Why Is Everybody Making Blackberry Whiskey?

As a spirits writer and reviewer, samples arrive at my (home) office nearly every single day. Some are exciting. Some aren’t great. Many are just part of the job. And you never quite know until you open the box.

However, when a massive, hulking box recently arrived from Bardstown, Ky., the return address listed as Heaven Hill Distillery, I knew I was about to encounter something great.

Perhaps the new, highly anticipated Elijah Craig 15 Year Old.

Maybe something from the acclaimed Old Fitzgerald Decanter series.

Could it be an upcoming release of the always-reliable Larceny Full Proof or something intriguing from the Grain to Glass collection?

I eagerly tore open the package to find a $15 purple-labeled bottle of 65-proof flavored bourbon alongside glassware, shirts, hats, and other branded swag for this new release.

Evan Williams Blackberry.

This on the heels of several other blackberry-flavored whiskeys released over the last two years.

How did blackberry become the flavor of the moment in whiskey and why is every brand suddenly leaning into it? Even more importantly, in this era of downturn, might blackberry whiskey be the unexpected key to saving the industry?

Crowning a Blackberry Whiskey

Like many flavored whiskey trends, this one surely starts with Crown Royal.

Back in summer 2024, I called the new Crown Royal Blackberry the “hottest whiskey of the year,” and it might very well have been, with one retailer at the time telling me “I have quite literally gotten more calls this year asking about it than Blanton’s.”

Launched in March of that year, the 70-proof, limited-edition release was already getting buzz from consumers months before, no doubt on the heels of the massive success of Crown Royal Peach in 2021.

But peach is a flavor you’d expect to pair well with whiskey. Peach is likewise an extremely popular fruit in the U.S., with some 700,000 metric tons of it consumed per year. Blackberry, on the other hand, is barely a top-30 fruit based on availability, ranked below dates and apricots. With Americans consuming, on average, .09 pounds of blackberries per year, it’s only the fifth most popular berry even, far less popular than blueberries, raspberries, and especially strawberries.

So why did it become a sensation in the spirits world?

Blackberry “behaves more like whiskey than people realize,” says Carrie Shain, senior brand manager at Evan Williams. “They have a subtle tannin structure that mirrors the oak you get from bourbon. That means the flavors layer instead of competing. You get the richness of the fruit, the brightness from a little tartness, and it naturally lifts the caramel and vanilla notes in the whiskey.”

Crown Royal may have been onto something. This was clearly a flavor combination that made whiskey much easier to enjoy for less experienced drinkers. Alone, it worked as a sort of RTD in a bottle; mixed with soda it made for a flavored highball or alcoholic dirty soda. A year after launch, even if its flagship Canadian whisky was still struggling overall, the Crown Royal brand had increased 4 percent by volume and 3 percent by sales.

“This is largely driven by the huge success of Crown Royal Blackberry,” claimed independent whiskey consultant Mark Littler. “Blackberry is providing an increasingly popular gateway into whiskey for new drinkers: one in four buyers are new to whiskey, an increase from one in five when it first launched.”

Black(berry) Jack

And, like everything in the whiskey world, the copycats would quickly arrive.

Last August, the Tennessee whiskey behemoth Jack Daniel’s launched Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry, an “approachable” 70-proof version of the brand’s classic Old No. 7 infused with “fresh blackberry flavor” before bottling. Suggested retail price was a mere $21.99, a buck or two cheaper than standard Jack.

As with the Evan Williams launch this year, Jack Daniel’s spent a lot of time, money, and effort on this launch. In late August of last year, the brand hosted a glitzy party for writers and influencers at Dirty French on the Lower East Side. It even sent barrel maturation manager and master taster Byron Copeland to the launch.

“The decision to launch Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry was driven by a mix of consumer insights and a ‘flavor gap’ in our portfolio,” says Arty Masterson, the U.S. brand director of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey & Jack Flavors. “Blackberry is an approachable flavor, … a sophisticated, slightly tart edge that complements our Tennessee whiskey.”

Just as with Crown Royal, all this seems to have worked. Just last month, parent company Brown-Forman announced quarterly sales had risen for the first time in more than two years, up 2 percent, with sales for whiskey products up 3 percent. The report specifically cited the launch of Tennessee Blackberry as being key to all of this.

“Much of the growth came from outside the company’s traditional powerhouse brand of Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7, which continues to drag on the gains made by newcomer Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry,” noted the Lexington Herald Leader.

Blackberry saving Brown-Forman, this all despite the fact that Jack Daniel’s had simultaneously released some of its most expensive, allocated, and critically acclaimed whiskeys over the past several years, including Coy Hill, Tanyard Hill Rye, and a slew of higher age-stated releases like Jack Daniel’s 14 Year Old.

Betting on Blackberry

But these powerhouse whiskey companies have clearly realized that it’s not high-end bottles, but actually inexpensive blackberry whiskeys that are ripe for this era of uncertainty. Forget taters and luxury bottle chasers; blackberry whiskey is designed for the young, neophyte drinkers whom, we are continually told, are no longer drinking.

“We’re always looking for ways to invite more people into whiskey, and this is one that feels both rooted in tradition and right for how people are drinking today,” says Shain.

They are cheaper, lower proof, sweet, don’t really taste like whiskey, and taste even less like whiskey when you add mixers.

“The industry is definitely navigating shifting habits among younger, legal-drinking-age consumers,” says Masterson. “Consumers are being much more selective and flavor-focused. Tennessee Blackberry welcomes new folks into the Jack Daniel’s family as a highly mixable flavored whiskey for our friends who prioritize refreshment and accessibility.”

Indeed, Evan Williams sent me its Blackberry with a can of Minute Maid lemonade alongside it, and its press materials encouraged turning it into a PB&J shot. The same is true with Crown Royal Blackberry, which includes a recipe for Royal Blackberry Lemonade on the packaging, and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Blackberry, which also touts mixing it with lemonade in advertising. Try mixing that $150 bottle of 14-year-old, 126-proof Tennessee whiskey with lemonade.

So, is the tater age over? Will all the other legendary American whiskey distillers soon be betting the farm on blackberry, too? Wild Turkey Blackberry 101, Maker’s Mark Blackberry, Pappy Van Blackberry?

Or perhaps they’ll just act as a much-needed Band-Aid for the time being.

“We believe a brand as iconic as Jack Daniel’s has the unique permission to do both,” says Masterson. “We can satisfy the most discerning whiskey critic with a barrel-proof, aged-stated expression like Coy Hill, while simultaneously providing the perfect backyard BBQ spirit with Tennessee Blackberry.”

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