I'll be honest — when I first heard about FEW Cold Cut Bourbon with Cold Brew Coffee, I had my guard up. Coffee-infused bourbon is a crowded space, and most of what's out there tastes like someone dumped a shot of espresso into bottom-shelf whiskey and called it innovation. FEW Spirits, working out of Evanston, Illinois, have taken a different approach here, and it shows.
What caught my attention immediately is the proof. At 46.5% ABV, this sits comfortably above the minimum 40% required for bourbon under US law, and well above the watered-down 35% that many flavoured American whiskeys settle for. That's a deliberate choice — it tells me the distilling team wanted the bourbon's backbone to stand up against the coffee, not disappear behind it. As someone who's spent years building cocktails around spirit balance, I respect that decision.
The cold brew method matters here too. Cold extraction pulls different compounds from coffee than hot brewing does — you get the sweetness and body without as much of the sharp acidity or bitterness. It's the same reason cold brew took over every café menu a decade ago, and it's a smart pairing with bourbon's natural caramel and vanilla character. The result should be something rounder and more integrated than a hot-brewed coffee whiskey.
Tasting Notes
I don't have formal tasting notes broken down for this one, so I won't pretend otherwise. What I can tell you is that this sits in the category of bourbon-forward coffee whiskey — the kind where the grain bill and barrel influence still have a voice. At 46.5%, expect weight on the tongue and enough heat to remind you this is a serious spirit, not a dessert liqueur. The cold brew integration should bring dark chocolate and roasted nut tones alongside the bourbon's corn sweetness, without tipping into syrupy territory.
The Verdict
At £58.25, FEW Cold Cut isn't cheap, but it's not unreasonable either — you're paying for a craft bourbon base at a proper proof point with a considered flavouring method. This isn't a novelty bottle you'll open once and forget about. The 46.5% ABV is the key differentiator for me. It means this can actually work in cocktails without falling apart, and it means sipping it neat won't feel like drinking flavoured water. For a coffee bourbon, that's more than half the battle.
I'm giving this a 7.8 out of 10. It loses a point or two because NAS bourbon at this price needs to work harder to justify itself against age-stated competition, and the coffee-whiskey category still carries some baggage from lesser products. But FEW have made smart choices here — the proof, the cold brew method, the commitment to keeping this as bourbon first and coffee second. It's a well-made spirit that knows what it wants to be.
Best Served
Make an Espresso Martini Old Fashioned. Two ounces of this, a barspoon of demerara syrup, two dashes of chocolate bitters, stirred over a large ice cube. The cold brew coffee already in the bourbon does the heavy lifting, so you don't need to add any extra coffee liqueur. Garnish with three coffee beans if you want to be traditional about it, or an expressed orange peel if you want to bridge the bourbon's citrus notes. It's a genuinely good drink — the kind of thing I'd put on a menu and feel good about.
