Drake Launches His Own Brand of Whiskey and, Of Course, We Tasted It

In February, Drake announced he was launching his own whiskey brand, and now we can finally taste the fruits of his labor.

Virginia Black Decadent American Whiskey, the new collaboration between spirit mogul Brent Hocking and Drake, markets itself as a sexy, luxury whiskey that’s easy to drink a lot of.

Drake joins a long line of hip-hop stars who have introduced their own alcohol brands including Jay Z‘s Armand de Brignac Champagne, Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ Ciroc and the latest, 50 Cent‘s Effen Vodka.

So how does it actually taste? As smooth as his recent Saturday Night Live promos. Because of the slightly lower alcohol content (whiskey usually clocks in around 95-proof), the 80-proof whiskey is much smoother and sweeter than your average bourbon — and that’s exactly what Hocking and Drake had in mind. In many ways, it makes a perfect entry-point whiskey for people who’ve been intimidated by the trend of 110-proof bourbons. (Disclaimer: If you like making a face when you sip whiskey, Virginia Black is not for you.)

“Over the past 5 years we’ve been drinking together and hanging out, just kind of deciding what we wanted to do,” Hocking, who met Drake through mutual friends, tells PEOPLE. “I looked for holes in the market. And I saw that of all the spirits out there, bourbon is probably the most clique-y. There’s not an easy drinking one — everyone is thinking there’s one way to do it, which is to make it harder and harder to drink. Proofs get higher and higher every year. ”The whiskey, stored in what could easily be mistaken for a bottle of cologne, is nothing if not easy to drink.

“We wanted to make something very sexy,” he says,which, of course, aligns with Drake’s brand quite nicely.

Virginia Black will be available for $34.99 in New York on June 1st, and then nationwide soon after.