21 Popular Ole Smoky Moonshine Flavors Ranked

The illegal kind of moonshine was notoriously pretty high-octane stuff, since if you're running much of a risk to make or obtain said hooch, you probably want the most bang for your buck. That plus the fact that it's kind of hard to check for alcohol content if you don't have the proper equipment. Commercial moonshine, Ole Smoky's included, has to abide by federal regulations that limit its alcohol content. At 64% ABV, Blue Flame is the most overproof option. It's basically the company's answer to straight grain alcohol, although admittedly not quite as boozy as Everclear.

We're going to assume that people buy Ole Smoky Blue Flame for the novelty value (oooh, it's not only moonshine but super-boozy moonshine!) since the taste has nothing whatsoever to recommend it. Eau de cleaning chemicals, we'd call it, and the diluted Ty-d-bol blue hue does nothing to dispel those associations. Drink it straight only on a dare -– or better yet, exercise valor by walking away from anyone who'd issue such a stupid dare. As a mixer, use it in place of cheap, nasty vodka in drinks where the flavor will be well disguised.

Original is, we presume, the first product offered by Ole Smoky, and we can see how it might have been a must-try product back when the whole idea of legal moonshine was new. It has been over 10 years since laws passed by the state of Tennessee turned craft moonshine into a big business though, and the novelty has long since worn off.

Ole Smoky Original (just like White Lightnin') comes in at 50% ABV, and honestly, it's hard to tell the difference between the two. Both taste like slightly sweet, extra-strong cheap vodka, and as such, make for okay mixers but aren't something you'd really want to drink on their own. While you might buy this moonshine once to try it and maybe another time or two as a gift, eventually you're going to realize that you can get the whole cheap vodka experience for a lot less money by simply buying cheap vodka instead.

Ole Smoky is apparently trying to be all things –- or at least all boozes — to all people. This sour watermelon flavor, which is a liqueur-strength offering (20% ABV), is apparently its answer to something like DeKuyper's Watermelon Pucker, only at a price that tends to be a fair bit higher than most bottom-shelf mixers.

If you have the stomach to drink sweet liqueurs straight up, you'll find that Ole Smoky's Sour Watermelon tastes very much like a watermelon Jolly Rancher, albeit a slightly boozy one. It's more likely that you'll want to use it in a cocktail, though. You could try it in place of Triple Sec for a watermelony (and slightly sour) spin on a Cosmo, or blend it with lime juice and vodka and top it with a splash of seltzer for a watermelon smash. It could also be used in place of rum to make a low-alcohol watermelon daiquiri with lime, fresh watermelon, and ice. 

All in all, Ole Smoky's Sour Watermelon could make for quite the fun summer mixer, but we can't move it much higher up the list for two reasons: We're not huge watermelon fans, and as we mentioned, you can get a very similar effect from a cheaper product.

If you love peaches (not everyone loves peaches ... sorry, but there's always a certain amount of subjectivity in any ranking), then you may feel that this product belongs several notches up the list. The peaches are plenty peachy, although we did detect a slight hint of chemicals. Then again, peaches soaked in booze of any sort aren't going to taste like they're fresh off the tree. If you want some boozy peaches plus some fairly peachy booze (32.5% ABV), then Ole Smoky's Moonshine Peaches may well be the product for you.

If you're a true peaches-in-booze afficionado, though, you'd probably be better off making your own. We feel that peaches pair better with a more flavorful liquor such as brandy, rum, or bourbon — something that is strong yet has a bit of sweetness. Another benefit of making DIY boozy peaches is that unless you go with super-premium spirits, your homemade version is bound to be a whole lot cheaper. The main problem with Ole Smoky Moonshine Peaches is that once the fruit (barely a few bucks' worth, if that) is out of the jar, all you have left is maybe half a bottle's worth of booze.

Apple pie moonshine, according to VinePair, may be one of the oldest types of flavored moonshines — and yes, flavored 'shine does date back to the days when the stuff was made illegally. Adding fruit to the hooch tended to disguise the flavor somewhat, which was necessary due to the fact that most bootleg booze was really pretty awful-tasting stuff. Ole Smoky's Apple Pie, however, has no nasty aftertaste, nor could it be said to really kick like a mule either. At 35% ABV, it's just a bit less boozy than your typical spirits, although stronger than most apple liqueurs. You could think of it as moonshine's answer to Calvados, except in addition to its apple flavoring it also has cinnamon and other spices that play up on the whole resemblance to pie.

If you like boozy apple cider, then Ole Smoky Apple Pie is your drink. In fact, you can mix it with hot apple cider to make an extra apple-y cold weather drink. For summer sipping, it's pretty good on its own with a couple of ice cubes to cool it down, or you could drink it at room temperature out of a metal mug for a nostalgic, old-timey feeling.

