The Smashing Pumpkins and FEW Spirits Collaborate On a New Whiskey

Alternative rock group The Smashing Pumpkins has accomplished a lot over the past 36 years. The band, which is known for melancholic melodies like “Try, Try, Try,” “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” and “1979”, has two Grammys and an AMA award under its belt, and one of its albums debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Now, thanks to a partnership with FEW Spirits, a craft distillery based in the band's hometown of Chicago, The Smashing Pumpkins has its own whiskey.

The new expression starts out as FEW’s flagship bourbon, which was distilled from a mashbill of 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% two-row malted barley. It was proofed from around 62% to 46.2% ABV using Midnight Rose, a blend of black teas scented with rose petals that’s said to contribute flavors of rose water and sandalwood to the whiskey. The tea comes from Madame ZuZu’s Emporium—a tea shop in Highland Park, Illinois run by The Smashing Pumpkins frontman and vocalist Billy Corgan and his wife Chloé Mendel Corgan.

The whiskey, FEW Smashing Pumpkins, carries a suggested retail price of $50. It’s a limited release, but the rollout is expected to continue through summer. The announcement comes just ahead of the band’s North American tour, which is slated to kick off in July and will feature performances by Green Day and punk rock band Rancid. The whiskey will hit shelves in states along the tour’s route, but those who can’t make the trek can buy bottles online at the distillery’s website. Long-term, the distillery plans to turn this bottling into a more regular offering which will ultimately be less allocated than its other limited releases.

Though it uses a bourbon base, the addition of tea disqualifies FEW Smashing Pumpkins from being labeled as a bourbon. (The label bills it as a straight bourbon with tea, which indicates that it’s a blend of both.) Technically speaking, it’s classified as a distilled spirits specialty.

This isn’t FEW’s first time cutting a whiskey down to proof using something other than water. Other examples include Cold Cut, a bourbon proofed using cold brew coffee, and Immortal Rye, a rye whiskey that was proofed with cold extracted Eight Immortals oolong tea.

This bottling is the fourth label in a lineup of rock-themed releases from FEW Spirits. The first was Brainville, a rye whiskey distilled from a mash fermented using French wine yeast and made in partnership with psychedelic rock act The Flaming Lips. Next came All Secrets Known, a tequila cask-finished bourbon named after a song from the legendary grunge band Alice in Chains. Finally, there’s Motor Oil: a blend of two cask-finished bourbons and a smoked wheat whiskey made for the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, which has the highest Whisky Advocate rating.