Those 17-year-old barrels were blended and then re-barreled into XXO Cognac casks (barrels that held brandy for at least 14 years in Cognac, France) for an additional 12 months of mellowing. Although its accolades and awards in recent years may have inflated the price a bit, its a truly excellent whiskey, aged for a decade and bottled at 100 proof, with flavors that run the gamut from oak to spice to sweet vanilla. 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Finish: Burnt orange arrives late to cut through the sweetness and adds more bitterness as old oak and dry tobacco round things out. This single-barrel masterpiece was made for the international market but is now available widely in the U.S., albeit for a heftier price. Let. Aged somewhere between four and six years, it's not so barrel-dominated as to override your other ingredientsand it's bottled at a higher proof, which allows it to stand up to the addition of vermouth, simple syrup, citrus, or whatever other cocktail components you're reaching for. Im not going to judge you if you take a spit-take at the idea of spending $300 on a single bottle of whiskey. We recommend a dash of water or a small ice cube to mitigate the heat if youre going to sip this one. Forbes Lifestyle Spirits The Best Bourbons Under $100 Brad Japhe Senior Contributor You can find me at the confluence of food, beverage and travel. "The best way to ensure integrity is to find a 'bottled in bond' selection," says Brandon Ristaino, co-founder and beverage director of Good Lion Hospitality in Santa Barbara, California. Once it is mature, the whiskey is either "cut" with water or bottled at barrel strength. Still, its a good pour for slow sipping, especially over a rock or two, or mixing into a phenomenal Manhattan. We'll explain in a minute. The Evan Wiliams Bottled in Bond 100-proof bourbon has a . Expect a woodier, more robust flavor with hints of spices, brown sugar, caramel, and butterscotch. Buy Now. Yes, that's an asterisk. Also, the grain prices in the United States where bourbon is produced are lower than in other countries. He goes on to note, "A lot of single barrels go for extremes, whether in proof or in flavor profile. The whiskey is. After a final rest, those barrels were batched and bottled as-is. Its dangerous, she cautions. Woodford Reserve may be a star in the Derby's Mint Julep, but this versatile bourbon shines in a variety of cocktails. The Rundown Best Overall Bourbon: Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bourbon at Flaviar Jump to Review Best Bourbon For Beginners: Maker's Mark Bourbon Whiskey at Drizly Jump to Review Best Kentucky Bourbon: Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey at Drizly Jump to Review Best Wheated Bourbon: W.L. Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon at Drizly, Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon Whiskey at Drizly, Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon at Drizly, Fistful of Bourbon Whiskey Blend at Drizly, Jack Daniels Bonded Tennessee Whiskey at Drizly, Balcones Texas Pot Still Bourbon at Drizly, Old Grand-Dad Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey at Drizly, Knob Creek 9 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey, The Best Decanters for Making Every Whiskey Look Top-Shelf, Here Are the Best Whiskey Stones to Make Your Drinks Perfectly Cool, New Riff Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Old Grand-Dad 114 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, The 8 Best Bitters for Whiskey Cocktails with Flavor. It just goes to show you, says Woodman, that an astronomical price doesn't necessarily indicate actual quality., Region:Kentucky |ABV:45% |Tasting Notes:Butterscotch, Cherry, Vanilla. Michter's 20. The whiskey goes into the bottle as-is. Courtesy of Michter's Distillery. What Are the Best Bourbons Under $30? Overall, I like the heat of this one neat, but you might need a rock to calm it down a tad and help the deeper flavors express themselves. The 101 refers to the Wild Turkey's proofon the high, end as-isbut if you want an even more potent bourbon, Reigler recommends Wild Turkey's Rare Breed, which is a high-proof option with a 58.4% ABV. (Thanks, Julian!) Expect to pay no more than around $30 a bottle, which is quite reasonable for something so versatile, complex, and well crafted. Its a good combination. Not only is it cheap, but its also incredibly good. Prairie Rose is a drinks writer, trained sommelier, wine & spirits educator and podcast host. This one rises above with an amazingly nuanced profile that starts on the deep nose and finishes so luxuriously that youll want to go back and buy a case of this stuff. Weller are the same liquid with the same mash bill, Kim adds. Lovely notes of toffee, caramel, and cinnamon work well with the spice of bitters and tart sweetness of cherry in this classic cocktail. