The Walking Dead Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Photos via Diageo, Skybound Entertainment
It only makes sense for spirits fans to be inherently wary of branded releases sourced from anonymous distilleries. Many of us have been burned in the past by disasters in familiar packaging—Bethesda’s now infamous Nuka Dark Rum comes to mind—but there have also been some branding success stories in recent years. Global spirits giant Diageo seems to understand this better than most, and has seen considerable success with their series of Game of Thrones blended and single malt whiskies, which have been reviewed fairly well even by publications with no knowledge of the HBO adaptation. Still, you’ll have to forgive me for not expecting too much of a plastic-capped Kentucky bourbon meant to tie in with the launch of The Walking Dead season 10 tonight on AMC.
And you know what? Perhaps it was a matter of having those low expectations exceeded, but I am genuinely surprised by what a nice bourbon has been poured into this bottle. I can’t tell you for sure what distillery it hails from, but at $35 I can at least tell you that it represents a fair price and solid value, which is the last thing you expect to be able to say about a branded whiskey.
This is a sourced bourbon without an official age statement, although the “straight” designation tells us it’s at least two years old. It’s the result of a partnership between Diageo and Skybound Entertainment, bottled at a respectable 94 proof, marked with TV series-inspired shtick such as “safe-zone approved.” Notable on the bottle is the “Spirits of the Apocalypse” label, suggesting that this Walking Dead bourbon is the first in a new series that would presumably include other post-apocalyptic drams—no information on those yet. This limited-edition bottle carries an MSRP of around $35. Amusingly, Diageo includes recipes for a few basic drinks such as “Maggie’s Lemonade” (basically a John Daly, with bourbon) and “Old Man Rick” (an old fashioned), despite the fact that neither of those characters is actually on The Walking Dead anymore.
So with that said, let’s get to tasting.