The Hands-Down Best Bourbon Brands to Drink Right Now
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These days, we take bourbon way too seriously. But it makes sense—bourbon, and all whiskey really, is subject to passionate obsession as much as anything else that people have strong feelings about like music, food, cars, and movies. How you feel about bourbon is entirely subjective, although there are a few objective truths—it must be made from a mash bill containing at least 51 percent corn in the U.S., aged in new charred oak containers (not barrels, even though virtually all bourbon is aged in them), distilled to no more than 160 proof, put into barrels at no more than 125 proof, and bottled at a minimum of 80 proof.
Other than that, there is no wrong or right, despite what blowhards and bourboomers online might tell you. If you like to sip Pappy Van Winkle from a Baccarat crystal tasting glass, that’s just fine. If you prefer drinking Jim Beam out of a red plastic cup with a healthy pour of Coke, that’s cool too. Or vice versa–go ahead and make a cocktail with that $500 bottle if you damn well please. Just don’t let the haters whiskey-shame you for your personal preferences. However, if you are in the market for a little guidance as to what might be a quality bourbon to try, one that you can actually find for less than $100 per bottle (and mostly much less than that), here are our 25 favorite bourbon brands to drink now.
Knob Creek
The Jim Beam Small Batch Collection was created by the legendary master distiller Booker Noe in 1992, at a time when bourbon was struggling for relevance (hard to imagine now). There is no legal definition for the term “small batch,” so for many brands it simply means smaller volume than other whiskies they produce. There are four Small Batch expressions available–Booker’s, Basil Hayden, Baker’s, and Knob Creek. The latter’s 100-proof bourbon got its nine-year-old age statement back in 2020 after being absent for several years, and more recently 12, 15, and 18-year-old expressions joined the lineup. Whatever the age, the rich caramel and brown sugar flavor, along with that signature Jim Beam nuttiness, shines through. There are several single barrel releases to choose from if you’re looking for something with a higher ABV. And if flavored whiskey is your thing, don’t let anyone shame you–there’s even a Smoked Maple expression of Knob Creek for you to try.
Wild Turkey
Wild Turkey is a classic, unpretentious American whiskey brand that has permeated the public’s consciousness for decades. The distillery’s affordable flagship expression is bottled at 101 proof, giving this inexpensive but always dependable bourbon a slightly hotter, spicier edge than other comparable whiskeys. Wild Turkey generally bottles liquid aged for at least six years, and the barrels are given the more intense No. 4 “alligator” char to help deepen the flavor as the whiskey ages. There are also some higher-end releases like Master’s Keep, the most recent of which was called Triumph which was a 10-year-old rye whiskey. Then there are smaller batch releases like the barrel-strength Rare Breed and the single barrel Kentucky Spirit to try. All that being said, you really can’t do much better than a humble bottle of 101 (don’t waste your time with the 81-proof version).
Evan Williams
Bourbon fans know that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on a good bottle, and Evan Williams is proof positive of this fact. Jim Beam White Label is fine, but for around the same price this Heaven Hill whiskey just packs more punch and flavor (it’s also a bit stronger at 86 proof). Evan Williams is a great cheap cocktail bourbon and you can certainly sip it on its own. There are, however, some other really good expressions to try besides the classic Black Label. There’s the Bottled in Bond version, which dials the ABV up to 50%, 1783 which has the nebulous “small batch” designation and is bottled at 90 proof, and lastly the slept-on Evan Williams Single Barrel. While the palate will differ depending on which barrel the bottle comes from, this is a really delicious and affordable bourbon that you should look out for.
