Finding a great “sipping bourbon” is a fun task. Because hey, you get to sip a whole bunch of bourbon — who can complain about that? The key to the great sippers is simple: they need to be something a little more special than the average mixing bottle. These are the expressions that feel right all on their own. If you taste something and think about how good it’ll be in your next old fashioned, you’re not dealing with a sipper.
This is bourbon you’ll want to savor. Not a bottle you want to dilute with sugars, ice, and bitters.
More tactically, what you don’t want in a sipper are bourbons that feel one-note (vanilla bombs, spice bombs, etc., which work better as cocktail foundations), only alcohol burn from top to bottom (too many ABVs and nothing else), or whiskeys that overwhelm the senses with too much of everything all at once with no rhyme or reason. There’s a middle ground you’re looking for where flavor combinations build to a crescendo and the whiskey makers create a story from beginning to end. That, folks, transcends ABVs, styles, or even price when looking for a sipping bourbon.
All of that said, if you do find an everyday sipper that you love, you don’t want it to be a) too expensive or b) impossible to find on shelves — you want to be able to access it. That’s where I come in. The ten bourbon whiskeys below are all bottles that I’d reach for as sippers. Some of these I might pour over a rock or two. Some of them I’d likely poke my nose into in a Glencairn and take my time with. But all of that is beside the point, these are bottles that all cost $50 or just under that — the proverbial “sweet spot” of good bourbon right now.
Natually, I’m ranking these by which ones I reach for the most. Let’s dive in!
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- The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
- We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
- The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked
10. Broken Barrel Cask Strength Bourbon Rum Cask Finish
ABV: 58%
Average Price: $47
The Whiskey:
Broken Barrel works with Owensboro Distilling Co. out in Kentucky to make these whiskeys. This bottling is a 70 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and nine percent malted barley bourbon that spends one year in new white oak. Then broken barrel staves from both Barbados rum casks and ex-rye whiskey barrels are added to the barrel. That whiskey then rests for an undisclosed amount of time before bottling at barrel strength.
Tasting Notes:
This feels pretty young on the nose with big notes of nutty banana bread, vanilla beans, and creamy butterscotch. The palate goes deeper with a sense of oatmeal raisin cookies with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to a walnut bar covered in chocolate next to a hint of dark rum-soaked cherries. That sweet mid-palate leads to a finish full of Nutella and cream soda with a hint of wet pine and almost burnt banana bread crust.
Bottom Line:
This really benefits from a rock or two to calm down those ABVs. Once you get that water in there with a little cooling, it opens up toward red and tart berries with a little less of the butterscotch. Overall, this isn’t a mind-blowing sipper, but it’s nice, easy, and a little funky in a fun way.
9. Chattanooga Whiskey Port Finish Bourbon
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $48
The Whiskey:
This Tennessee whiskey from Chattanooga Riverfront Distillery leans into a very popular finishing barrel. The juice is a three-year-old whiskey (with high malt mash bill) that’s then aged for six months in Tawny Port casks. Those high-malt bourbons from the Port casks are chosen for their fruity nature and blended into this expression with a dash of Tennessee’s soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the figgy pudding, mincemeat pies, and strawberry-rhubarb pie on the nose with a distinct Blackberry Hostess pie taking over on the backend. The palate meanders through notes of dark chocolate syrup, old leather boots, a hint of a charred oak stave, and lush oatmeal cookies with a brown butter and brown sugar vibe. The finish sweetens with a line of cotton candy leading back to the dark chocolate and now dried blackberries with a final note of black soil.
Bottom Line:
Port casks and bourbon just work together. This is intricate and kind of fun. That fruity nose compliments the palate without repeating it beat for beat. While this is a little fruity at first, the softness and earthiness of the back end make it a nice sipper overall.
