The 23 Best Bourbons to Drink in 2023

• Proof: 100
• Average Price: $30 – $40
• Tasting Notes: Marmalade, honey, maple

In a whiskey market that's become increasingly fragmented and allocated, Knob Creek's classic small batch bourbon distinguishes itself. It's our best overall bourbon not by way of life-altering tasting notes — which include marmalade, honey and maple — but by stuffing the stat sheet in a way no other bourbon can. It is available everywhere and thus resistant to the price gouging associated with brands like Buffalo Trace. Its 100 proof retains a full body and mixes bonafides without lighting your mouth on fire. And this year the brand got its 9-year age guarantee back, too. If you're looking for the best value in bourbon, just get this.

• Proof: 125+
• Average Price: $65
• Tasting Notes: Heath Bar, cinnamon candy, roasted vanilla

This bourbon won Whisky Advocate’s whiskey of the year, and Minnick was on the tasting panel. “It was very, very nice bourbon,” he says, wistfully. It has none of the harshness you’d expect from a 133.2 proof bourbon, and doesn’t undergo chill filtering — instead just using light filtration to remove barrel char flakes. Tasting notes include Heath Bar and leather on the nose, with cinnamon candies, roasted vanilla and rye coming through in the palate.

• Proof: 86
• Average Price: $20
• Tasting Notes: Oak, caramel, brown sugar

“If Evan Williams were to sell this whiskey to someone else, that brand would mark it up to $40, and people would be happy buying it,” Minnick says. But Evan Williams is a value brand. So its whiskey, at a great proof point of 86 and an age that Minnick says is roughly five-and-a-half years old, goes for less than $20. “It’s a fantastic bourbon, especially for the money,” he says. “You can get a lot of satisfaction out of that.” It's a classic tasting bourbon with notes of oak, caramel and brown sugar.

• Proof: 80
• Average Price: $12 – $20
• Tasting Notes: Floral essence, fresh fruit, spice

“This is such a dynamic whiskey,” Minnick says. “And it’s the best cocktail bourbon out there.” Four Roses is a highly regarded distillery, with a high-rye mash bill that produces an extra spiciness to go along with its fruity and floral notes, and a concentration on yeast that has been “eye-opening” for the bourbon world. They’ve also led the way in transparency. “They’ll tell you everything there is to know about their whiskey — they don’t hide the mash bill, the distillation proof. I presume you could ask ’em how much their CEO makes and they’d tell you,” Minnick says.

• Proof: 100
• Average Price: $40
• Tasting Notes: Rye spice, vanilla, oak

New Riff Distilling was founded in 2014. “Relative to Kentucky, they’ve been around for a few days. The rest of the nation is just kinda getting to know ’em,” Minnick says. The mash bill here, made entirely of non-GMO grains, is 65 percent corn, 30 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley. Lots of rye spices mingle with sweet vanilla on the palate here.

• Proof: 114
• Average Price: $25 – $35
• Tasting Notes: Honey, bitter orange, warming spices

In 2017, Jim Beam’s Old Grand-Dad line of whiskeys was nearly axed. Now, thanks to rising whiskey prices and a consistently strong product, the brand — shortened to OGD by fans — has a cult following. Because it’s not a “hype” whiskey, doesn’t have a famous name and isn’t a limited release, it doesn’t get talked about — but I challenge you to find a bourbon with this much firepower at the price point. Its relatively low-corn mashbill (only 63 percent) is also unique, utilizing a staggering amount of rye and malted barley, creating a spicy bourbon ideal for drinking on the rocks or in a cocktail.

• Proof: 90
• Average Price: $25 – $35
• Tasting Notes: Vanilla, cherry, almond toffee

Ninety-nine percent of Dickel products are officially Tennessee Whisky, not bourbon. Like in-state rivals Jack Daniel's, the brand is keen to remind drinkers that the two are not the same (even though they kind of are). First released in 2021, Dickel 8-Year Bourbon is the company's first official foray into bourbon whiskey, and it's a value-driven powerhouse. For something around $30, you get an expertly blended whiskey aged a minimum of 8 years with notes of cherry, orange, almond toffee and oak and bottled at a casual 90 proof. Its price, proof and age suggest it could be your next home bar staple.

