We are constantly asked, in person, by message or by email, what is our favorite bourbon. This is a tough question.
For one, it depends on how much it costs. By this we mean is it worth it? Some Bourbons, especially the last few years, have just exploded in price. What was a decent drink at a decent price is now a rip off. Think 23 year old Pappy, we have seen it for over $2500. We both have tasted it, we might pay $199 just because it is so rare and for just the sake of having a bottle. But even that is way too much if judging strictly by quality.
Second, it depends on the mood we are in. Sometimes certain brands or styles just sound better at certain times. Think sitting out on the porch in the summer with a lighter tasting, lower proof Bourbon. Then think about sitting inside during winter with an old, complex drink.
Third, our taste change. We used to really be into wheated Bourbons. Don’t get us wrong, we still love them, but our palates have evolved and both of us now prefer rye or at least a high rye Bourbon. So what we like on this list might be very different from what is on the list a couple years from now.
Having said all that, here is our list of the best Bourbons for the price. These are normal prices unless stated and they are prices from the Indianapolis area. Most of these can be found reviewed on our blog Talkingbourbon.com. You can find them on the Facebook page as well, it is just a little harder to look them up. We will have another list shortly with each of our choices regardless of price.
UNDER $10
This was a tough one, few just a few dollars more you can get a lot better product. After much discussion and some tastings that were not that good, we decide on:
EVAN WILLIAMS and HEAVEN HILL OLD STYLE 100 PROOF. Enough said.
$10 TO $15
Now we are getting somewhere, at this price we have three we would recommend which are:
REBEL YELL, OLD FITZGERALD PRIME, and J.T.S. BROWN. We liked these pretty much in that order, maybe putting Old Fitz as number one.
$15 TO $20
We could only agree on two in this category. One of whom is a real favorite of ours at almost any price, that is:
WELLER’S SPECIAL RESERVE. This is hard to find as of late, but as of two weeks ago we still could find some here in the Indianapolis area. We are just not telling where, sorry, just protecting our own personal interests. Coming in a distant second in this category, even though we don’t like the name, is ANCIENT ANCIENT AGE.
$20 TO $25
This was a crowded category and hard to narrow down. We probably do most of our drinking in this and the next price range. This price point has another one of our favorites in:
WELLER’S ANTIQUE, which is just the Special Reserve @ 107 proof rather than 90 proof. Another go to Bourbon in this category is BUFFALO TRACE, something we have really gotten to appreciate the last couple of years. Also making the cut is OLD GRAND DAD 114, GEORGE DICKEL #12, RITTENHOUSE RYE and WILD TURKEY 101. Yes we are aware that Dickel is not a true Bourbon but a Tennessee whiskey (one of the best as far as we are concerned).
$25 TO $30
Anther hard range, lots of good juice at this price point. We finally decided on a long time favorite of both of ours:
ELIJAH CRAIG 12 year. One of the best buys in Bourbon. This range has our go to rye with BULLIET RYE. Honorable mention goes to BULLIET BOURBON as well as the wheated Bourbon BERNHEIM, and CROWN ROYAL RYE.
$30 TO $35
Here is where we start to get a little more picky. If we are paying over $30, there better be a reason beside the fact that it is rare. We expect to taste something we can’t get in the previous price ranges. Our winner is:
JOHNNY DRUM PRIVATE STOCK. This bottle has a cream label and is aged 15 years! We really enjoy this Bourbon and is, amazingly, still easy to find. Honorable mention to WELLER’S 12 and MAKER’S MARK 46. The former is an even older version of Special Reserve, the latter a very smooth and tasty upgrade on the original Maker’s Mark.
$35 TO $40
While we try not to drink too much in this range, it actually has a few of out favorites, including:
MICHTER’S RYE which might just be our favorite rye. Also taking a spot in this category is another one that we just love to sip on, MICHTER’S TOASTED BARREL, even though it is getting hard to find at this price point. One more needs calling out and that is JEFFERSON’S CHEF COLLABORATION, a very unique tasting Bourbon with a nice story behind it.
$40 TO $45
We found this to be a pretty easy price range to narrow down to two. Coming out ahead by just a little:
ELMER T LEE, another one that is hard to find which may trigger a premium of more than $45. If you find a bottle and it is even close to this price, buy it! The second one is also a great drink, ANGEL’S ENVY. This is another whiskey with a cool back story as well as a cool name and bottle.
$45 TO $50
This price point was dominated by one maker:
COLONEL E H TAYLOR, whether it be the rye or the small batch, you will get an exceptional glass of whiskey.
$50 TO $60
We could only agree on one here and even that was hard, more than likely we would just skip this price, but if we had to choose:
BLANTON’S. Yes we know that this is almost blasphemy, seeing as how this is a lot of people’s number one super premium Bourbon. But hey, we did put it on the list.
$60 TO $70
We found two that we would buy at this price above all others, and both of us have a bottle of each. In no order:
STAGG JR. and ANGEL’S ENVY RYE. The first can be a little hard to find, the second can be hard to find under the $70 mark, but both are very good. The Angel’s Envy rye has one of the most unique taste on the market.
Above $70
Most of the stuff that can justifiably charge this much can’t be found. Say OLD RIP VAN WINKLE 10 YR, VAN WINKLE FAMILY RESERVE 12, and STAGG SR. And a lot of the bottles you can find at this price don’t deserve to be. Really the only ones we found that we could actually buy that we thought worth the price were:
Some of the ORPHAN BARREL projects, and not even all of those but include FORGED OAK 15 YR and LOST PROPHET 22 YR.
That is it for this list, as stated before you are welcome to look any of these up on our blog. Most of them have been reviewed. As always we welcome any feedback.
Cheers!
Ron & Todd