Seagram's 7 Dark Honey Tastes Good, But Is It Whiskey?

I like a liqueur now and then. What's not to like? Most liqueurs are liquid candy, laced with alcohol. The flavors usually are clear and intense, plus there is plenty of sugar and alcohol.

So I poured myself some of the new Seagram's 7 Dark Honey and took a sip. It tastes like honey, orange too. It is plenty sweet and 35.5 percent alcohol.

I think I'll have another.

Seagram's 7 Dark Honey is not a liqueur, it is a flavored whiskey. The difference? In this case, none.

Seagram's, once the world's largest drinks company, no longer exists except as a brand name. Seagram's 7 Crown American Blended Whiskey is a Diageo product. For information about this or any other Diageo products go to thebar.com.

Seagram's 7 Dark Honey follows on the heels of Beam Global's successful launch last year of Red Stag by Jim Beam, which flavors Jim Beam Bourbon with black cherry. Heaven Hill has done the honey thing too with its Evan Williams Honey Reserve, which like Red Stag has a bourbon base. Diageo's more direct answer to Red Stag is its Jeremiah Weed Cherry Mash Flavored Blended Bourbon. Arguably, Diageo started all this with its Captain Morgan Flavored Rum.

There is nothing wrong with a drink tasting good. That is generally the idea. What I don't taste here is any whiskey. I'm not sure that matters.

So, to summarize, Seagram's 7 Dark Honey: tastes good, but not like whiskey.

Seagram's 7 Dark Honey, $16.99/750 ml at Binny's in Chicago.