Four Roses
If it isn’t already, Four Roses should be your go-to budget bourbon. It’s great in cocktails, you can sip it on its own, and it is hands-down one of the best that you can find for the price. The Single Barrel is an excellent expression, but for something tasty and more moderately priced check out Four Roses Small Batch. The distillery uses two mashbills and five yeast strains to create ten different recipes to work with, and four of these are used to make Small Batch. Small Batch Select, on the other hand, is made using six recipes, it’s non-chill filtered, and bottled at a higher 104 proof. Generally, the bourbon is about six to eight years old, with the spice from Four Roses’ high-rye mashbill complementing the fruity notes from the yeast. Of course, this distillery has its own unicorn bottle, and that comes in the form of the annual release of Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch. This is a blend of more mature liquid selected by master distiller Brent Elliott that is pretty hard to get your hands on, but is usually fantastic. Details about the 2024 edition will be arriving soon, so stay tuned.
Michter's
Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery in Louisville has stills producing limited amounts of whiskey, a great bar with innovative cocktails, and one of the best whiskey visitor experiences in town. But the main production facility is the much bigger Shively distillery just a few miles away where the majority of the whiskey is made. The Michter’s range includes bourbon, rye, American whiskey, and sour mash whiskey, and while they aren’t the cheapest bottles you can find, they are some of the best. The flavor profile of the US1 Straight Bourbon hits all the right notes—sweet, spice, vanilla, cocoa, and more. Go ahead and pick up a bottle of the 10-year-old single barrel bourbon, an annual release of sourced whiskey that is consistently great, or the excellent but wildly expensive 25-year-old if you’ve got some cash to burn. If you’re looking for a solid and versatile bourbon that is widely available, however, US1 comes highly recommended.
Old Forester
Old Forester is a storied bourbon brand known for making inexpensive whiskey that doesn’t sacrifice flavor or quality. The distillery has released some truly fantastic expressions as part of its Whiskey Row series, like the 1920 Prohibition Style and 1897 Bottled In Bond, as well as the 117 Series which includes the recent Rum Finish bourbon. There’s also the annual Birthday Bourbon, one of those coveted unicorn bottles that people line up outside of liquor stores in the hopes of getting a bottle the night before it hits shelves. But the core lineup has long been full of solid options. The Classic 86 Proof clocks in with slightly higher alcohol content (and more flavor) than your average baseline bourbon, while the Signature 100 Proof is a bartender’s best friend. Don’t forget to try Old Forester Rye as well, a 65-percent rye whiskey that is soft and sweet on the palate.
Maker's Mark
You haven’t fully explored the bourbon category until you’ve tried a wheated expression. "Wheated" just means that wheat is used as a flavoring grain in the mashbill instead of the usual rye, along with the requisite corn and malted barley. Maker’s Mark uses red winter wheat, resulting in an instantly recognizable soft and sweet flavor with a long-lasting finish. Sure, Pappy Van Winkle is also a wheated bourbon, but why even consider that when you can find Maker’s Mark virtually everywhere for a fraction of the price? If you’re looking for Maker’s with some extra kick, check out Cask Strength, an uncut bourbon that is still very approachable with a relatively low barrel proof of 108 to 114. Last year, the distillery launched the superb Cellar Aged, the oldest expression to date (a blend of 11- and 12-year-old whiskey). And the Wood Finishing Series returned this spring with The Heart Release, a blend of two bourbons finished with different types of wood cask staves.
Booker's
No bourbon list would be complete without a brand completely dedicated to barrel-proof whiskey, and Booker’s (part of the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection along with Knob Creek) is one of the best. This is the OG of the collection, created by master distiller Booker Noe at a time when high-proof bourbon wasn’t really what anyone was looking for. The whiskey comes out in four batches per year, although sometimes less, and usually is aged between six and seven years and clocks in between 120-130 proof. This is strong, but certainly very drinkable–add a little water if you want to tamp down the ABV, or use it in a cocktail if you’re looking to go big. The latest batch is called "The Beam House Batch." According to master distiller Fred Noe, it's a tribute to his family home in Bardstown, and it's about seven years and three months old and bottled at 124.6 proof. These bottles have gone up in price over the years, and the differences between each batch are subtle and nuanced, but overall Booker’s remains one of the most consistently high-quality barrel-proof bourbon brands out there.
