This is not a spirit, not a bottled alternative, and not trying to be. Barrel Tea Whisky is exactly what it sounds like: tea sachets packed with wood chips salvaged from decommissioned whisky casks. Add boiling water, steep for eight to ten minutes, and what you get is a hot amber drink that smells convincingly of the barrel room. The flavour is driven almost entirely by toasted oak. There is a woody depth to it, a faint smokiness, and the kind of dry, slightly tannic character that whisky casks leave behind. It does not taste like whisky the spirit — there is no grain, no heat, no alcohol warmth — but it captures something of the atmosphere of it. Think less 'whisky alternative' and more 'whisky-adjacent evening drink'. It works best approached on its own terms: a warming, aromatic brew for the evenings when you want something with a bit of character but nothing in a bottle. A touch of honey rounds off the wood if the tannins feel too prominent. Sold in boxes of 12 sachets and stocked by a handful of AF specialists, it is genuinely unlike anything else in the category.