• Proof: 92
• Average Price: $20 – $25
• Tasting Notes: Butterscotch, toffee, honey

With tasting notes that include butterscotch, toffee, caramel and honey, this is one for the sweet tooths. “This has an incredible sweetness to it,” Minnick says. “It’s not complex, but the sweetness is really nice — the way it hits the palate. It’s a good, inexpensive, wheated everyday sipper.”

• Proof: 90
• Average Price: $30 – $35
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, oak, vanilla

Minnick has a unique use for one of bourbon’s classic names. “I drink so much Makers with BBQ,” he says. Its mellow balance — helped by the prominent caramel notes of its wheated mash bill — doesn’t overpower meaty flavors.

• Proof: 94
• Average Price: $25 – $35
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, nutmeg, mint

Though it shares DNA with other Heaven Hill bourbons like Evan Williams and Henry McKenna, Elijah Craig Small Batch is balanced, with extra maltiness. “It’s got so much caramel, and a beautiful nutmeg note,” Minnick says. “This is all about the sweetness.”

• Proof: 100
• Average Price: $25
• Tasting Notes: Caramel corn, shortbread cookie, cinnamon

No one cared about Early Times until Sazerac (Buffalo Trace Distillery) bought it from Brown-Forman (Jack Daniel's, Old Forester, Woodford Reserve). The whiskey inside Early Times' wicked affordable Bottled-in-Bond expression is Brown-Forman-made, though, and it has that sweet-and-smooth Basil Hayden's thing going on, just more a more solid boozy backbone with a recurring note of caramel corn throughout. Oh, and it's sold in liters.

• Proof: 90
• Average Price: $30 – $35
• Tasting Notes: Red berries, sweet oak, dried spice

Four Roses’s upgrade over its standard offering blends 180 barrels of four different recipes per bottling. “If you love cinnamon notes, you’ll love this,” Minnick says. It’s more complex than regular FR, but still drinks easy. “It’s what I want to sip at a ballgame.”

• Proof: 90.4
• Average Price: $50
• Tasting Notes: Vanilla, caramel, honey apple

Don't take Woodford Reserve's Double Oaked's ubiquity for mediocrity. The spirit is one of those rare drinks that is loved by both bourbon enthusiasts and amateurs. While there's no age statement on the bottle, it's believed that Double Oaked is aged for at least six years. The juice starts its time in a new charred oak barrel (as it should) before its dumped into a second charred oak barrel that's been more deeply toasted. This makes a wonderful sipper or gift to a friend, and since Woodford Reserve is the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, you best believe this makes an excellent base to a mint julep with its myriad notes of fruit and spice.

• Proof: 115
• Average Price: $60 – $70
• Tasting Notes: Maple syrup, green peppercorn, s'mores

It’s bottled at 115 proof — “for this distillery, that’s the perfect proof,” Minnick says. “I’m going through a bottle a month. The notes kind of just linger. You can have five different notes hitting at once. I believe that to be the definition of nuance.” Among that plethora of lingering notes, you'll find interesting tastes like maple syrup, green peppercorn, coriander, and even a s'mores-like finish of chocolate, graham cracker and toasted marshmallow.

• Proof: 100
• Average Price: $40 – $50
• Tasting Notes: Plum, cocoa, vanilla

Made using a single recipe and barrel per bottle, it’s between seven and eight years old and has more complexity than the Small Batch. “For being the same brand as the Small Batch, they taste very different. This one is more of a sipper. I want to really sit there and think about it when I’m drinking it,” Minnick says. Plum, pear, cocoa and vanilla are among the tasting notes here.

• Proof: 100
• Average Price: $50 – $75 (price varies store-to-store)
• Tasting Notes: Honey, herbal, spicy

The McKenna distillery was established in 1855, founded by the noted Irish immigrant distiller. Seagrams closed the business in the 1970s, and Heaven Hill purchased the brand name in 1994, but no longer uses the original recipe; as Minnick notes in his book, “The original yeast, mashbill, and flavor profile are gone, lost with time.” But one thing the new bottle does have is time: its 10 year age statement makes it one of the older bourbons at this price range. Take heed, though, since it somewhat controversially took home “Best in Show, Whiskey” at San Francisco World Spirits Competition a few years ago it’s been harder to come by, and more expensive than it used to be. The taste is sweet and spicy with a hint of herbaceousness.