Barrell Bourbon
There are bourbon brands that source their whiskey, slap a label on it, and call it a day. Then there are brands like Barrell Craft Spirits, which carefully select stock from various whiskey-producing states and countries, blends it into innovative expressions, and releases new batches of bourbon throughout the year that vary in wonderful ways. The latest release is Batch 36, a blend of bourbon from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee aged between 7.5 and 15 years. There are also some fantastic cask-finished expressions to check out, like Vantage (finished in Japanese mizunara, French oak, and toasted American oak) and Dovetail (finished in rum, port, and cabernet casks). All of the whiskey is bottled at cask strength, and BCS strives to be as transparent as possible by revealing details about age and sources of whiskey (without actually disclosing the distilleries).
Woodford Reserve
Although Woodford Reserve operates on a site where bourbon has been made since the 1800s, the brand was first introduced in 1996 by parent company Brown-Forman (which also owns Jack Daniel’s and Old Forester). The whiskey has become a bar staple over the past 25 years, and the flagship bourbon is the main reason why. It’s sweet and just a little bit spicy, with prominent notes of vanilla and fruit. There’s also a Double Oaked version, which gets a secondary maturation in lightly charred barrels, as well as rye, wheat, and malt whiskeys. The distilling team also experiments with mashbills and aging with Woodford’s Master’s Collection and Distillery Series, as well as the annual Batch Proof Series–the current release takes the proof up from Woodford’s standard 90.4 to 121.2. And if you’re looking to taste outside the box, head to Kentucky to find a bottle of the new Distillery Series Toasted Bourbon, a bourbon that was matured in lightly charred and heavily toasted barrels.
Buffalo Trace
There are a lot of prohibitively expensive, difficult to find bottles of bourbon that come out of the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Pappy Van Winkle, WL Weller, the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection—they're all extremely good bourbons (and some ryes), but exorbitantly priced and nearly impossible to get your hands on. Fortunately, the eponymous expression from Buffalo Trace is a solid workhorse bourbon that plays well with other ingredients in a cocktail and is tasty enough to drink on its own. The mashbill for this bourbon is said to be low in rye content, so the predominance of corn makes this a sweet but not saccharine sipper. Sure, you could spend more money on an age statement bottle of Eagle Rare (also produced at the distillery), but if you’re looking for high-quality and affordable whiskey give Buffalo Trace Bourbon a try.
Woodinville Whiskey
This relatively small Washington State distillery can hold its own with the best of the best in the bourbon world. It’s craft whiskey that tastes as good as anything coming out of the legacy distilleries (it should be noted Moet Hennessy now owns the company). Woodinville Straight Bourbon tastes fully developed and mature. The grains come from a farm in Quincy, WA, and production takes place at the Woodinville Distillery just outside of Seattle. The barrels are then shipped to Central Washington to mature in the fluctuating climate there to ensure interaction between whiskey and wood. There are several limited-edition and cask-finished bourbons as well that are worth trying, like the applewood stave-finished expression and a new eight-year-old bourbon that will be released later this summer. But start with the 95 proof core bourbon—a lesser known bottle that you should get more familiar with.
Russell’s Reserve
Another brand made at the Wild Turkey distillery is Russell’s Reserve, named after the multi-generational family that has held the master distiller title there for decades. Jimmy Russell is almost 90 but you can still find him hanging out at the gift shop signing bottles, while his son Eddie heads up the distillery (his son Bruce is an associate blender). Russell’s Reserve is really Eddie’s baby, and it’s one of the best values in bourbon. The core expression is a 10-year-old bourbon that you can usually find for around 50 bucks, which is a steal considering what other brands charge for a whiskey that old. And it’s delicious, with all of the Wild Turkey character present but softened a bit due to the lower proof and extra years in barrels. Over the past few years, some even older bourbons have been released which have immediately skyrocketed in price because of their limited availability and high quality. If you have a chance to taste the new Russell’s Reserve 15, do so—this is one of the best bourbons to be released in 2024, period.