8. Calumet Farm Aged 8 Years
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $47
The Whiskey:
Calumet Farm — from Three Springs Bottling Company, Bowling Green — is one of those bottlers that finds great barrels around Kentucky and folds them into their lineup of classic-feeling bourbons. This is more of an entry point for the brand with a standard mid-range-rye mash bill (74 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and eight percent malted barley). The whiskey spends eight years aging for it’s small batched (50 barrels per batch) and proofed down for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this one is a mix of old vanilla pods, soft caramel chews, dried red berries, and a hint of leathery cedar humidor. The palate amps up the vanilla to sheet cake territory with a cherry compote layer in between sheets as dark chocolate powder and a bit more of that cedar mingle on the tongue. The finish attaches the caramel to the chocolate and cherry as the leather and cedar dry things out and leaves you with a hint of white pepper and old tobacco leaf.
Bottom Line:
This is the most “classic” and “every day” bourbon on the list. This feels like a table bourbon you can easily have a pour of after a long day at work and let the stress melt away without having to think about it or anything else for that matter.
7. Rabbit Hole Cavehill
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $49
The Whiskey:
This four-grain Kentucky bourbon is made with 70 percent corn, ten percent malted wheat, ten percent honey malted barley, and ten percent malted barley. That spirit is then aged for three years in toasted and charred barrels before it’s batched from a mere 15 barrels, proofed down, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This has a lot of apple cobbler on the nose with sweet and bright stewed apples, plenty of dark brown spices, brown sugar, buttery pastry cobbles, and a touch of honey sweetness. The honey becomes creamy and spiked with orange zest as the malt shines through as a digestive cookie with a hint of fresh mint and more of that honey with a flake of salt. The finish brings about that spice again with a little more of a peppery edge this time as the fade slowly falls off, leaving you with a creamy vanilla tobacco feeling.
Bottom Line:
I just retried this again recently and it was so much better than I remembered it. This has serious depth without overpowering your senses with too much proof. It’s mature enough to provide a deep flavor profile while still being light enough to just enjoy as-is.
6. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
ABV: 45.2%
Average Price: $49
The Whiskey:
This expression amps up the already masterfully-crafted Woodford Reserve Bourbon. The juice is triple distilled in old pot stills and aged for six to seven years in deeply charred oak. Then the bourbon goes into a second barrel that has been double toasted but only slightly charred. After nine months of finishing, the bourbon is proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This is an interesting one — hints of marzipan and rose water hit the nose next to dark berries and honey-toffee with just a bit of dry firewood. The palate draws those flavors out as the berries dry out, the marzipan becomes nuttier and less sweet, and the woodiness becomes more like a soft and almost like wet cedar. There’s a touch of apple and caramel with a slightly spiced edge near the end with a rich honeyed tobacco chew next to a whisper of vanilla.
Bottom Line:
This is where things get really good. Double Oaked is one of these pours that hit the spot because it’s familiar. It’s also one of those bourbons where you might something new when you return to it. It’s a nice balance of easy-going and enticing.
5. Knob Creek 9
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $43 (one-liter bottle)
The Whiskey:
Jim Beam’s small batch entry-point is a nine-year-old classic. The juice is a low-rye mash that’s aged in new oak in Beam’s vast warehouses for a minimum of nine years. The whiskey is then vatted and cut down to 100 proof before bottling in new, wavy bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Buttered kettle corn with caramel meets mild notes of vanilla, worn leather, and a hint of orange zest up top. The sip delivers a very mild peppery spice that never overpowers while caramel corn, vanilla, and slightly musty oak mingle with cherry tobacco with an edge of wintry spice. A soft woodiness leads towards an end that retouches on the orange, cherry spice, and vanilla while fading away slowly.
Bottom Line:
This has become a straight-up classic bourbon. So many distillers — young and old — are chasing what the Noe family created here. This is easy yet deep, soft yet bold, engaging yet not overindulgent. You cannot go wrong pouring one of these as a sipper.
4. Wild Turkey Longbranch
ABV: 43%
Average Price: $35
The Whiskey:
A few years back, Wild Turkey brought on Matthew McConaughey to be the brand’s Creative Director and create his own whiskey. The product of that partnership was launched in 2018. The juice is a wholly unique whiskey for Wild Turkey, thanks to the Texas Mesquite charcoal filtration the hot juice goes through. The bourbon then goes into oak for eight long years before it’s proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Christmas spices meet oily vanilla and subtle caramel up top. The palate adds orange oils and buttery toffee to the mix, as the spices edges upwards on the palate, next to a creamy vanilla pudding body. That velvet texture builds throughout, with toasted oak and cedar notes as a hint of sweet firepit smoke arrives on the long and satisfying finish.
