The 13 Best Bourbon Brands to Buy Right Now in 2024
If you’re in the market for the best bourbon you can find, there are some factors to consider—even though the category is rigidly defined, there are differences in style, cask finishes, alcohol content and even mashbill to take into account when searching for this quintessentially American whiskey. The good news is that there are so many excellent choices of bourbon brands out there for you, so we’ve put together this list to help steer you towards some of the best bourbons to buy in different categories. Happy hunting, and cheers.
Our Best Bourbon Picks
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Best Overall Bourbon: Four Roses Small Batch
Four Roses stands out from other Kentucky distilleries for the fact that it uses ten different recipes for its bourbon, a combination of two mashbills and five different yeast strains. The Small Batch expression, however, is a blend of just four of these recipes, with a focus on notes of baking spice, fruit, and vanilla. This is a versatile and flavorful bourbon that is consistently one of the very best to come out of Kentucky, and can be sipped neat or used in any whiskey cocktail you can think of.
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Best Bottled in Bond Bourbon: Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond
This high-end bourbon series from Heaven Hill is one of the best bottled-in-bond whiskeys out there. As a refresher, that term means the whiskey is at least four years old, exactly 100 proof, and the product of one distillery and one distillation season. Old Fitzgerald is made using the distillery’s wheated mashbill, so there’s a softness to the whiskey’s flavor. It’s released twice a year, in the spring and fall, so each expression will vary as far as age. But expect lovely notes of toasted nuts, honey, molasses, and oak on the palate. And each release comes in a very fetching decanter.
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Best Barrel-Proof Bourbon: Booker’s
Booker’s is one of the OG barrel-proof bourbons. It was created by the late Jim Beam master distiller Booker Noe in the late ‘80s, and became one of the core expressions in the Small Batch Collection a few years later. It’s released in four batches per year, uncut and unfiltered, meaning it’s as close to drinking bourbon straight from the barrel as you can get. Booker’s is usually around six or seven years old and the proof ranges from the mid to high 120s. That’s strong but still very drinkable, with the signature Beam nuttiness on the palate along with notes of vanilla, caramel, oak, and spice.
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Best Cask-Finished Bourbon: Angel’s Envy
Image Credit: Angel’s Envy Angel’s Envy is one of the best known and widely available cask-finished American whiskey brands you can find. The core expression is a four to six-year-old bourbon finished in ruby port wine barrels for up to half a year, giving the whiskey a dark color and syrupy notes of candied fruit. There are many other examples of cask-finished bourbon to choose from, but start with one of the best from a distillery that’s been at it for more than a decade.
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Best Bourbon Under $100: Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style Whisky
Image Credit: Old Forester Old Forester is another whiskey brand known for releasing high-quality affordable bourbon, but it also has a few higher priced gems in the lineup. One of those is 1920 Prohibition Style Whisky, a callback to the fact that Old Forester was granted a license to produce medicinal whiskey during the Noble Experiment. This bourbon is bottled at a strong 115 proof, but that heat doesn’t obscure the rich notes of dried fruit, baking spice, apple cinnamon, and oaky smoke on the palate.
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Best Bourbon Under $50: Buffalo Trace
Buffalo Trace produces a lot of expensive, collectible bottles of bourbon, like George T. Stagg, Blanton’s, and Pappy Van Winkle. But the eponymous core bourbon is both affordable and delicious, and should definitely be included in your home bar lineup. The whiskey is at least four years old (and probably older) and bottled at 90 proof, which is ten degrees higher than many comparable bottles at this price. This is a classic bourbon, with notes of vanilla, brown sugar, and honey on the palate.
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Best for Cocktails: Dickel Bourbon
Image Credit: George Dickel Nicole Austin has made a huge impact on the quality of the whiskey released by the Cascade Hollow Distilling Co., the home of George Dickel Tennessee Whisky, since she joined the team there. There have been a series of bottled-in-bond whiskeys, a rye collaboration with Colorado distillery Leopold Bros., and her boutique Cascade Moon collection. But one of the best whiskeys she came up with was Dickel Bourbon, a fantastic choice for mixing up your favorite cocktails. This eight-year-old whiskey meets the same production criteria as Tennessee whiskey, but Austin thought the flavor profile was closer to a classic bourbon. Whatever you want to call it, keep this bottle on your home bar to use in your next Old Fashioned.
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Best Craft: Frey Ranch Bourbon
Image Credit: Frey Ranch Not every craft distillery is making good whiskey, although most should be commended for their creativity and innovation. Nevada’s Frey Ranch checks all of these boxes, however, and this five-year-old, grain-to-glass bourbon stands with the best of the old guard. This whiskey is made from a four-grain mashbill of corn, rye, wheat and barley, and at 90 proof has all of the complexity and flavor you are looking for in high-quality bourbon.
