The 6 Best Honey-Infused Whiskeys, Ranked by Critics

Honey-infused whiskeys get written off fast. Sweetness implies shortcuts, and anything with honey in the name gets filed under “gift shop bottle” before it’s even opened. These six releases push back on that. The methods vary. Some use honey barrels for finishing, some opt for the infusion route, and a few do both. So do the results: there’s a budget pour that punches well above its price, and a cask-strength bourbon that doesn’t ask anything of you except to pay attention.

These six bottles are scored using The Daily Pour Critics’ Score, our proprietary metric that aggregates scores from the most reliable critics working today. Rankings run in ascending order, so save room for the end.

6. Catskill Provisions Rye Finished in Honey Barrels

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Catskill Provisions Rye Whiskey Finished in Honey Barrels is a New York production bottled by Pollinator Spirits, made with locally grown grains and finished with raw wildflower honey sourced from hives in the western Catskills. At 40% ABV and priced at $49.99, it’s the most accessible entry point in this roundup in terms of proof, though the honey barrel finishing process does interesting things to the rye backbone. The nose leans into beeswax and soft grain, and the palate delivers a restrained sweetness that never overwhelms the spice underneath. The finish is short and clean, which works in its favor for casual pours but leaves you wanting more complexity. A solid 87-point performer that earns its place at the table without dominating the conversation.

5. Catoctin Creek Hot Honey Rye

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Catoctin Creek Hot Honey Rye is the one bottle on this list that brings heat in the literal sense. Made from 100% pot-distilled rye and infused with a blend of wildflower, clover and buckwheat honey alongside chile peppers, this Virginia distillery’s permanent offering (originally a 2022 Barrel Select) earns its 88-point score by committing fully to its own concept. The honey sweetness arrives upfront, rounded and almost syrupy, before the pepper builds slowly across the mid-palate like a slow-burning fuse. Priced at around $60, it rests at 41% ABV. The buckwheat honey adds a darker, earthier quality that keeps things from reading as candy-sweet. Catoctin Creek also donates $1 per bottle to bee conservation, which doesn’t change how it tastes but is worth knowing.

4. Celtic Honey Beekeeper’s Blend

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At $24.99, Celtic Honey Beekeeper’s Blend is the budget entry here, and it punches above its price bracket with a score of 89. Produced in Northern Ireland by Luxco and reformulated in 2023 to move from cordial to flavored whiskey at 80 proof, it blends Irish whiskey with all-natural Irish honey and botanical flavors drawn from native Irish flowers, plants and trees. The nose is light and inviting, with bee pollen and vanilla and a faint woody note underneath. On the palate, clover honey and a gentle vanilla spice take the lead, with the Irish whiskey character playing more of a supporting role. The finish is warm and brief. For what it is and what it costs, this is a well-made, crowd-pleasing pour that earns its spot ahead of two more expensive bottles.

3. Blue Note Honey Cask Bourbon

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Blue Note Honey Cask Bourbon is where this list shifts gears. B.R. Distilling bottles it in Memphis at 115.7 proof and prices it at around $63. The base is a straight bourbon aged at least three years on a mash of 70% corn, 21% rye and 9% malted barley, then finished in American oak barrels that previously held honey. Unfiltered throughout.

The nose lands somewhere between a cedar chest and a jar of wildflower honey. Cedar and walnut set the foundation, then the palate opens into leather and ripe pear with that honeyed floral sweetness underneath. At cask strength, the heat is real, but it integrates rather than takes over. The finish carries a warm wildflower note that helped this whiskey earn its 94 points.

2. Starlight Honey Reserve

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Starlight Distillery Honey Reserve Bourbon Whiskey is one of the more thoughtfully constructed releases in this category. The Indiana distillery blends 5- to 7-year-old bourbons from two separate mashbills, double pot distills the whole thing, then finishes it for four to twelve months in charred and toasted barrels that previously held Starlight’s own estate-harvested honey. At 53% ABV and priced at $64.99.

The nose reads like a farmers market in glass form: golden apple, soft orchard fruit, toasted oak and a whisper of wildflower honey. The palate follows with caramel, creamy vanilla and a gentle spice that keeps the sweetness honest. The finish brings baking spice and warm oak, lingering with the kind of easy confidence that comes from well-aged whiskey. It ties for the top score on this list at 95 points.

1. Laws Whiskey House Straight Bourbon Finished in Honey Cask (2023)

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Laws Whiskey House Honey Cask Finished Bourbon is the most focused and distinctive release on this list. Released in September 2023 as part of Laws’ Special Finish Series, it was made in collaboration with Bee Squared Apiaries using a process that goes further than most: Laws’ Four Grain Straight Bourbon is aged in new charred oak, the barrels are filled with honey, and after the honey is removed, the bourbon goes back in for secondary maturation. Four barrels, 4 years and 2 months of age, bottled at 95 proof.

Black tea and orange blossom come through on the nose with a clarity that makes most honey whiskeys smell vague by comparison. The palate is floral and spiced, cinnamon weaving through the honey character in a way that feels more like a fine dessert wine than a flavored whiskey. At $79.99 for a release limited to 1,080 bottles, it disappears from shelves fast every year. The 95-point score explains why.