Elijah Craig
If Evan Williams is Heaven Hill’s baseline bourbon brand, Elijah Craig is the distillery’s more premium offering. The brand used to have a 12-year-old age statement on the label, but that disappeared in 2016. Now the bourbon is aged between eight and 12 years, resulting in a classic flavor profile of vanilla, maple, oak, black pepper, and honey on the palate, good enough to sip neat or make an Old Fashioned. The barrel-proof version of Elijah Craig, released three times per year, is also worth checking out. As of last year, this whiskey also no longer carries a 12-year age statement–instead, each batch has its own age statement, sometimes younger and sometimes older, and varies in proof from the low 120s to the mid 130s.
Wilderness Trail
This Kentucky distillery was acquired by Campari a couple of years ago, the same company that owns Wild Turkey, but that certainly hasn’t put a damper on its dedication to focusing on grains, yeast, and the overall distillation process. This makes sense, given that the founders ran a fermentation consulting company before opening the distillery. The bourbon is made from a sweet mash instead of a sour mash–in other words, the process starts fresh each time instead of utilizing elements from the previous batch to maintain consistency. The whiskey is produced in batches of about 20 barrels, so the term “small batch” really does apply here. And, most importantly, this is really good juice, full of caramel, stone fruit, and ample spice from the 24 percent rye grain used in the core bourbon.
Heaven's Door
Celebrity spirits brands are a dime a dozen when it comes to tequila, but the whiskey world is less populated by stars. One of the best of this more limited group is Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door whiskey brand, and a lot has changed since it was founded in 2015. The brand still sources its whiskey, but it also acquired a Kentucky distillery with a lot of stock where it will start distilling its own bourbon. There are currently two bourbons in the core lineup–Revival, which is sourced from Tennessee, and Ascension, a blend of two Kentucky bourbons–both of which are very good. If you’re looking for some cask-finished expressions, check out the Bootleg and Exploration series which include bottles like an 18-year-old Tennessee bourbon given a secondary maturation in Spanish vermouth barrels, a truly unique whiskey.
Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole opened in Louisville in 2012, and has been sourcing and distilling its own whiskey since its founding. There are two bourbons in the core lineup (as well as a pair of rye whiskeys)–Dareringer, which is finished in Pedro Ximinez sherry casks, and Cavehill, a straight bourbon made from a four-grain mashbill that includes malted wheat, malted barley, and honey malted barley in the recipe. That makes this stand out from other bourbons, and the fact that there’s no rye included in the mashbill gives it a slightly sweeter edge. There is also the high-end Founder’s Collection which is said to be made up of stock that founder Kaveh Zamanian set aside to further age or finish in different types of barrels. The most recent was a fantastic 15-year-old bourbon finished in Japanese mizunara oak, a limited-edition banger bottled at barrel proof. This is a very expensive bottle, but well worth a try if you get the chance.
New Riff
New Riff is another relatively recent addition to the Kentucky bourbon landscape, having started making whiskey only about a decade ago. One thing that New Riff has done differently is focusing on only releasing bottled-in-bond whiskey–meaning it’s at least four years old, exactly 100 proof, and the product of one distillery and one distillation season. There are some unique experimental expressions to taste, but start with the core bourbon. It’s made from a mashbill of 65 percent corn, 30 percent rye, and five percent malted barley. It’s also non-chill filtered to allow maximum flavor, and that shines through on the palate. This bourbon has notes of cinnamon, honey, molasses, and ripe berries on the palate. At 100 proof, it’s a great sipper and also stands up to mixing with other ingredients in any cocktail you can think of. Also be sure to check out the oldest bourbon to date from the distillery, an eight-year-old expression that launched last spring.
Widow Jane
Widow Jane is a Brooklyn distillery that sources barrels from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, and blends them into whiskeys that are greater than the sum of their parts. These usually have fairly high age statements for bourbon, often ranging well above ten years–The Vaults, for example, is an annual release that most recently was bottled at 15 years old. But the distillery also makes its own whiskey using heirloom corn varietals, an attempt to explore how different grains affect the flavor of the whiskey. The latest Widow Jane release is called Baby Jane, a blend of Kentucky bourbon and bourbon made in-house from a mashbill that included heirloom corn of the same name. The result is a solid new whiskey release, and, like all the other Widow Jane expressions, it was cut with water from the Rosendale mines in upstate New York.
