Whiskey Review: Ram’s Point Peanut Butter Whiskey

Sazerac is a company that, somehow, manages to produce both my favorite and least favorite peanut butter whiskeys. This looks like their third bite at that apple, and given the widely their success has varied in this niche category… it’s anyone’s guess as to how their latest entry, Ram’s Point, will stack up.


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History

The Sazerac Company was founded in 1869, named after a bar they acquired in New Orleans, the Sazerac Coffee House. Following the establishment of the company, they started marketing and distributing brands of liquor under their name.

Sazerac maintains its headquarters in New Orleans, but has distilleries in other locations (including Kentucky and Maine). They produce liquor under various brand names, despite the lack of the Sazerac name anywhere on the bottle.

Ram’s Point was first established as a brand in October of 2019, produced from their newly acquired Lewistown, Maine facility. Starting in 2020, they expanded their permit to be able to also produce the whiskey from their Kentucky location, just like another Sazerac peanut butter whiskey brand, Shepherd’s.

Product

This whiskey is marketed as a “whiskey with natural flavors and caramel colors”… which is probably the least restrictive kind of appellation, for obvious reasons. There is very little that the company can’t do to this whiskey before it is packaged and shipped out the door.

Given that description, it is very likely that this started out life as a whiskey and has subsequently had some natural flavors added to it to make up the peanut butter part of the equation. Exactly what those flavors are, though, is not disclosed — so, while I’d like to hope that they used actual peanut butter, we just really don’t know.

Packaging

This bottle is built like a linebacker. It’s round in shape, with a gentle flare that expands from the base to the shoulder. From there, the shoulder is gently rounded and ends in a short neck. The whole thing is capped with a metal screw-on top.

Just like seemingly every other peanut butter whiskey brand, this label sports a black silhouette of an animal mascot against a white background. I’ll concede that at least the label is a little more stylized than usual, rotated to be more diamond shaped than square, and it offers plenty of empty negative space around it to be able to see the whiskey in the bottle.

I like that the bottle looks good and clean, and I like that the label has only the minimum required information and artwork to get the point across. It’s still a little bland and uninteresting – and certainly not differentiating itself from every other peanut butter whiskey bottle – but it isn’t terrible.


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Neat

I just poured a glass and put it on the desk, and I can smell it from here. That cloyingly sweet, artificial peanut butter smell. The aroma isn’t quite as bad as Sheep Dog, one of the other Sazerac attempts on the peanut butter whiskey market, but it still isn’t appetizing.

The aroma is pretty much spot-on for a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. It’s got that same sweetness, the same artificial peanut smell, and even a hint of the chocolate thrown in for good measure. I think what really puts this over the edge into the “uncanny valley” of flavored whiskey, though, is the vanilla. I feel like they added some of that element to mimic the barrel aging effects, but it just comes out too strongly.

Taking a sip, this is definitely a sweetened spirit. There’s a heavy hit of sugar, almost like taking a shot of liquified sugar frosting from a Krispy Kreme doughnut, followed by the peanut flavor and then some caramel and vanilla to top it all off. On the finish is a little bit of bitterness — but whether that’s an imperfection in the spirit or my taste buds trying to commit suicide from the overly sweetened artificial flavors is debatable.

On Ice

As usual, with a little bit of ice you can really start to see the sugar falling out of solution. It’s such an overly sweetened whiskey that you can literally watch all that sugar separating and falling to the bottom of the glass.

As far as the taste goes, though, this actually has some improvement. It’s still a very fake tasting peanut butter thanks in part to the vanilla in there, but it isn’t quite as offensive as before. Either that or my taste buds are either already dead / have decided that this isn’t the hill they want to die on.

Pro tip: if you are drinking shots of this, put the bottle in the freezer. This goes down much better cold.

Cocktail (Old Fashioned)

With a cocktail, the point of the exercise is to see if the flavors to blend together and balance each other out. But in this case, the flavors of the angostura bitters are completely absorbed and covered up by the artificial peanut flavor and the added sugar. It’s like firing a cannon ball at Gloop from The Herculoids.

I guess the good news here (if you can call it that) is that it doesn’t get any worse. Really, nothing changes. It’s still just peanut butter whiskey.

Fizz (Mule)

While technically a success (the flavors of the spirit and the ginger beer aren’t actively fighting each other), there’s still something about this that makes me want to reach for the spit bucket.

In terms of tone and balance, it meets the challenge. And there’s definitely something, well… unique to this flavor combination. But the same can be said of the fetid juice at the bottom of a dumpster. I can not in good conscience recommend this version of a Kentucky Mule to anyone.


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Overall Rating

I don’t care for peanut butter whiskey in general, but this isn’t the most terrible expression I’ve tried. Taken neat I absolutely would not recommend it at all, but chilled down or with some ice this might be an acceptable whiskey. Especially given that this performs about as well as Skrewball (the original peanut butter whiskey), but at a much lower price.

Just don’t expect to see it anywhere on my whiskey shelf.

Ram's Point Peanut Butter Whiskey
Produced By: Ram's Point
Owned By: Sazerac Company
Production Location: Kentucky, United States
Classification: Flavored Whiskey
Special Type: Peanut Butter Whiskey
Aging: No Age Statement (NAS)
Proof: 35% ABV
Price: $14.49 / 750 ml
Product Website: Product Website
Overall Rating:
All reviews are evaluated within the context of their specific spirit classification as specified above. Click here to check out similar spirits we have reviewed.

Overall Rating: 3/5
The ‘ram’ in the name is clearly a warning about the rampage this will unleash on your taste buds.


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5 comments

  1. I’m not much of a drinker but a buddy had me try some of this at a poker game. I went home and ordered some. This stuff is amazing, great in coffee as well. I will admit it is a bit sweet, but hard to know it’s whiskey. Very good drink for a non drinker like myself. Personally it is my new favorite drink.

    Wish I knew of a place to get it locally. I live in the Mooresville NC area. (North of Charlotte).

  2. Not bad for $3.99 a pint
    Really on ice or in freezer it’s rather enjoyable. Great for those log splitting Saturdays in the cold of New England.
    I say yeah give it a try.

  3. I tried Screwball, Sheep Dog and Ram’s Point. I think Ram’s Point is not only the best tasting but goes down so smooth. Love it on the rocks!

  4. Rams point by far is my favorite peanut butter whiskey! Normally I have it with Dr. Pepper cream soda zero so it cuts down on a little bit of the sweetness but I got no problems doing shots of it either..

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