Top 10 boozy food launches

The niche alcohol-flavoured food sector has certainly moved beyond chocolate liqueurs in recent years, with everything from whisky bacon and gin ice cream hitting the market.

From whisky pigs to cocktail fruit pastilles, this is our pick of the top 10 boozy food launches

As the experimental cocktail scene progresses, food is increasingly used in mixology beyond the traditional garnishes, but now the tables are turning, and food manufacturers are using spirits in their imaginative creations.

While just this year, Scots rejoiced with the launch of whisky and haggis-flavoured crisps, boozy cocktail fruit pastilles became the first food item to be stocked on supermarkets’ alcohol shelves, and the “world’s first” sloe gin and truffle ice cream was created.

Meanwhile, a rye distillery in the US has experimented with rearing pigs which taste like whisky, a Cognac-flavoured hot dog smashed a world record and a certain contraceptive device launched in celebration of the World Cup.

Click through the following pages to discover our pick of the top 10 boozy food launches. If you’ve come across an interesting alcohol-flavoured food item we’ve missed off this list, let us know by leaving a comment below.

Whisky crisps

Just this summer, one food firm came up with the enterprising idea of putting the two signature flavours of Scotland into a crisp, creating the Whisky and Haggis Ridge Cut Potato Crisps.

Launched by Perthshire-based Mackie’s, the crisps include a combination of sherried whisky Aberlour a’Bunadh, The Famous Grouse and single malt Talisker for a “spicy” note.

Currently available in Scotland, the group hopes to extend distribution to  Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East.

Cocktail fruit pastilles

In October this year, one UK confectionary company claimed to have created the world’s first cocktail-flavoured alcoholic fruit pastille jelly sweets.

Containing real dashes of either whisky, rum or gin, the range created by Smith & Sinclair marked the first time a food product would be sold exclusively on the alcohol shelf in the UK.

The collection’s flavours included: Gin and Tonic, Mixed Berry Daiquiri, Whisky Sour, Spiced Rum, Spring Clean and Cake Icing.

Gin ice cream

Also this year, three UK food and drinks companies joined forces to launch what they claimed was the “world’s first” sloe gin truffle ice cream.

While two of the companies created the base ice cream, SLOEmotion, based in North Yorkshire, crafted a ganache from sloe gin, cream, butter and white chocolate.

It was available for a limited time only at Hunters deli in Helmsley, North Yorkshire.

Tequila popcorn

In celebration of the Day of the Dead in Mexico, Jose Cuervo partnered with Joe & Sephs to launch a classic Margarita-flavoured popcorn

To create the limited edition, the gourmet popcorn producer used Jose Cuervo Especial Reposado – described as a warm, spicy Tequila with hints of agave and oak – to infuse a caramel popcorn coating.

In order to emphasise the Margarita cocktail flavours, creators also used lime oil, triple sec and salt. The launch followed that of Joe & Seph’s Cocktail Collection, including Mojito, Gin and Tonic, and Cosmopolitan flavours, unveiled last summer.

Whiskey bacon?

Although not yet officially launched, the possibility of eating whiskey-flavoured bacon moved a step closer to reality this year.

In May the Iowa-based Templeton Rye distillery revealed it had embarked on an experiment to see if it could breed pigs to taste like whiskey, without the need to marinate the pork in alcohol.

Twenty-five pigs are being raised by the distillery and although are not being feed actually whiskey, are sticking to a strict diet that includes the dry distillery grain from the whiskey-making process mixed in their feed.

Cocktail jelly beans

Since 1977, The Jelly Belly Candy Company has ventured further into the world of drinks-flavoured variants with its Mai Tai bean.

Since then, the iconic drinks group has created a Blackberry Brandy, Strawberry Daiquiri, Piña Colada, Margarita and Mojito bean.

Most recently, Jelly Belly unveiled its first beer-flavoured beam, called the Draft Beer Jelly Belly, which has apparently been requested by fans for decades.

Alcohol-flavoured spring water

Okay, so not technically “boozy”, but this company certainly got tongues wagging with its range of alcohol-flavoured spring waters.

Although no alcohol was added to the selection, flavours included Gin and Tonic, Whisky and Cola, Rum and Cola, and Rose.

Created by Imperial Spring Water, the range, called Tipsy, took three years to develop.

Cognac hot dog

Credit: DougieDogs Facebook

A Canadian fast food restaurant broke the Guinness World Record for the world’s most expensive hot dog with its dog soaked in 100-year-old Louis XIII Cognac.

Created by Vancouver-based restaurant Dougie Dog, the dish is priced at CAD$2,000 and must be ordered 12 hours in advance. It is fried in truffle oil and is topped with Kobe beef, fresh lobster and the restaurant’s signature picante sauce.

Amaretto yoghurt

British company The Collective Dairy took the concept of luxury yoghurt to another stage with the launch of its Raspberry and Amaretto variant, allowing yoghurt lovers to indulge in a boozy breakfast.

It is made with West Country Milk, fresh raspberries, raspberry puree, honey and a dash of Italian liqueur amaretto.

Other interesting yoghurt flavours produced by The Collective Dairy include: Creme Brulee, Spiced Pumpkin and Xmas Pud.

Caipirinah condoms

Even the most unworldly of us knows this is no food-stuff, but it is a product made supposedly more palatable with the addition of alcohol flavouring…

Created by contraceptive manufacturer Prudence, the Caipirinha-flavoured condom was launched to celebrate this year’s FIFA World Cup and sports the traditional green and yellow Brazilian colours.

The Caipirinha is a traditional Brazilian cocktail made with cachaça, lime and sugar.