Dr. McGillicuddy Hot Cinnamon Fireball

[Gillman]

This is sub-titled, "Flavoured Corn Whisky".

The label also states, produced and bottled in Canada for Sazerac Company, Inc., New Orleans, LA. I take it this is a U.S. product, made under license or under some other arrangement in Canada, i.e., that the corn whisky base is distilled here.

I bought this to see if I could taste the corn whisky and if I could whether it resembles corn whisky in the U.S. I could not taste any whisky, however: the taste is full-on cinnamon, sugar and red pepper. The taste is good though, clean and pure of the flavours mentioned, but I am not sure what role the whisky plays. If the base does taste of corn as U.S. corn whiskies do, the flavourings cover it over, at least to my taste. Maybe the idea is that the corn oils provide body and a "vehicle" for the flavors mentioned.

It is too sweet for me, however mixed 50/50 with Fighting Cock (which has a slight corn taste), it was very good: plenty sweet enough but with a boosted ABV and detectable whisky flavours.

Gary

[cowdery]

This is all a bit of a mystery to me. The word "schnapps" appears nowhere in the standards of identity and I've always thought of schnapps, legally, as liqueurs. There's a web site, but it has on it very little information. It mentions a Peach Schnapps that it says is only available in Canada, but there is no mention of the Hot Cinnamon Fireball. There is also no "mandatory statement," which is supposed to be standard on all spirits advertising, that states the official "type" of spirit it is, the proof, and the producer's principal place of business. I combed the web site and couldn't find anything of the kind, nor is the web site age screened, which is a violation of DISCUS on-line marketing guidelines. The idea that this product is a "flavored corn whiskey" is surely news to me. Strange.

[Gillman]

There is no reference on this label to schnapps. "Ingredients" listed are "whisky, natural flavours".

In Canada, whisky is anything distilled from a grain mash and aged for a time (3 years in wood applies I think to Canadian whisky or rye whisky), but why would they state "Flavoured Corn Whisky"? The statement has the Canadian "u" in the word.

As I recall from the law, corn whisky is not defined (whereas rye whisky is, it is analagous to Canadian whisky). Maybe this is high-proof base spirit made from corn aged enough time (I forget what that is) to be whisky, with the added flavours.

Gary

[barturtle]

The class and type according to their label application is #161 Canadian Whisky Foreign Bottled. The document then further says Cinnamon Flavored Whisky. Some of the other flavors list themselves as being Schnapps (Codes of 600-699 are Liqueur and Schnapps specific.

[cowdery]

It sounds like a product created for the Canadian market and I would not assume that "corn whiskey" means the same thing there as it means here, nor would I assume that this corn whiskey was made here and flavored there.

It's enough for me to keep up with the Americans, let alone those nutty Canadians.

[Gillman]

Not so nutty when you taste the new Wiser's Small Batch!

It could be that this is only for our market, yes.

Still though, I can't figure out why the name whisky is modified with the adjective corn. One possibility is that the drink was intended to be based on a U.S.-type corn whiskey. And it may be, but if so I can't taste it.

Gary

[barturtle]

I wonder if they are attempting to say that it is a "Bourbon Style" whiskey, but with "Bourbon" being "a distinctive product of the US" they can't...just a way to say it's not rye or malt or neutral grain based.

[Gillman]

I don't think so Timothy simply because there is no hint of Bourbon-type flavour in it. Perhaps it was felt that on a folksy-type label, the name "corn whisky" has an old-fashioned ring. I still think that they might have made a U.S.-style corn whiskey for this, to get the extra body and smoothness the corn oils would provide, but effaced the taste with the big sugared cinnamon red hots taste. It's actually excellent with a young bourbon mixed 50/50. There is (to my taste) so much sugar in the Fireball that it still tastes plenty sweet, and spicy too, when cut by half.

After drinking this mixture, I poured without thinking some Canadian whisky in the glass, just a finger, and it is surprising how much extra the very little on the frame of the glass added to the whisky. It rounded it out and made it taste much better than on its own, IMO. I used the new Century Reserve 15 Years Plus.

Gary

[ACDetroit]

I found out years ago this product is very popular with the Great White North (no not Canada) as in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

One evening at a Bar with my father one of his friends say to me "Hey go tell the girl behind the bar, you need 3 shots of "The Doctor"", to which I replied "What's The Doctor". He says don't worry about it she knows!

So She reaches into the cooler and next to the cold beer is a bottle of clear liqueur (peppermint to be exact). To which we did a shot together it was then I learned The McGillicuddy line up has been referred to as The Doctor for quite some time.

For Peppermint Schnapps it was pretty good but only chilled.

Cheers!

