For our review: Any non-alcoholic bottle we review is compared to other non-alcoholic spirits. Therefore, our ratings system does not translate to alcoholic spirits. For example, an 8 out of 10 for a non-alcoholic bottle is not going to be a one-for-one replacement for an 8 out of 10 alcoholic spirit.

Spiritless Kentucky 74: The Story

Spiritless Kentucky 74 first showed up on our radar when we were cruising Instagram and one of our favorite bourbon influencers at the time was reviewing a bottle they had been sent. I don’t remember exactly what he had said about it in the moment, but I remember thinking he didn’t like it, and was holding back some thoughts on the Instagram Live he had set up. That’s the trouble with live streams, right? You really have to pivot in the moment. His face did a lot of the talking.

Anyways, no matter. I figured at some point I would give it a shot and make my own conclusions. After all, the color looked spot on. That was likely my first exposure to non-alcoholic whiskeys as I cannot remember any before that day. So when we decided to do a test of ‘Which non-alcoholic whiskeys make the best old fashioned’ I knew that it most certainly had to be on the list. Luckily, a quick trip to Total Wine and More and I had Spiritless Kentucky 74 in hand.

It was time to make my own conclusion on this bottle. So without further ado, here’s our Spiritless Kentucky 74 bottle review.

Nose

Lemon and Double Bubble bubble gum.

Palate

An eclectic mix of mint, bubblegum and bitter.

Finish

Finish is reminiscent of a Halls cherry cough drop.

Verdict

Man…we hate to dislike things. It’s so rare that we do. It makes our lives so much easier when we can cheer brands on (alcoholic or not) because they are making something delicious. It hurts us to do the opposite, but we have to report our findings. We reeled from the first sip and thought ‘this must just be us acclimating our palate – be patient.’ Then the same experience on the second, third and fourth sips. You gotta call it at some point, and unfortunately Spiritless Kentucky 74 was a bust. The component parts seemed to fight with one another – bitter and menthol notes just wrestled for overtones while bubble gum sat on the palate throughout.

Unfortunately, our rating for Spiritless Kentucky 74 is 5.8/10. Cheers!