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Best High Rye: Redemption Cognac Cask Finish
Image Credit: Redemption Whiskey This bourbon could certainly fall under the cask-finished category, but its high-rye mashbill earns it a place here. High rye can mean different things to different distilleries, but generally speaking more than 20 percent is pretty high for a bourbon. In this case, the mashbill has 36 percent rye, adding a nice layer of spice to the notes of dried fruit, sweet orange, and dark stone fruit picked up during its Cognac cask finish.
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Best Wheated: Maker’s Mark
Image Credit: Maker’s Mark The wheated bourbon category (meaning wheat is used as the secondary grain instead of rye) has some much more famous members—specifically, Pappy Van Winkle. But higher price and rarity isn’t necessarily an indicator of better quality, as proven by the excellence of Maker’s Mark. This wheated bourbon is a standout with a soft sweetness rounded out by caramel, vanilla, and oak notes. Sip it neat or use it in a cocktail, because it’s one of the most versatile bourbons you can find.
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Best Single-Barrel Bourbon: Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel
Of course, by their very nature single-barrel bourbons, which come from just one barrel instead of a blend of many, will differ depending on the bottle. But the single-barrel expression from Russell’s Reserve, which is made at the Wild Turkey distillery, is consistently excellent. The bourbon is bottled at 110 proof and is non-chill filtered, with decadent notes of butterscotch, raisin, vanilla custard, and oak on the palate. Try a few different bottles side by side if you can to see how the whiskey differs and what remains consistent between barrels.
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Best Blended: Barrell Bourbon
Image Credit: Barrell Bourbon Gone are the days when “blended” was a bad word in bourbon, with producers like Barrell Craft Spirits sourcing and blending whiskey from various sources and making the sum better than its parts. BCS releases its Barrell Bourbon in batches throughout the year, with the latest being Batch 35. This blend of straight bourbon whiskeys comes from Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky (as do virtually all of the batches), consisting of six, seven, eight, and 13-year-old barrels. It’s bottled at cask strength of 117.5 proof, and is one of the best bourbons out there overall.
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Best Splurge: Michter’s 10 Year Bourbon
Image Credit: Michter’s Last year’s release of Michter’s 10 Year was the first since 2021, and fans are happy to see this fantastic single-barrel, decade-old bourbon back in the mix. Given that it’s a single barrel whiskey, there will be variation between release year and individual bottles. But the bourbon is usually pretty excellent, so if you’re looking to splurge on some whiskey consider this. Given the age of the whiskey, it was sourced and not distilled at the Michter’s distillery. But the master distiller and master of maturation have done a fantastic job selecting barrels, some of which are more than 10 years old, resulting in a deep and complex sipper that you will not regret dropping some cash on.
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FAQ
Image Credit: Charl Folscher/Unsplash What is bourbon?
There are some key requirements for a whiskey to be called bourbon. It must be made in the U.S.A. from at least 51 percent corn and aged in new charred oak containers (virtually always barrels). No color or flavor may be added. It cannot be distilled to more than 160 proof, cannot go into a barrel at more than 125 proof and must be bottled at a minimum of 80 proof. If there’s an age statement, it must list the youngest whiskey in the bottle. Straight bourbon means it’s been aged for at least two years, and if it’s less than four years old the age must be on the label.
How should you drink bourbon?
The short answer is however you like it. There is no wrong or right way to enjoy bourbon. If you prefer cocktails, there are plenty of options and bourbon goes well with other ingredients. But consider trying bourbon on its own as well to explore the flavors. A Glencairn glass is a good way to nose and taste bourbon neat, and some people like to add a splash of water. A tumbler works just fine if you’d like to add some ice. Just remember to drink it in the way that you like best.
How did we choose the bourbon on this list?
We considered different factors when picking these bourbons, with the emphasis being on taste. Because after all, despite a bottle’s availability or the hype surrounding it, that is the most important thing. Tasting bourbon involves a combination of sensations, including the nose, palate, mouthfeel and finish. And each category has different characteristics, so part of the process is to consider how an individual pick fits into its style overall. The bottles on this list represent the best bourbons based on all of these options, providing a good overview of selections you can easily purchase in person or online that are good examples of each individual category.
Why should you trust us?
Jonah Flicker has been writing about whiskey and other spirits for nearly a decade, visiting distilleries around the world to meet the people behind the bottles and find out more about their stories. He is a judge for the John Barleycorn Awards and New York World Wine and Spirits Competition, and his work has appeared in many national other lifestyle outlets besides Robb Report, including Esquire, Food & Wine, CNN, USA Today and more.
Authors
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Jonah Flicker