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Finish: The end embraces the orange and adds in salted dark chocolate tobacco with a hint of brown butter, pecan shells, and cedar boughs. For an even cheaper bottle that doesn't sacrifice quality, we recommend Four Roses Bourbon. But with its warm rye spice notes, and luxurious mouthfeel can also stand up to intense cocktail ingredients like bitter amaro. All rights reserved. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. The term "estate" is well-known in the wine world: essentially, "estate wines" are those which are made by the same person (or family, or winery) who grew the grapes. This is old, earthy, and musty while still holding onto that emblematic Turkey vibe. My new favorite sipper, and one of the best bourbons I have ever tasted, hands down, saysAnthony Vitacca, an award-winning bartender based in California. This is the main age-statement whiskey from Weller. Xania Woodman, bar manager and lead bartender at O.P. The characteristic flavors of bourbon are vanilla, oakfrom the barrels in which it is agedand caramel, but there are also bourbons with notes of honey, buttery toffee, fruit, spice like cinnamon, or smokiness. May 28, 2021 Super expensive bourbon like this is an odd category. Jason Hedges, beverage director at Laurent Tourondel Hospitality, co-founder of Bar-IQ.com and author of "The Seasonal Cocktail," advises looking for entry-level options from established brands, like Jack Daniels. If youre looking for a phenomenal single-barrel product to add to your shelf, this is a must-have. Yes, this is pricy (the MSRP is only $120). To be fair, it can be hard to find outside of Kentucky, but it's possible. Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bourbon at Flaviar, Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey at Drizly, Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon at Drizly, Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon at Drizly, Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Eagle Rare 10 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Price: $45-55 (average price teeters around $50) ABV: 58.4%. Palate: The coffee cake leans toward banana bread with walnuts on the palate as huckleberry jam leans into an almost sour creamy espresso with a shot of mint chocolate syrup. Dried fruit, baking . This is a great sipper that delivers deep rummy notes with a nice bourbon-y underbelly. Learn more. ABV:50.5% |Age:5+ years |Volume:200 ml, 375 ml, 750 ml, 1 L, 1.5 L. Thanks to its price point and quality, Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage is one of our favorites. Finish: The finish lingers on your senses for a while and leaves the spice behind for that dark, almost savory fruit note with an echo of blackberry Hostess pies next to soft leather pouches that have held chewy tobacco for decades and a final hint of old porch wicker in the middle of summer. The new bonded series by Jack Daniels plays off the brands heritage and quality and translates it into a bottled-in-bond whiskey, distilled to 100 proof and aged in a special selection of barrels that emphasize more oak and spice in the final liquid. Michter's 20-Year Bourbon. Jump to Review. Region:Kentucky |ABV:50% |Tasting Notes:Cocoa, Maple Syrup, Stone Fruit, Read Full Review: Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon Review. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Finish: The finish leans into the fattiness of the nuts while the spice gets chewy with a tobacco edge as it very slowly fades away, leaving you with a note of dried fruit. Yes, its expensive but its also delicious. 9 by Minnick's audience and No. In addition to authoring numerous cocktail books, Rose is also a spirits educator, podcast host, and holds strong opinions about how much wheat should be on a whiskey's mash bill. What's the difference between bourbon and whiskey? Region:Kentucky |ABV:40% |Tasting Notes:Corn, Caramel, Crme brle, Apricot, Dark cherry, Pepper, Read Full Review: Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review. Bourbon is a type of whiskey. The 90-proof Tennessee bourbon proves the most memorable thanks to a big, round mouthfeel boasting strong butterscotch, cherry, cinnamon, and honey notes. New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon (Spring 2016) New Riff's Single Barrel line is made with a high-rye mash bill (30 percent), with each expression bottled at cask strength and aged for a minimum of . Let's just get this one out of the way. The Calvados cask perfectly layers into this whiskey in all of the best ways. Prices will vary depending on location and which vintage of these expressions you come across. (There is no minimum length of time the spirit has to be aged, excepting that it must be aged for a minimum of two years to be called "straight bourbon.") Buffalo Trace Kosher 3. Affordability coupled with its typical dynamic flavor profile makes this bottle an instant buy in our estimation. The Rundown Best Overall: Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon at Drizly Jump to Review Best for