• Proof: 100
• Average Price: $65 – $75
• Tasting Notes: Fruit, nuts, candy

Craft bourbon's rep is tarnished by a few bad apples makes subpar whiskey. Wilderness Trail does not make subpar whiskey. One of the few universally praised non-macro whiskey makers in the U.S., its 6-year-old offering is Bottled-in-Bond, sweet mash bourbon with flavor that suggests the "6" on the label is a typo — this bourbon tastes significantly older. Whether it's the softer flavor imparted by the sweet mash (the vast majority of modern bourbon is sour mashed) or the distiller's proprietary "infusion mashing" process or something else entirely, the result is a wicked, wicked pour.

• Proof: 90
• Average Price: $40
• Tasting Notes: Caramel, vanilla, spicy

Don't tell your bourbon-drinking friends, but Russell's spicy-caramel-and-vanilla-tasting Reserve 10-year-old bourbon is one of the best values in the bourbon world. Age statement in the double digits for $40 or less? Yes. Produced by a respected distiller (Wild Turkey)? Yes. Nice, easy-drinking proof? Yes. This is what you drink when you need a break from barrel-proof juice.

• Proof: 115 (varies by bottling)
• Average Price: $55
• Tasting Notes: Cotton candy, cayenne pepper, macadamia nuts

One of the best new whiskeys of recent memory, Stellum is a more affordable Barrell Bourbon. It's a cask strength blend created by the blending masters at Barrell Craft Spirits and it is a doozy. It's made up of whiskeys from Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky, with ages ranging from 4 to 16 years old. It has a highly complex taste, with everything from cotton candy and cayenne pepper to macadamia nuts and underripe blackberries showing up across the nose and palate. It's dynamic and well worth the $55 sticker price.

• Proof: 90
• Average Price: $300
• Tasting Notes: Wheat, creamed corn, toasted vanilla

Pappy Van Winkle’s impossible-to-find wheated bourbon has become such a hype monster that other wheated bourbons from Buffalo Trace’s portfolio have seen their own popularity skyrocket due to their proximity. Case in point is the original wheated bourbon, Weller’s signature 12-year bourbon. While it has an MSRP of just $40 (and costing half that much just a couple of years ago), it’s become one of the industry’s hottest bottles more recently, and these days market prices hover around $300. If you can get your hands on the bottle — like the Dutton clan did in season 5 of Yellowstone — you’ll be treated to notes of creamed corn, toasted vanilla and a heavy dose of wheat. Our tester found that the 12-year is a little rough around the edges neat — it is meant to be an affordable bourbon, after all — but dropping in an ice cube really opens up its sweet wheat side.

• Proof: 117
• Average Price: ~$50
• Tasting Notes: Brown sugar, vanilla, oak

Luxco’s Old Ezra line could be one of the best-kept secrets in whiskey. Bourbon with an age statement and available at barrel strength for a good price? That’s nuts in today’s whiskey world. It's got a good amount of heat on account of being 117 proof, but you'll still be able to make out classic bourbon tasting notes like caramel, brown sugar, vanilla and oak.

You might notice there isn’t a price, proof, tasting notes or distillery information listed on this pick. That’s because Barrell is, at this moment, the best blender of American whiskey there is (they have the trophy case to prove it). Each of its releases makes clear what went into it — distillery location, whiskey age, proof, etc. — and all are worth seeking out. Barrell is a blender, not a distiller, and the flavor mastery of founder Joe Beatrice and master distiller Tripp Stimson have won the old bourbon guard over. “It won my American Whiskey of the Year award [in 2018] in a blind tasting,” Minnick says. “It’s got so much flavor to it, so much complexity — it’s just brilliant whiskey.”

• Proof: 120+
• Average Price: $800+
• Tasting Notes: Nougat, figs, caramel corn

“Are we including bottles that are impossible to find?” Minnick asks. Sure. This treasure from Buffalo Trace’s Antique collection does its namesake a service, representing some of the world’s best wheated bourbon, a style Weller himself pioneered. It's not lacking in sweetness, with tasting notes of nougat, figs, dates and caramel corn. “If God gave birth to a bourbon child, this is what it would taste like,” Minnick says. “It’s so fucking amazing.”