It’s time to leave the average bottles of bourbon behind and dive into some unique releases. Bourbon whiskey under $70 tends to start leaning into barrel strength releases (more bang for your buck, so to speak) alongside single barrel picks, limited editions, and true craft drops. It’s a nice place to be, price-wise — you’re not spending a ridiculous amount of money on a bottle (yet) while still getting something well above average.
For this roundup, I’ve selected ten bottles of bourbon that I think are worth checking out at this price point. I’ve ranked those bottles and offered tasting notes, with the top picks being the ones I really think are worth seeking out. Prices are pulled from Total Wine’s online service in Louisville, Kentucky — so expect prices to vary slightly in your region.
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10. Horse Soldier Straight Bourbon
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $61
The Whiskey:
This craft whiskey from Kentucky is made with a mash bill of 65 percent corn, 30 percent rye, and five percent malted barley. The barrels have aged a minimum of six years before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Butterscotch leads the nose on this sip as ginger snaps mingle with rich and sharp toffee candies next to a touch of vanilla, pepper, and cherry lurk underneath everything. The taste really amps up the creaminess of the vanilla and the butteriness of the toffee, as a slight marzipan flourish arrives with a thin layer of freshly cracked black pepper and salted black licorice. That pepper marries to the ginger as the heat levels off and fades out leading towards a finish with more of the vanilla and dry wood than anything else.
Bottom Line:
This whiskey is made by the titular “horse soldiers” who returned from The War in Afghanistan and started making whiskey. Overall, this might still be a slightly regional favorite that’s only starting to get national attention. All of that aside, this is a very accessible whiskey that pretty much anyone (from a beginner to an expert) will dig.
9. Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $63
The Whiskey:
Chicken Cock has some serious bourbon history going back to 1856. It was also the bourbon of the infamous Cotton Club in Harlem during Prohibition. Fun fact, the hooch was smuggled into the club in tin cans that they cracked open tableside. The juice in this bottle is sourced from Kentucky. Today, the whiskey is being contract distilled at Bardstown Bourbon Company.
Tasting Notes:
Granny Smith apples and Red Hots jump out on the nose with a hint of black Necco Wafer, a touch of soft and wet oak, and hints of caramel. The palate leans into the buttery ends of toffee with burnt sugars leading toward dried fruits, fatty nuts, and holiday cake spices. The vanilla arrives late and is tied to the sweeter edges as a light dried tobacco leaf note leaves a little heat on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is a great, classic bourbon. There are no bells or whistles but it also doesn’t need them. It’s just an easy-drinking bourbon on its own and a very solid cocktail base.
8. Yellowstone 115 Proof Barrel Select
ABV: 57.5%
Average Price: $70
The Whiskey:
These bottles are part of an exclusive run of bourbon barrels that are “hand-picked” by Steve Beam out at Limestone Branch Distillery (from sourced barrels). Beam pulls these exceptional barrels in and releases them for special retailers, bar accounts, and collections. Each release is around 200 bottles and they tend to be rare finds.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet spice, stewed pears with saffron, and a chocolate cream pie nose greet you. The taste leans into vanilla hard candies with almond-encrusted toffees, soft cedar, and a hint of potting soil. Pears and soft apricot-laced tobacco leaves drive the mid-palate towards more pear and hint of that soil, tobacco, and nutty toffee.
Bottom Line:
This has those savory and earthy notes that’ll either hook you in or push you away. I really dig whiskeys that go in this direction, especially as sippers. That being said, the lower-proof versions of these barrel picks will lean more into classic bourbon notes.
7. Bulleit Bourbon Barrel Strength
ABV: 59.6% (varies)
Average Price: $60
The Whiskey:
This whiskey, from the much-beloved Bulleit, is a no-age-statement blend of five to eight-year-old barrels. Those whiskeys are hewn from a mash of 68 percent corn, 28 percent rye, and four percent malted barley. The blended barrels are then bottled at barrel strength to let them shine as-is.
Tasting Notes:
These will vary depending on which release you snag. Expect sweet woody notes next to oily vanilla and a big note of black pepper. The taste delivers ripe peaches next to more peppery spice and a hint of Christmas spices, with the vanilla taking a backseat and the oak really stepping in to shine. The end is spicy, hot, oaky, and peachy, with a hint of caramel corn.
Bottom Line:
These have yet to disappoint, especially if you’re already on the bandwagon for Bulleit. Overall, you’re getting a little more ABV — or that aforementioned “bang for your buck” — while still holding onto that signature Bulleit smoothness.
6. Bardstown Bourbon Fusion Series #6
ABV: 48.95%
Average Price: $64
The Whiskey:
Bardstown Bourbon Company is one of the best blenders/distillers in the game right now. Their Fusion Series #6 release marries 56 percent three-year-old high-ish rye bourbon with 30 percent eleven-year-old low-rye bourbon and 14 percent three-year-old low-rye bourbon to create this mix. Both three-year-olds are from Bardstown’s own still with the eleven-year-old being sourced juice.
Tasting Notes:
Honey really stands out on the nose next to tart apples leaning towards apple cores or seeds, supported by classic notes of vanilla pods, caramel, and light oak. That apple becomes slightly stewed and spicy with the caramel lending sweetness as a hint of walnuts arrive with a buttery crust vibe that’s very apple pie. The end is slightly oaky but sweet in the way that cherry-flavored pipe tobacco is.