Tony

[Gillman]

Interesting. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The taste for peppermint schnapps, at least in part, is due to the folk memory of straight rye and some bourbon when it was (at its best) a rich, sweet drink with a tang of wintergreen or spearmint.

The story of Minnesotans putting peppermint candies in their whiskey in the 1930's - no doubt young bourbon or a blend - provides evidence of this in my view, the story is recounted on the website of the company which markets the Phillips line of whiskeys.

There is woven through this history too, as Tony's story shows, the association of fresh-tasting minty things and health. Fruity and minty tastes were used by early pharmaceuticals makers to disguise the bitter and other harsh tastes of drugs and medicaments. And why those tastes? Why cherry and spearmint and cocoa and not, say, apple or honey flavors? Because whiskey, good whiskey, had cherry and minty and cocoa tastes, and in olden times people associated whiskey (quite wrongly, it seems) with being good for one's health. The idea survives still in the general culture but vestigially, as e.g., the St. Bernard with the keg of brandy strung from his neck racing to save a victim in the mountains.

Gary

[cowdery]

Peppermint schnapps and domestic brandy have long been the most popular distilled spirits in the Upper Midwest.

[OscarV]

Yeah, out here in Jackson County, the birthplace of the Republican Party, there are schnapps floor displays at all the stores because bow deer season started on the 1st.

Also brown vodka from Canada.

[ILLfarmboy]

Yeah, out here in Jackson County, the birthplace of the Republican Party, there are schnapps floor displays at all the stores because bow deer season started on the 1st.

Also brown vodka from Canada.

Quite popular around here too. In the same vein, as a teen I worked for a farmer who, in the winter, would take a slug of Blackberry brandy (Dekuyper brand) or sometimes Mogen David before going out to check on the livestock.

[AVB]

It's sold all over Pennsylvania and has been for some time. I'd be willing to bet that it was made for the US market and not the Canadian one.

It sounds like a product created for the Canadian market and I would not assume that "corn whiskey" means the same thing there as it means here, nor would I assume that this corn whiskey was made here and flavored there.

It's enough for me to keep up with the Americans, let alone those nutty Canadians.

[cowdery]

You've got the Hot Cinnamon Fireball in Pennsylvania? Does it say "corn whiskey" on the bottle? Or is it labeled as Schnapps? It's the small print that matters, where the product must be identified as to one of the regulated types. Schnapps isn't a regulated type. Most schnapps are, technically, liqueurs. That's why this "flavored corn whiskey," which Gary said was not labeled "schnapps" is interesting.

[CorvallisCracker]

I've seen it in stores here but being not interested did not look closely at the label. Next time I will.

I do recollect that it was in the bourbon section. I don't usually spend any time in the schnapps section.

[Gillman]

It's 33% ABV here by the way. It is called on the label, Flavoured Corn Whisky. At the bottom, it is called also "Whisky Shooter".

Gary

[cowdery]

"Flavored corn whiskey" would be an American designation, although the spelling shows that at least that version of the product was made for Canada, which doesn't mean it isn't also sold here. Even here, flavored whiskeys can be 35% abv (40% would be the floor for an un-flavored whiskey), but not 33%. Heaven Hill recently released two flavored versions of Georgia Moon, so flavored corn whiskey is not unknown here.

[Gillman]

Interesting. Why would they go under the 35% by two percentage points, I wonder? Clearly this product was formulated with U.S. regulations in mind, but why not (for Canada) keep to the same strength? I am not aware of any disinhibiting Canadian regulation, although I should probably check.

This is actually a good product, very good, provided IMO it is cut 50/50 with any good whisky (bourbon, straight rye, Canadian). It smells like sugared cinnamon red hots, a very pure clean smell of that. It could be cut as well with vodka, but a well-flavoured whiskey does a lot for it.

Gary

[cowdery]

The mystery to me is why use corn whiskey at all? Would the product have tasted any different if it had a GNS base?

Even if they needed a Canada-specific label for the English spelling differences and, presumably, the required French, you are right that a different label is one thing, a different product formulation is something else.

Curious.

[AVB]

I'll have to look next time I'm in the store. It is in the Schnapps section though.

You've got the Hot Cinnamon Fireball in Pennsylvania? Does it say "corn whiskey" on the bottle? Or is it labeled as Schnapps? It's the small print that matters, where the product must be identified as to one of the regulated types. Schnapps isn't a regulated type. Most schnapps are, technically, liqueurs. That's why this "flavored corn whiskey," which Gary said was not labeled "schnapps" is interesting.

[AVB]

I looked at a bottle yesterday and it doesn't say anything about "corn whiskey" so I'll stand corrected.

[cowdery]

What does it say the category is? Liqueur, I presume.

[AVB]

Yep, Liqueur it is.