Sipping: Michter's US*1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon at Drizly Jump to Review Best for Cocktails: Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon Whiskey at Drizly Jump to Review Best Value: Old Forester 100 Proof Bourbon at Drizly Jump to Review Best Kentucky: Region:Tennessee |ABV:43% |Tasting Notes:Oak, Candied nuts, Vanilla, Wood smoke, Caramel, Citrus. Nose: The nose opens with soft orchard fruits think old peaches and bruised pears that lead to a spun wool, vanilla-heavy pancake batter, and really good marzipan with an echo of rose water and orange oils next to soft and worn wicker canes wrapped in old leather sheets. Nicholas McClellandis a passionate whisk(e)y drinker who has written about spirits for Mens Journal, Fatherly, and Inside Hook. This is really, really good bourbon. And, yes, if you find a bottle of Eagle Rare, a bourbon produced at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, for more than $100 keep moving. To find the best bourbons, weve polled bartenders, whiskey writers, and obsessive bourbon drinkers about the top pours for your home bar, at every price point and for every occasion. The distillerys signature 10-year-old bourbon presents a nose of nutmeg, cream, vanilla, and a dash of cinnamon, and a palate that flirts with maple syrup, almond, cherry, and orange. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. These are rare and expensive (that price is MSRP). George Dickel Barrel Select is made from a mash of 84% corn, 8% rye and 8% malted barley. O.P. Wild Turkey 101. However, if the label shows straight bourbon and does not state the age, that means it's been aged for four years or longer. You might even perceive a touch of toasted marshmallows in that lingering . Its a rich and delicious bourbon loaded with caramel, vanilla, and spice. To make sure you get a bottle that has been aged nicelyfour to seven years is the averagecheck the label. Once the whiskey in those barrels hit the best flavor profile, it was bottled completely as-is. The brand likely wont admit it Tennessee is a huge part of their heritagebut if you are considering cheap bourbons, the unmistakable brand cant be missed. Its single barrel, launched in 2004, might be the strongest offering in its decorated portfolio thanks to an uncanny balance of potency (100 proof) with a rich smoothness resulting from spending 10 years in barrel. First, it has to made in the United States (not just Kentucky, although the state does produce 95 percent of all bourbon in the country). Finish: The mid-palate amps up the leathery dark fruit sweetness then tumbles toward an almond-chocolate-toffee vibe on the end with a hint of oak, old leather, and figgy tobacco on the finish. $28.74. Let's face it with the bourbon boom back in full swing, these days, getting your hands on a quality double-digit expression for under $100 is a pretty tall order. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. They all slap but the top half of this list (numbers six through one) are just on another level. This whiskey is aged in the famed Warehouse C at Buffalo Trace from their Mash Bill No. A Guide to Americas Original Whiskey, The 12 Best Bourbons Under $50 to Drink in 2023, Jack Daniels Old No. Either way, youll be in for the best of the best from the Beam team. Raising their own grain means that the family can control every aspect of production, and their signature four-grain bourbonfeaturing a mash bill of 66.6% corn, 12% malted barley, 11.4% rye and 10% wheatis a study in complexity and terroir. Location: Falls Church, VA. Posted April 15, 2020. The 8 Best Bourbons, From Budget-Friendly to Top-Shelf Bottles, The 7 Best Cheap Tequilas for Sips and Shots, The 7 Best Triple Secs for the Perfect Cosmo, Mai Tai, or Margarita, The Best Cheap Scotch Whiskies for Refreshing Highballs or Late-Night Drams. 7 Black Label Tennessee Whiskey Review, Bourbon vs. Tennessee Whiskey: The Main Differences, The 14 Best Bourbons for Beginners in 2023, The 12 Best Kentucky Bourbons to Drink in 2023, The Best Whiskeys to Use for Old Fashioneds, The 10 Best Wheated Bourbons to Drink in 2023, Build Up Your Bourbon Collection With These Bourbon of the Month Clubs. Legally, bourbon produced for consumption in the U.S. must comprise at least 51 percent corn, must be aged in charred new oak barrels, must be distilled to no more than 160 proof, must be entered into the barrel at no more than 125 proof, and must be bottled at 80 proof or more. Not only does it make a super sipper, but that 101 proof also gives it the heft to battle a good portion of ice and let flavors ring out in a cocktail. We tasted and tested to find the top options for mixing and sipping, as well as top offerings within specific styles like barrel proof and wheated offerings. Once it reaches the appropriate strength, the distillate, known as white dog (or "white whiskey," i.e. There is no legal requirement for how long bourbon must be aged, so a spirit that has aged for only a few months may be sold as bourbon. 