Bottom Line:
There are a lot of Wild Turkey expressions that could have gone in this spot had $50 not been our top price point. That said, this is a very easy-drinking bourbon with its own vibe and flavor profile.
3. Jack Daniel’s Bonded
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $35
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is from Jack’s bonded warehouse. The mash of 80 percent corn, 12 percent barley, and eight percent rye is twice distilled before it’s run through Jack’s very long Lincoln County process of sugar maple charcoal filtration. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with that Jack Daniel’s limestone cave water, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Vanilla comes through next to cherry Jolly Ranchers, a touch of sweet oak, a hint of fresh leather, and an echo of orange peels on the nose. Going back in on the nose after a minute or two, a sense of potting soil and maybe the vitamin aisle at a health food store alongside more of that fresh leather, a bit of sweetgrass, apple blossoms, and a vanilla cookie with a touch of oat in the mix. Apple fritters and maple bars lead the way on the palate next to brown sugar and vanilla cream. The mid-palate adds in a little winter spice with a lean toward cinnamon and clove and a dusting of nutmeg. The finish arrives with brown sugar and butter mixed into Cream of Wheat as a minor note of wood and apple cider kicks in late and lingers the longest on the end.
Bottom Line:
This has been one of the biggest surprises of 2022. I’ve been tasting this a lot since it dropped in April and it has grown on me every time. Plus, the price is fantastic for this level of well-made sipping bourbon. There might be a time as the year ends when this becomes an “instant classic.”
2. Four Roses Small Batch Select
ABV: 52%
Average Price: $49
The Whiskey:
This expression uses six of Four Rose’s ten whiskeys in their small-batching process. The idea is to blend both high and low-rye bourbons with yeast strains that highlight “delicate fruit,” “slight spice,” and “herbal notes.” The whiskeys tend to spend at least six years in the barrel before blending and proofing with just a touch of Kentucky’s soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
Raspberry and cloves mix with old oak on the nose and boy, does it draw you in. The palate amps up the dark berry sweetness with a bit of tartness, as a stone fruit vibe comes into play. The spice heightens and leans more Christmas spice with a focus on nutmeg. Finally, a wisp of fresh mint arrives to counterpoint the whole sip as the oak, vanilla, fruit, and spice all slowly fade out.
Bottom Line:
I always find myself floating back to this bottle, especially for an end-of-the-day pour over a single rock. This is the good stuff that you can both get and won’t break the bank. The only reason this isn’t in first is that it’s a tad more of an outlier than a classic bourbon pour.
1. Michter’s US*1 Small Batch Bourbon
ABV: 45.7%
Average Price: $43
The Whiskey:
Michter’s really means the phrase “small batch” here. The tank they use to marry their hand-selected eight-year-old bourbons can only hold 20 barrels, so that’s how many go into each small-batch bottling. Before it goes into the bottle, the blended juice is filtered and proofed with Kentucky’s famously soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
Buttery caramel and peaches mix with creamy vanilla and old oak on the nose as a hint of cherry tobacco and allspice berries provide a counterpoint. The vanilla really shines as the peach almost takes on a grilled edge as it gets sweeter and adds a whisper of smoke next to peppery spice and a big marshmallow. The wintry spice kicks up and warms the senses as the slow fade embraces leathery apricot, burnt toffee, and more vanilla marshmallow with a final kick of charred oak that’s nearly smoldering.
Bottom Line:
This is the bourbon you pour when you want to get someone hooked on bourbon. It’s refined, fun, and just plain old good. It’s also versatile. I dig sipping on this as a standalone neat pour, but it also works wonders in a simple whiskey cocktail. Honestly, every whiskey on this list does. But as an easy-yet-classic sipper, you cannot beat this bottle of whiskey in this context.