'Good Thing The Bottle Was 50% Off' — The Celebrity-Owned Whiskey Customers Couldn't Stomach

Celebrity endorsements may guarantee good publicity, but as consumers have witnessed time and time again from lackluster products like the Kelce brothers' overrated "Garage Beer," an A-list sign-off does not necessarily assure superiority. This phenomenon seems especially relevant to the spirits category, which is dominated by celeb brands (some of which are, happily, pretty good). In other cases, however, such as Drake's disappointing Virginia Black American whiskey, entering a quality spirits arc clearly isn't part of the story for the multi-Grammy-award-winner.

Virginia Black whiskey hit the market in 2016, as a collaboration with spirits-category entrepreneur Brent Hocking (who also launched DeLeón Tequila in 2009, before selling the brand to fellow rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs in 2013). As Hocking explained about the bourbon whiskey's title, considering it's actually produced in Indiana, not Virginia, and Drake is Canadian, "The name is just to evoke kind of a sense of glamour," (via Forbes). "It's just a sexy name." It could also be argued that "Virginia Black" evokes images of a wood-tipped gas station cigarillo, but we digress.

Fast-forward to now and the homepage of the official Virginia Black website promises the sexy-if-ambiguous header: "Decadence. Refined." It shares more details about its celebrity creators than about the spirit's actual production, profile, or mash bill. We do get the info that the whiskey is a blend of "two, three and four-year old bourbons," but what does it taste like? According to many disappointed customers, not good enough to justify either the high price or the celebrity endorsement.

A 2018 company press release expounds that Drake's Virginia Black Whiskey "focuse[s] on a high-rye content" with an accessible profile described as "[r]ich, decadent, and smooth." In execution, however, fans are unimpressed with this aged bourbon whiskey. A Reddit thread in the subreddit r/bourbon noted the spirit's ultra-dark hue considering its young age, espousing, "There is no doubt in my mind something was added to the finished product." As for the taste, it was, "Disappointing, not much here. Vanilla cherry coke left out in the sun," while, "This is almost certainly sweetened, and colored beyond belief." 

Elsewhere online, customer reviews on Distiller gave Virginia Black an average of 2.95 out of 5 stars, with one writing, "Sweet with tons of caramel. Halfway to a salted caramel crown royal," while another snarked, "Good thing the bottle was 50% off" (the average price of a 750ml bottle of Virginia Black is $39 before tax). At least it looks good. Decked out in an ornamental, midcentury-modern, gold-capped bottle, the luxe packaging is arguably far better than what's inside (essentially, "don't judge a book by its cover," but for the worse). 

Virginia Black's marketing has notably always been based around ideas of glamor and style, warmed up by a commercial starring Drake and his dapper dad (we guess?). But, all in all, this is a celebrity-owned liquor brand that simply does not hold up, betraying a reliance on a name given notoriety for music, rather than quality spirits.