2022s Yellowstone Limited Edition is a masterstroke of blending by Master Distiller Stephen Beam. Bottled at 100 proof, its not too hot to sip neat, but its hearty enough that ice wont dent the deep vanilla, caramel, wood, and spice. Palate: That red berries vibe continues on the palate with a lush vanilla buttercream/eggnog vibe countered by winter spice barks, burnt orange, and marzipan with a hint of rose water, white pepper, and maybe some salted black licorice spiciness. Nicholas McClelland is a freelance writer who covers whisk(e)y and spirits for The Spruce Eats. Jim Beam Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, Old Forester 1910 old fine whisky bourbon, The 21 Best New Menswear Items to Buy This Week, What Really Happens to the Clothes You Donate, Milam & Greene Triple Cask Straight Bourbon whiskey, Woodford Reserve Kentucky straight bourbon, Johnny Drum private stock Kentucky bourbon, The Best Cognacs to Stock in Your Home Bar (at Every Budget), A Guide to Japanese Whisky for the Thirsty and Curious, The Best Pizza Ovens Put You On the Fast Track to Carb Heaven, The Best Grills Bring the Heat for All Your Meat (and Meat Alternatives). You want a bourbon that's interesting enough to sip neat, versatile enough to mix in cocktails, and cheap enough to splash in a pan of caramelized onions. If you come across an old Stitzel-Weller version, itll probably be a lot (astronomically more expensive) at an auction and you will be outbid. Still, another big facet of whiskey at this price point is the secondary or aftermarket pricing. [The] finish is long and luxurious, with butterscotch lingering on the palate for quite some time, says Morgenthaler. Julie Reiner, co-founder of New York institutions Clover Club, Leyenda, and Miladys, notes that it will make a great Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Mint Julep, or New York Sour. But it's the mash bill makeup and fresh, charred barrels that really define the bourbon experience. There are not many bourbons with an MSRP of $250+ and, at least in Virginia, none of them are likely to be found on a shelf. The second Bookers release of 2022 is a masterful blend of barrels from seven locations around Jim Beams rickhouses. Its a solid bourbona stalwart everyday option at a phenomenal price, says H. Joseph Ehrmann, proprietor of San Francisco's Elixir saloon. Barrell Bourbons founder, Joe Beatrice, sources whiskeys from across the United States and as far away as Poland, bringing them back to Louisville to age and blend in small batches. People think of it as a rough and tumble cowboy whiskey, but its very beautifully balanced. Journalist Becky Paskin, formerly the editor of scotchwhisky.com, agrees, favoring its punchiness in mint juleps and Old Fashioneds. Finish: That whisper of umami leads back to the dark orchard fruits, soft nuttiness, and mild medley of botanical winter spices with a chewy fresh tobacco vibe. This is some good damn whiskey. Every since Pappy turned into the Patek Philippe Nautilus of whiskeys, bourbon hounds have been on the hunt for the next great, underrated bottle. Kate Dingwall is a freelance writer whose work focuses on food, drinks, and travel. Technically, Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey falls under bourbon classifications. The whiskey is just proofed to 100 proof with local spring water before bottling as-is. Six to nine months later, Old Forester 1910 emerges smoky and complex, perfect for pairing with some dark chocolate and a crackling fire. But very lax U.S. liquor laws mean a blended American-made whiskey need only be 20 percent actual whiskey to carry the whiskey title. Palate: The palate opens with a creamy and lush vanilla foundation that leads to salted caramel over apple cake with a cutting ginger and cinnamon spiciness next to a light touch of dried nasturtiums. "Its an investment that I never regret.. Depending where you live, it might seem crazy for Eagle Rare to pop up on a list of the best bourbons under $100. Our tasting panel all agree that Woodford Reserve is a versatile, high-quality bottling to sip or mix with. The Flatiron Room's Young Kim agrees that W.L. Johnny Drum doesnt have a big budget for advertising, so while people may have heard of Willett Family Reserve, they may not be aware that Johnny Drum comes from Willett too. Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bourbon still tops our list in 2023. The 12-year used to be easy to find, laments Susan Reigler, but then Julian Van Winkle let slip that he chooses barrels of Weller to make Pappy Van Winkle." For the most part, these whiskeys cost the prices theyre available at. Finish: Singed winter spice woods and old sweet oak pops on the finish before a soft landing of rich toffee, moist marzipan, and oily vanilla smoothes everything out. So why then bother to spend three bills on one bottle? I know that sounds outlandish. 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