KIN White Whiskey Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: C

KIN White Whiskey bills itself as “turning outlaws into legends and rulebreakers in icons,” and from that one might expect a big, ballsy unaged whiksey, despite the standard 80 proof bottling. In fact, it’s singular characteristic is just how smooth it is, quite in contrast to the brand’s edgy-but-chic marketing.

The Whiskey
A pour of KIN is crystal clear, with thick-but-runny legs in the glass. The nose is light and a touch spicy. In fact, it’s so light and effervescent that it can’t conceal the tinge of rubbing alcohol that so many unaged whiskeys have in their scent. The surprising thing is that, also because it’s such a light nose, it doesn’t burn hot even if you snort at it, tinge and all.

The flavor is sweet, a little spicy, and very, very smooth. The finish is quite unremarkable, putting on only a little warmth.

This is a smooth, but not particularly flavorful dram. As I implied above, the one thing it absolutely is not is ballsy, so those who shy away from unaged whiskeys because they are fearful of drinking corn husk-forward rocket fuel should definitely give this a look. The flipside of that is that those who genuinely enjoy moonshine and such will find KIN singularly uneventful.

The Price
$42 a bottle.