• Romance novels have grown in popularity, thanks in part to “BookTok.”
• Fireball Whisky is tapping into that interest to promote its newest flavor, Torch’d Vanilla.

It makes a lot of sense that COVID would ignite an increased demand for romance novels, but thanks to TikTok’s literary community, unsurprisingly known as “BookTok,” that trend for steamy stories has continued. The renewed interest in smut in novel form is big enough that specialty bookstores have opened across the country to meet demand.

Now, Sazerac’s flavored whisky brand Fireball is jumping on the trend, using a faux book to promote its latest flavor, Torch’d Vanilla.

The fake book, titled the “Smut Stash,”  is designed to hold two 50ml bottles of Fireball whisky, and the design is modeled after romance novels. The cover features the Fireball Dragon behind the title “A Quart of Fire and Vanilla.” The background is a deep red with wrinkles reminiscent of a satin sheet. The rest of the cover includes faux elements found on the front of novels, like a gold foil seal reading “This year’s hottest spoof,” “#1 Bestselling Whisky,” and a blurb along the top reading, “Spicy, sweetly seductive, and craveable…A true shot taker.” The top edge seems covered in white frosting, which makes sense since this is a promotion for a vanilla version of Fireball, though, uh, dirtier minds might think of something else.

“No one understands the appeal of a sweet, slow burn quite like Fireball,” said Danny Suich, senior global brand director of Fireball, via press release. “Torch’d Vanilla, coupled with the rise of romantasy fueled by BookTok, gave us the perfect excuse to have some fun with two very different kinds of spice. Enter the Fireball Vanilla Smut Stash. Because the only thing better than a little literary fire is a whisky that packs the same heat.”

Fireball is giving away the Smut Stash at two afterparties at The Ripped Bodice LA and Brooklyn locations, and doing two drops on October 21 and 28 at FireballWhisky.com/smuthstash.