The Best Flavored Whiskies & How to Drink Them

It's hard not to notice all the flavors popping up at the liquor store lately. Chocolate chip cookie, s'more, cookies and cream, chocolate, brown sugar, salted caramel, root beer, cherry, cold brew, peanut butter... the list goes on and on and on. We're not talking about liqueurs, and no, we're not talking about vodka. We're talking about the best flavored whiskies out there. 

While the flavors all sound delicious (except maybe for the musk-flavored whiskey with oil from the castor gland of the beaver that we stumbled on in our research), knowing how to drink them can be a bit of a challenge. But we've got you! Here's our take on how to drink some of the best flavored whiskeys on the market. 

Chocolate chip cookie whiskey, cookies and cream whiskey, or cookie dough whiskey — you don't need to be a baker to enjoy a gooey, freshly baked cookie with these whiskey flavors. Aside from enjoying them neat or on the rocks, you can mix these flavored whiskeys into an old-fashioned, milk punch, or Manhattan. Or mix it with:

• Irish cream
• Simple syrup
• Chocolate liqueur
• Bitters (walnut bitters sound particularly interesting)
• Almond milk
• Coffee, hot or iced
• Black tea or iced tea

There's no need to gather around the campfire or raid the candy drawer for a treat the next time your sweet tooth knocks. The s'more whiskey might have you checking your face for gooey marshmallows, and the chocolate whiskey is just sweet enough to keep you from making sure you didn't leave any wrappers lying around. These whiskeys are great on their own, with a bit of ice, or mixed into your favorite old-fashioned or Manhattan. Or try them with:

• Simple syrup
• Bitters
• Hot chocolate
• Almond milk
• White Russian
• Coffee, hot or iced
• Vanilla liqueur

Brown sugar and salted caramel are little nibbles of heaven, and when you combine those flavors with whiskey, well, it's as though the stars aligned for you to have the perfect, most-balanced whiskey drink. Swap brown sugar or salted caramel whiskey for your usual whiskey the next time you make an old-fashioned, Manhattan, or Irish coffee for a tasty twist. Or enjoy with a bit of ice, neat, or combined with any of these mixers:

• Hot chocolate
• Simple syrup
• Amaretto
• Vodka
• Heavy cream
• Irish cream
• Bitters
• Coconut milk
• Cold brew
• In a twist on the hot toddy or Tom and Jerry

From that first red leaf on the trees to the deep snow banks that cover the earth in winter, turn to a gingerbread whiskey as you decorate for the holidays, the pumpkin spice when you're binging horror movies, and the vanilla whiskey from first frosty morning to Valentine's Day dinner. Add this to your old-fashioned, into your Irish coffees, or sip these on their own by the fireside. Or make up a new drink with any of these tasty mixers. 

• Ginger beer
• Ginger ale
• Coffee, iced or hot
• Irish cream or heavy cream
• Simple syrup
• Bitters
• Maple syrup
• Pumpkin puree
• Cola or vanilla cola
• Apple cider
• Pumpkin beer or stout to make a beertail

Browsing the flavored whiskey aisle is a lot like shopping the produce aisle: if there's a juicy fruit flavor, odds are it has been bottled and paired with whiskey. Cherry? Yes. Blueberry? It'll blow you away. Blackberry, strawberry, berry on berry, on fruit. These are the whiskies you want when you're whipping up a whiskey smash, a juicy whiskey sour, an old-fashioned that's soft and sweet, or a hot toddy that's a little fruitier than usual. You can also make great drinks by mixing fruit-flavored whiskeys with:

• Cranberry juice
• Cherry juice
• Ginger ale
• Ginger beer
• Cola
• Club soda
• Lemonade
• Limeade
• Apple cider
• Muddled fresh fruit
• Simple syrup

It doesn't take much brainstorming to think about where you'd use some cold brew whiskey. The easiest place to start is anywhere you'd use a coffee liqueur. Truthfully, cold brew whiskey is one that's five stars all on its own or over a little ice. Or try a cold brew old-fashioned or even as the spirit in a Toronto. Or mix it with:

• Irish cream
• Heavy cream
• Simple syrup
• Almond or coconut milk
• Coffee, hot or iced
• Hot chocolate
• Club soda
• Cola
• Vanilla liqueur

Like chocolate and other sweet-flavored whiskeys, when you swap your whiskey for a peanut butter whiskey, you have an instant liquid dessert. And it doesn't even need to be dessert time. Peanut butter old-fashioned? Absolutely. An easy pb&j highball just by mixing with strawberry club soda? It's that simple. 

It isn't fall if you don't enjoy at least four to 14 apple cocktails. And it sure isn't summer if you don't sip some boozy sweet peach tea on the deck in the shade. Slip these into your old-fashioned, give your next whiskey sour a little something extra, or sip it on its own while you admire the summer day with some peach whiskey or a cool autumn night with your apple whiskey. Some great mixers include:

• Apple cider
• Orange liqueur
• Simple syrup
• Iced tea
• Hot toddy
• Bitters
• Ginger ale
• Ginger beer
• Club soda
• Lemon-lime soda
• Cranberry juice
• Cinnamon whiskey

Sweet honey whiskey and biting cinnamon whiskey share a lot of mixers, despite being on opposite sides of the taste spectrum. However, these unlikely flavors are quite the combo with these mixers. But they're just as smooth in an old-fashioned or added to a whiskey sour. Or try these:

• Ginger ale
• Ginger beer
• Club soda
• Cola
• Apple cider
• Cranberry juice
• Orange juice
• Cherry juice
• Lemonade
• Iced tea
• Hot tea
• Pineapple juice
• A riff on the Manhattan

We're not monkeying around here. Banana whiskey is here to stay. It's sweet without being cloying, and it still lets whiskey be the star. Does that make it an underrated flavored whiskey? Well, we're bananas about it. So, how can you mix it up? Aside from an old-fashioned or New York sour, we have a few suggestions for mixers. 

• Pineapple juice
• Orange juice
• Bitters
• Simple syrup
• Irish cream
• Vanilla liqueur
• Heavy cream
• Hot chocolate
• Sweet vermouth
• Use in place of rum in rum drinks

Root beer? In whiskey? Grab a seat. Root beer is herbaceous, sweet, and earthy. Whiskey? Spiced, herbaceous, and also a touch earthy. It's one of those flavor combos that makes you question why, but once you give it a sip or two, it's hard to imagine a life without root beer whiskey. 

• Cola
• Cream soda
• Cherry bitters
• Coffee liqueur
• Stout beer
• Iced coffee
• Orange liqueur
• Irish cream
• Sweet vermouth
• Black tea, iced

This isn't your grandpa's whiskey, but it's just as boozy and even more flavorful. Where usual whiskeys can tread, these whiskeys soar. They have flavor, bite, and all the whiskey notes you already love. So, where will you be starting? A biting cinnamon whiskey old-fashioned or a tropical banana whiskey cocktail? Maybe just make a flight.