If you’re a drinker, you can go the obvious route and grab a bottle of whiskey, rum, tequila, gin, or vodka. Or, you can be like Lou Reed and “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” of the spirits world. In recent years, distilleries all over the country have been pumping out spirits made from strange flavors, including jalapenos, sweet potatoes, artichokes, and even scorpions. While the Netflix show ‘Stranger Things’ focuses on the supernatural and alternate universes, these spirits are less spooky, but no less strange.
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If you’re a fan of hot sauce and gin, the folks at Revivalist Gin have just the spirit for you. They decided that regular gin didn’t have enough flavors already, so they infused theirs with jalapenos. They refer to it as “the first-ever jalapeno infused gin” and it’s light and citrusy with a subtle hint of peppery heat.
Corbin Cash Sweet Potato Liqueur
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This 80-proof liqueur gets its unique flavor from sweet potatoes. It’s extremely versatile and is infused with added flavors from barrel aging. It’s almost like the sweetest dessert you’ve ever had. It’s perfect on its own or in your favorite whiskey-based cocktail.
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Cynar is an Italian bitter liqueur that gets its flavor from 13 different herbs and botanicals. The most notable (and strangest) is artichokes. Like most Italian bitters, Cybar is primarily imbibed on its own as a digestif after dinner, but it can be mixed into cocktails to give them a bitter kick.
Vermont White Vodka
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The name is a reference to a particularly strange ingredient in this vodka: whey. If you don’t already know, whey is the sugar source found in cow’s milk. The lactose is fermented and distilled with Vermont spring water as charcoal filtration. After distillation, the alcohol resembles a classic vodka much more than a glass of milk.
Nothing goes better with potatoes than bacon. That’s pretty much the only reason bacon bits exist, right? Who wants to eat a baked potato without bacon? That’s why it makes perfect sense to add bacon flavoring to potato vodka. You probably wouldn’t want to drink this on its own, but it’s perfect for Bloody Marys.
Agwa De Bolivia is the only coca leaf-based liqueur in the world. If you didn’t know it already, cocaine comes from the coca leaf. This 30% ABV liqueur is also made from 36 other herbs and botanicals, but the coca leaf is obviously the strangest and most important ingredient.
The Bay Vodka
If you’ve ever been to Maryland or the Chesapeake Bay area, you’ve probably run into Old Bay Seasoning. This spicy blend is an ingredient in crab cakes, various fish dishes, and as a rub on crabs. It’s not the flavor you’d expect in a vodka, but, if you’re an Old Bay fan, you’ll love this vodka in Bloody Marys. Probably not anywhere else, though.
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Pickleback shots, the strange combination of pickle juice and whiskey, were all the rage a few years ago so it was only a matter of time before someone created a briny, pickle juice-flavored spirit. This vodka was created when a man named Jason Zimecki couldn’t find any mixers during a football tailgate and decided to mix his vodka with pickle juice. And now you can bring the magic home.
This liqueur might have a very tongue-in-cheek name, but it definitely live up to its moniker. It’s a blend of micro-batched, custom-roasted coffee from LA and a small-batch American whiskey. This 81 proof spirit is literally whiskey infused with coffee. There are no artificial flavors here. Get ready to get buzzed while you get a buzz (get it?).
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There’s been an uncomfortable number of headlines revolving around airline passengers and scorpions lately. The folks at Skorppio vodka believe scorpions belong in your vodka instead of the overhead compartments on a United flight. Inside the bottle, you’ll find pure grain vodka that was distilled 5 times as well as a scorpion sitting in the bottom of the bottle. The venom has been removed, but you can still feel manly imbibing this unique spirit.