Ole Smoky's Sour Apple is not dissimilar to the sour watermelon flavor in that it too, is liqueur-strength (20% ABV) and also bears a certain resemblance to other sour apple liqueurs. Why then does it rate so much higher with us? Well, in this case, we admit it's primarily due to the fact that we much prefer sour apple Jolly Ranchers to watermelon ones, so it's kind of a personal preference. There's really no way to reduce reviews to an exact science, and they wouldn't be nearly so much fun if you could,

Ole Smoky Sour Apple does, however, have a significant advantage over the sour watermelon variety in that it's more versatile. It's perfect in an appletini, which is a far more popular drink than a watermelontini for good reason, but it can also be used to add a sour punch to hot or cold apple cider. For a fun, fruity, and not-too-boozy summer refresher, this sour apple moonshine can be mixed with a citrus or other fruit-flavored seltzer or soda. While there are cheaper sour apple liqueurs out there, Ole Smoky's does taste just a bit fresher and more apple-forward, so we give it thumbs — not to mention bottoms– up.

Blackberry is such an underrated flavor, particularly when it comes to boozy concoctions. Even in the blackberry bramble, which is one cocktail in which you'd think the stuff would be de rigueur, it seems that other fruit-flavored liqueurs are often substituted. Well, Ole Smoky is giving the blackberry its due with its Blackberry Moonshine and we're loving every bit of it.

At 20% ABV, Ole Smoky Blackberry is basically a liqueur much like crème de mûre, and both are perfect for all of your bramble-making needs. The manufacturer suggests mixing it with lemonade, but we also love using it to sweeten up bourbon drinks. In the summertime, this blackberry moonshine makes a great refresher when mixed with blackberry or raspberry seltzer and it can also add some extra fruitiness to sangria. In the fall, however, we love mixing it into mulled cider and could imagine it working well with mulled wine too.

Moonshine for breakfast? While it may sound like a terrible idea on the surface, if there's one type of 'shine that could well make for a fun way to kick off your day -– or an even better way to wind one up, perhaps -– it would be Ole Smoky Mountain Java. Like the rest of Ole Smoky's cream-based liqueurs, Mountain Java is just 17.5% ABV. As such, it makes a great coffee add-in because you get a whole lot of flavor but only a small amount of alcohol with every spoonful you stir into your morning (or after-dinner) brew.

Mountain Java is delicious on its own as well, either chilled or at room temperature. You can also use it to make all manner of kicked-up coffee drinks or perhaps employ it in an affogato. Try stirring it into hot chocolate to make a mocha or add it to chocolate milk to make a ... we're not sure what you'd call this, but it tastes amazing.

While Ole Smoky's Moonshine Pineapples have yet to achieve the viral fame of their cherry counterparts and are considerably less boozy at just 20% ABV, we're even fonder of this moonshine-infused fruit. The reason? Well, part of it lies in a slight preference for pineapple itself, as it just has that irresistible tartness to it that few fruits can match. The sizable chunks of pineapple in the jar are also more satisfying to eat than the cherries. The best part of all though is that rather than floating in plain old moonshine, the pineapple is paired with Ole Smoky Pina Colada. While this flavor is not available as a standalone at present, it would rate pretty highly with us if it were.

The best thing to do with the pineapple may just be to eat it right out of the jar, although we also love it on top of ice cream along with a splash of the piña colada-flavored liqueur. We actually would not use it in a traditional piña colada though as the delicate flavor would be buried by the pineapple juice and coconut cream. Piña coladas work just fine with cheap rum, whereas this stuff deserves to be savored on its own or with just the most barely-there of mixers such as pineapple seltzer as suggested in Ole Smoky's Pina Colada Spritzer.

Shine Nog, as its name implies, is Ole Smoky's take on eggnog and as such, is only available on a seasonal basis. To add to its festive nature, it even comes with a red ribbon and holiday-themed trim. While Shine Nog is also a cream liqueur, with an ABV of 17.5% it seems to be somewhat lighter in texture than eggnog should be.

Ole Smoky Shine Nog tastes pretty amazing on its own either chilled or at room temperature –- unlike eggnog from the dairy case, there's no need to refrigerate the jar unless you want to. It's also really good in coffee, like an eggnog latte with a little kick to it. You can also mix it with another liqueur such as Kahlúa or else combine it with some rum, brandy, or bourbon for boozier eggnog. The one thing we do suggest is that when you see Shine Nog on store shelves, you should buy more than one jar. While this drink seems to come around again every year, it's still a long wait from one holiday season to the next. With something this delicious, you may want to extend the merrymaking as long as you can.

It was a tough decision to come up with the number one contender out of Ole Smoky's cream liqueurs — since as we've already admitted, we feel that these drinks are the best product Ole Smoky has to offer. One factor boosted Butter Pecan over such strong candidates as Shine Nog and Some Beach. Unlike those seasonal offerings, this delightful drink is available throughout the year.

Just like the rest of the cream liqueurs, Ole Smoky Butter Pecan is 17.5% ABV, so it's not something that's going to get you all liquored up. Yes, it's kind of ironic that a company purporting to be modern-day moonshiners should be at their best when concentrating on low-alcohol offerings, but you know what they say, irony can be delicious and never more so than when it tastes just like butter pecan ice cream with a slight hint of booze. This drink is something we like to savor on its own one small glass at a time to make it last as long as possible — although we'll occasionally stir a few spoonfuls into a cup of coffee, as well.