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🥃 Best Bourbons at Every Price Point Guide - Updated for 2024

Wild Turkey 101 Ingredients

Intro

Bourbon, America's native spirit, offers a wide range of flavors and experiences. Bourbon hunters scour the shelves for rare or premium offerings but a rising tide lifts all ships. Whether you're a seasoned connoisseur or just starting your bourbon journey, there's a perfect bottle out there for you, and at a price that fits your wallet.

Here's a quick guide to some of the best bourbons at various price points in 2024 that you won't have to search all over the world to find. 

Methodology

Pricing will be for $750ml bottles of bourbon since that size the most widely available. Similarly, I am only bringing in bottles that can be readily found in the market (proxying this by using the stock from my local Total Wine for the base catalog and pricing unless noted). The best bourbon in the world isn't the best bourbon in YOUR world if you can't reasonably find it. Additionally, chosen bottles must be versatile enough to be consumed straight or neat as well as in a cocktail. In total, 518 bottles were considered for this 2024 best bourbon update. 

Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond
$20 or Less 

  • Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond - 17.99 - 4.5 Stars - Alternatively Evan Williams 1783 can also be found for around a dollar more. 
  • Mellow Corn - 18.99 4.5 Stars - Technically not bourbon but it's a meme, a myth, and a legend. Corny nutty goodness in a time honored distinctive yellow bottle. I always have one of these on my shelf for conversation and find myself reaching for it with surprising regularity. 
  • Benchmark Bonded/Barrel Proof 19.99 - 4/4.5 Stars - Barrel Proof is a big step up from bonded and if you can source it for around the same price or a couple dollars more it packs an enjoyable punch. Soften it with a small ice or sprits of water if needed. 

$30 or Less

Wild Turkey 101
Jim Beam Devil's Cut - 22.99 - 4.5 Stars - Juice with a great gimmick. Jim Beam harvests bourbon trapped in the planks of its barrels, extracting it and blending with a residual of regular Beam to produce a more robust wood filled experience, deeper color, and more pronounced character.
  • Wild Turkey 101 - 23.49 - 4.5 Stars - Old Reliable, trusted by grandfathers and fraternity brothers, Wild Turkey keeps 101 as a benchmark of quality even if it has lost it's age statement. Enough Proof and flavor to make a kicking cocktail! 
  • Maker's Mark - 23.99 - 4.5 Stars - A fine wheated bourbon, the red wax pops out nicely from a bar cart and it is infamously drinkable, you can also try Larceny Bourbon at the same price point thought I prefer Maker's Mark. Maker's is a great entry point to Bourbon for cocktail enjoyers because it is so sweet! 
  • Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon - 29.99 - 4.5 Stars - While the cheapest of Four Roses offerings on this list, it makes a solid cocktail. Peep the Single Barrel and Small Batch Select for sipping.


$40 or Less 

  • Maker's Mark Cask Strength Bourbon Whisky Stock
    Old Bardstown Estate 101 Proof - 31.99 - 4.5 Stars - The cheapest 10 year bourbon I've found. OBE101 has some lovely herbal notes and a spicy shot of smoked cinnamon. Rich and flavorful. 
  • Ezra Brooks Distiller's Collection Single Barrel Select - 36.09 - 4.5 stars - Bottled at 107 Proof, this is one of the more unique bottles in the price range. Expect punchy flavors, wood character in spades, and comforting vanilla. 
  • Rowan's Creek Bourbon - 39.99 - 4.5 Stars - Like ogres and onions, this bottle has LAYERS. For the money, you'll find lots of depth of flavor in this approachable craft bottle. It has a certain grass to it that is downright pleasing.
  • Marker's Mark Cask Strength - 39.99 - 4.5 - People sleep on this bottle for reasons I cannot imagine. Maker's Mark Cast Strength has a bit more age on it and more proof to help balance out the classic MM sweetness. I'm biased towards Maker's, but Frank from Uproxx picked it as the overall best value under $50!

Four Roses Small Batch Select
$50 or Less 

  • Four Roses Single Barrel - 44.99 - 4.5 Stars - FRSiB is the gold standard for single barrel at an achievable price. Single Barrel offerings can sometimes vary a bit in quality but I don't know a single person who has gotten a bad bottle from Four Roses. 
  • Russel's Reserve 10 YR - 44.99 - 4.5 Stars - Peep our review here... this is a bourbon classic with a fabulous history. Also one of the cheaper 10YR bottles you'll find these days. 
  • Woodford Reserve Double Oaked - 49.99 - 4.5 Stars - Another cult classic, people rave about this bottle and it is a solid step up from Woodford standard. Detailed Review here. 
  • Four Roses Small Batch Select - 49.99 - 4.5 Stars - A bit more proof than Single Barrel 104 Proof / Aged 6 - 7 Years, non-filtered because it doesn't need any help. Somewhat polarizing, but a cult classic with enjoyers.

$50+ 

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
When the sky is the limit, the price is also. Unless you're truly an aficionado, I would check off everything on the above list before spending more. Whiskey ingredients are cheap, so bottles at higher prices should either have higher proofs, older ages, or high scarcity otherwise they're just a bad deal! Find out what you like and don't like before ponying up big dollars. That being said, here are some of my favorite bottles at fifty plus dollars. 
  • Wild Turkey Rare Breed - 54.99 - 4.5 Stars - A blend of various aged Wild Turkey bourbons, known for its bold, spicy character with notes of cinnamon and rye. It's bottled at a higher proof than most Wild Turkey expressions, offering a more intense flavor experience.
  • Knob Creek 120 Proof Single Barrel Reserve - 4.5 Stars - Known for its full-bodied flavor profile with notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak.
  • Ben Holiday Bottled in Bond - 54.99 - 5 Stars - Bonded Excellence from Wild Turkey, collaboration and special release varieties are also a fantastic choice
  • Larceny Barrel Proof - 59.99 - 4.5 stars - Sweet and creamy taste with notes of vanilla, caramel, and baking spice as a highlight. It once had a reputation for a strange banana flavor but has matured to be a reliable Barrel proof bottle that is more generally available. View our review.
  • Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Select - 89.99 - 4.5 stars - Often on many a connoisseur's list of favorites, under $100 this is one of the semi-allocated bourbons that holds up to a 8 or 9 rating on the T8ke scale. The non-select version offers a more reliable flavor as select single barrels can be unicorn level good or somewhat duds. 

Though we reviewed over 500 bottles when making this list, I'm sure you may have another to recommend. What bottles did I Miss? 

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