Bottom Line:
These are unique releases that are worth tracking down (which might mean a trip to Kentucky to find). Still, these are masterful blends of whiskey that highlight the wonderful things happening over at Bardstown Bourbon Company right now.
5. George Dickel 15 Year Single Barrel Select
ABV: Varies
Average Price: $69
The Whisky:
This is a very old whiskey, all things considered. The juice is from single barrels, aged 15 years or more, and the proof varies accordingly (sometimes it’s cut with water, too). The whiskey showcases Dickel’s vast warehouses and the gems they have hidden deep on those ricks.
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the cherry pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream next to a slight apple-tobacco vibe. It’s also light on the nose and on the palate with red berries leading towards a cherry-choco soda pop, more vanilla cream, and a light touch of bourbon-soaked oakiness. That woodiness leans into a musty corner of a cellar as a spicy cherry tobacco finish leaves you with a dry, almost chalky, yet sweet mouthfeel.
Bottom Line:
A 15-year-old whiskey for under $100, sign us up! Seriously, this whiskey could cost $100 or more easily and people wouldn’t think twice. This is an easy sipper that’s also available on the open market. Those are wins.
4. Belle Meade Reserve Bourbon
ABV: 54.15%
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
Belle Meade, the blending arm of Nashville’s Nelson Green Brier, sources some of the best barrels for their expressions — though they’re now contract distilling at Bardstown Bourbon Company. This whiskey is a hand-selected, marrying of high-rye (30 percent) seven to eleven-year-old bourbons that are bottled at nearly barrel strength (it’s just touched with water when needed), allowing the juice in the barrel to speak for itself.
Tasting Notes:
Cornmeal that’s been spiked with stewed and spicy peaches, caramel, softwood, and vanilla greet you. The sip really leans into the classic bourbon vibes on the palate with an apple pie with plenty of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg inside a buttery crust with hints of cedar, library leather, and tobacco chew. Hints of raisins and walnuts arrive late in that apple pie as the sip slowly fades, leaving you warmed and wanting more.
Bottom Line:
This remains a pure-bred classic bourbon from top to bottom. We’re getting into the territory of “If you find it, buy a case” because you’ll want this one to last longer than one bottle.
3. Stellum Bourbon
ABV: 57.49%
Average Price: $63
The Whiskey:
The juice in that bottle is a cask-strength blend of whiskeys from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This whiskey is all about the blending process that Stellum (part of Barrell Spirit Company) employs to make this special and award-winning juice. Basically, the process is a sort of hybrid reverse solera technique where the blend gets more juice to keep the proof high and the blend consistent in flavor as the batch is drained off.
It’s a delicate balance of mixing great whiskeys to make something better than the individual parts.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a holiday cake with fatty nuts next to woody spice barks — think anise, clove, and cinnamon — with a nice dose of dried red fruits and honey-dipped over-ripe Granny Smith apples. The palate edges away from the spice towards a powdered sugar sweetness with a hint of dry vanilla. Then a counterpoint bursts onto the scene with a hit of spicy, dried chili pepper flakes next to blackberry pie with a nice dose of cinnamon and nutmeg. The end lingers for just the right amount of time as the spice fades back towards the honeyed sweetness and a final touch of vanilla tobacco buzz lands in the back of the throat.
Bottom Line:
This is a damn fine workhorse. It shines in the glass with a little water or on the rocks as a sipper. It also makes a mean cocktail, especially if you go simple like a Manhattan or old fashioned.
2. Jack Daniels Single Barrel
ABV: 47%
Average Price: $66
The Whiskey:
First introduced in 1997, the juice is hand-selected from barrels on the upper floors of Jack’s vast rickhouses. The whisky is bottled at a slightly higher proof to allow the nuance of the juice (and JD’s process of sugar maple filtration) to shine.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a mix of almost old cherries next to dry leather and a sticky firewood sap. There’s a light and sweet kettle caramel corn touch with a hint of vanilla and spicy toffee-covered apples that leads towards a hint of banana bread with walnuts and plenty of spice and butter. In the end, it’s really the fruit that shines the most in this dram with a stewed apple/pear vibe that ends up on a woody box full of chewy cherry tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is refined and deep. While it’s on the sweeter-fruity side (which turns some folks off), I find it comforting. Drink it neat or make a killer cocktail with it. Either way, you’ll be all set.
1. Peerless Small Batch Bourbon
ABV: 54.65% (varies)
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
Kentucky Peerless Distilling takes its time for a true grain-to-glass experience. Their Small Batch Bourbon is crafted with a fairly low-rye mash bill and fermented with a sweet mash as opposed to a sour mash (that means they use 100 percent new grains, water, and yeast with each new batch instead of holding some of the mash over to start the next one like a sourdough starter). The barrels are then hand-selected for their taste and bottled completely un-messed with.
Tasting Notes:
Expect notes of blackberry next to worn leather, rich toffee, vanilla oils, and wet tobacco leaves. The taste holds onto the toffee and vanilla as the tobacco dries out and spices up, with touches of cedar bark and a few bitter espresso beans. The end is long, holds onto the vanilla and tobacco, and touches back on the berries as it fades through your senses.
Bottom Line:
This remains one of the best bourbons under $100. It’s a small craft with a truly deep history. Add in people who are innovative behind the stills, and you have a whiskey worth stocking up on and sipping.