Penelope Bourbon
Penelope Bourbon is named after the founding couple’s daughter. They started out sourcing bourbon and rye from MGP, the factory-like distillery in Indiana that makes whiskey for so many other brands. Fast-forward to 2023, when MGP ended up acquiring the brand based on its success. The core portfolio consists of a four-grain bourbon which is a blend of three different mashbills. That’s augmented by other expressions like Architect, which is finished in French oak, the Rose Cask Finish, and the divisive Rio which is finished in Brazilian amburana, a type of wood that often dominates the flavor of the whiskey. Penelope always seems to have something new on the way, so keep an eye on this brand to see what is next.
Old Elk
This Colorado distillery got lucky when it hired Greg Metze as its master distiller, a man who has spent more than four decades in the whiskey industry, including 38 years at the aforementioned MGP. The core products are a blend of sourced whiskeys, artfully married together into some intriguing expressions. The bourbon is a blend that has an unusual mashbill–51 percent corn, 34 percent malted barley, and 15 percent rye. That’s more malted barley than you’ll find in almost any other bourbon, giving the whiskey notes of milk chocolate, toasted nuts, and vanilla. There’s also a wheated bourbon to check out, and at least four different cask finishes including rum and port barrel-matured bourbons.
Frey Ranch
One of the best craft distilleries in America right now is Frey Ranch, a grain-to-bottle operation located in Nevada not far from the Sierra Nevada foothills. The husband and wife team that run the distillery make a bourbon that has earned the respect of whiskey drinkers and critics over the years. The four-grain mashbill consists of corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley. It’s aged for about five years, meaning that this is a well-matured bourbon that doesn’t taste too young or green. Instead, you’ll find notes of rich caramel, dark chocolate, ripe peach, and almonds, and at 90 proof there’s just a flash of heat on the finish that warms as it goes down.
Angel’s Envy
Angel’s Envy does mainly one thing, but it does it really well–making cask-finished bourbon and rye. The bourbon is aged for about four to six years and then finished for up to six months in port barrels. This is a strong and assertive cask finish, and the influence on the whiskey is immediate with rich dried fruit, spice, hot honey, and custard notes. The annual release of the cask strength version of the bourbon tends to sell out pretty fast, so grab a bottle if you find one. And the distillery just introduced a new bottled-in-bond bourbon to the lineup, a distillery exclusive that also is the first non-cask-finished whiskey to come out of this Louisville operation.
Green River
We could certainly talk about Bardstown Bourbon Company here, the modern Kentucky distillery in the heart of bourbon country that sources, contract distills, and produces its own lineup of high-quality whiskeys. But Bardstown Bourbon Company acquired Green River a few years ago, and it turns out that this was a very smart business decision. Green River makes some of the best bang-for-your-buck bourbon on the market right now, affordable bottles that punch well above their price range in terms of flavor. The straight bourbon is young but still crisp and flavorful, the wheated bourbon has a slightly sweet edge, and the new 1885 expression is an 85-proof, four-year-old bourbon that is built for making cocktails. If you haven’t yet, give this under-the-radar bourbon a try now.
Remus Bourbon
We’ve talked about MGP before, mostly in the context of how it makes whiskey for other brands. But the distillery also has some fantastic bourbon under its own label, Remus, which is released under its new Ross & Squibb branding. The core lineup consists of a straight bourbon and a “highest rye” bourbon, but it’s the higher-end expressions where things start to get really exciting. Remus Repeal Reserve, now in its seventh edition (presumably a new one is on the way), is a blend of five different bourbons of varying ages and mashbills. There was a recent bottle that came out as a tribute to baseball legend Babe Ruth. But the pinnacle whiskey is Remus Gatsby Reserve, a 15-year-old cask-strength bourbon that is one of the best you can find.
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