Detroit City Distillery even has a tasting room in the historic Eastern Market. The more I thought about it, I realized that recently, we reviewed a similar product from Garrison Brothers in Texas.

Bottle of Detroit City Distillery Honey Bourbon. Part of a review of honey bourbon.
Detroit City Distillery Honey Bourbon. A review of honey bourbon that is worth sampling.

Detroit City Distillery Honey Bourbon

A statement on their website. “We try to make what we want to drink” caught my attention. This sentence is a simple statement that speaks volumes. Detroit City Distillery makes small-batch whiskies, gin, and vodka. Their honey bourbon is straight bourbon whiskey finished in Detroit honey barrels. The hives producing honey rest on top of their whiskey factory in Detroit. Bees in the D is a group dedicated to strengthening the bee population and have over two hundred hives in 60 locations.

What about Wild Turkey American Honey or Jack Daniels Honey?

There is a dramatic difference between these products and the honey bourbons mentioned above. American Honey and Jack Daniels Honey add honey to their whiskey. Therefore, it loses its bourbon title and becomes a flavored liquor. It is still whiskey, but once you add the honey, it ceases to be bourbon. Always remember bourbon combines grains, including at least 51% corn, yeast, and water.

Honey Bourbon is barrel finished.

There is a lot of barrel finishing happening in the spirits world. Distillers can create unique flavors in used Port, Sherry, Cabernet, Chardonnay, Armagnac, Cognac, and even craft beer barrels. Honey bourbon is made by aging in a used honey barrel. The secondary aging allows the whiskey to take on the nuances of the honey without artificially adding an ingredient.

Garrison Brothers Honey Dew

This honey bourbon is four-year-old Texas Bourbon infused with Texas wildflower honey. It is 80 proof, and the infusion process was unique. Garrison Brothers cut used barrel staves into cubes and soaked them in wildflower honey, absorbing it for seven months. Those cubes are dipped into the whiskey repeatedly to obtain the desired flavor profile.

You can see a review of honey bourbon right now. Watch the Detroit City Distillery Honey Bourbon review HERE.

Watch the Garrison Brothers Honey Dew review HERE.