When you hit the $60 range in bourbon, things start to get fun. The best bourbons at this price point tend to be a little more unique, a little more thought out, and just that little more special than your average bottle. It’s also a very wide swath of bourbons — there’s a lot on the shelf at this price point.
For this list, I’m listing 20 bourbon whiskeys that all absolutely rock. Still, not all bourbons are created equal, even if they do cost around the same price. That means that I’m also ranking these bourbons according to how deep the flavor profile goes and what you should be aiming to use these bottles for.
As for the price, this is based on delivery services — Reserve Bar, Total Wine, Drizly — in Louisville, Kentucky. Local prices and availability will vary depending on wherever you are. Let’s dive in!
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20. Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 1910 Old Fine Whisky
ABV: 46.5%
Average Price: $63
The Whisky:
Back in 1910, there was a fire at Old Forester which stopped bottling. Whiskies that were ready had to be re-barreled while everything was rebuilt. This created a great bourbon that’s being replicated in the modern day. To do this, Old Forester is re-barreling bourbon for a second maturation before blending, proofing, and bottling, making this their “double oaked” bourbon.
Tasting Note:
Nose: Stone fruit really drives the nose with hints of apricot and maybe plum next to sweet and soft cedar and black tea-infused dates.
Palate: Those dates become a rich and spicy sticky toffee pudding with a thick brandy butter topping next to a hint of oatmeal raisin cookies.
Finish: The sweetness of the mid-palate gives way to a dark chocolate feel with a flake of salt, a hint of masa, and plenty of wintry spice leading back to that dark stone fruit with tobacco dryness at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a great place to start at this price point. This is one of my favorite Old Forsters from their core lineup. One reason for that is that it’s a perfectly solid sipper over a glass of ice. Another reason is that this makes a mean cocktail, especially if you’re shaking up a whiskey sour or stirring up a funky old fashioned.
19. Breckenridge Rum Cask Finished
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $61
The Whiskey:
This whiskey starts off as Breckenridge’s famed and award-winning bourbon. That whiskey is then re-barreled in Colorado rum barrels that held Breckinridge’s own spiced rum, which was, of course, aged in Breckenridge’s own bourbon casks with a mix of fresh fruits and dark spices right in the barrel.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a burst of dried tropical fruits next to candied nuts, wintry spices, a hint of sweet oak, and some salty caramel drizzled with dark chocolate sauce.
Palate: The palate has a banana bread vibe with walnuts baked right in next to stewed apples with plenty of cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Finish: Rich toffee drives the sweet mid-palate towards a full throttle of spices — allspice, nutmeg, clove, star anise — that warm up the finish with a counterpoint from dried apple and banana chips.
Bottom Line:
Overall, this is a really solid mixing bourbon for simple, whiskey-forward cocktails. That said, if you’re a dark rum drinker who’s bourbon curious, then this will be fire over some rocks on its own.
18. Basil Hayden Red Wine Cask Finish Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $62
The Whiskey:
Freddie Noe — Beam’s eighth-generation Master Distiller — created this expression by blending classic Basil Hayden with bourbon partially aged in California red wine casks. The resulting batch is then proofed down and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a hint of orange zest on the nose with sour mulled wine spices — star anise, cardamom, cinnamon — next to Cherry Coke and vanilla cake with white frosting.
Palate: The palate is soft yet creamy with a nutty spiced cake vibe next to zucchini bread with a dollop of butter next to tart, dried berries dipped in brandy with a hint of dark cacao in the background.
Finish: The end is pretty short (low-proofed) and finishes with a sense of old oak staves soaked in sour red wine with a dash of burnt orange and dried winter spice rounding things out.
Bottom Line:
This is the best Basil Hayden’s I’ve tasted in a while. It’s complex, ruddy, and kind of … fun. I like this over a few rocks or stirred into a Manhattan with a good, dark, and sweet vermouth.
17. Doc Swinson’s Blenders Cut Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 57.5%
Average Price: $64
The Whiskey:
Doc Swinson’s Master Blender, Jesse Parker, takes a lot of time to make this whiskey. The whiskey is a blend of MGP five-year-old bourbons. That blend is just touched with water to bring it down to 155 proof and then bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a nice balance of dried and leathery apricot next to Caro syrup and peanut brittle with a hint of charred oak in the background of the nose.
Palate: The palate leans into the nuttiness with an almost Almond Joy vibe with a dark chocolate bitterness and a touch of creamy vanilla.
Finish: The finish is part brown sugar and part crushed peanuts with a hint of spicy dark chocolate tobacco rounding things out.
Bottom Line:
This whiskey is a prime example of the beauty of MGP’s barrels that make it out into the world. It’s so good and well-built. This is deep bourbon that doesn’t overdo anything. It’s what I like to call a “bourbon-y bourbon,” which is nice for simple cocktails and easy on-the-rocks sipping.
16. Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
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 whiskey in this bottle was sourced from Kentucky. Today, the whiskey is being contract distilled at Bardstown Bourbon Company.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: 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.
Palate: The palate leans into the buttery ends of toffee with burnt sugars leading toward dried fruits, fatty nuts, and holiday cake spices.
Finish: The vanilla arrives late and is tied to the sweeter edges as a lightly dried tobacco leaf note leaves a little heat on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is another solid bourbon-y bourbon with a nice sweet depth, sharp spice, and clear POV. Overall, I’d lean toward using this in cocktails, but it’s totally suitable for sipping over some ice.
15. Horse Soldier Small Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $61
The Whiskey:
This craft whiskey from Ohio is made with a mash bill of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley. The barrels aged a minimum of six years before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: 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 lurking underneath everything.
Palate: 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.
Finish: 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 is another solid, all-around good bourbon whiskey. There’s a nice balance of sweet, spice, and herbal notes that really help this shine as a great Manhattan or Sazerac cocktail bourbon. I also like shooting this one with a beer back.
14. Leopold Bros. Bottled-In-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $60
The Whiskey:
This Colorado crafty whiskey gets a lot of attention from bourbon drinkers in the know. The mash is made from 64% corn, 21% malted barley, and 15% Abruzzi Heritage Rye, which Master Distiller Todd Leopold malted at his malting house at the distillery in Denver. That mash ran through a classic pot still before it was barreled and left to rest for five years.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The floral and spicy nature of that Abruzzi rye really comes out on the nose with a touch of candied apples, sweet porridge, Quik chocolate milk powder, and the faintest hint of sourdough rye with a light smear of salted butter.
Palate: The taste leans into stewed pears with nutmeg and clove spices leading the way as Almond Roca and green peppercorns jostle for space on your palate.
Finish: The end mellows out as that spice fades towards an eggnog vibe with a creamy vanilla underbelly and a final touch of that floral rye and hint of pear.
Bottom Line:
This is a nice and funky craft bourbon (can’t mistake those sourdough and sweet porridge notes). That makes this a good whiskey for mixing with citrus, marrying that malty base with good and smooth citrus. I also dig this as an everyday sipper on the rocks, especially when I’m looking for something different from a pour of bourbon.
13. Bardstown Bourbon Fusion Series #8 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 47.75%
Average Price: $64
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is a masterful blend from the team out at Bardstown Bourbon Company. The whiskey in the bottle is a mix of two four-year-old bourbons (both high rye) from BBC with a sourced 12-year-old Kentucky bourbon with a lower-rye content. Once those barrels are married, the whiskey is proofed and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Honey really stands out on the nose next to tart apples leaning toward apple cores or seeds, supported by classic notes of vanilla pods, caramel, and light oak.
Palate: That apple becomes slightly stewed and spicy with the caramel lending sweetness as a hint of walnuts arrives with a buttery crust vibe that’s very apple pie.
Finish: The end is slightly oaky but sweet in the way that cherry-flavored pipe tobacco is.
Bottom Line:
This is just good stuff. It’s a classic bourbon with a nice orchard fruitiness. Overall, this works well in a cocktail or as a sipper. Dealer’s choice!
12. Redemption Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished In Cognac Casks
ABV: 49.5%
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
Master Blender Dave Carpenter built this small-batch bourbon off the back of barrels of very high-rye bourbon (60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley) from MGP of Indiana. Carpenter then moved that whiskey into Cognac barrels from Ferrand Cognac which held Cognac for 30 years. The bourbon spent 12 months finishing in those old-school barrels before vatting, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a clear pecan pie vibe on the nose with a buttery crust, plenty of holiday spices, a touch of apricot, and a whisper of dried hibiscus petals.
Palate: The palate takes the apricot and stews it with the spices to create a jammy compote next to an earthy and wet cellar beam dripping with cobwebs as the hibiscus brightens and leads towards a hint of raisin, prune, and white pepper.
Finish: The mid-palate leans into that sweet dried fruit/peppery edge as the pecans return in a bowl of Karo syrup and dusted with nutmeg-heavy eggnog spices and a final flourish of that wet yet fruity wood.
Bottom Line:
This is good bourbon that really melds well with the cognac finish. There’s a nice depth that makes this a solid and very easy sipper (even neat). Really though, this is beautiful as a Manhattan or old fashioned base. It just shines.
11. George Dickel Single Barrel Tennessee Whisky Aged 15 Years
ABV: Varies
Average Price: $69
The Whisky:
This is a very old whiskey for a great price. The whiskey 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 in those ricks.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is all about the cherry pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream next to a slight apple-tobacco vibe.
Palate: 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.
Finish: 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:
This is a classic whisky that really feels deep and nourishing. The overall vibe is easy to sip, but adding some water or a rock will really open up a deeper creaminess with an almost Black Forest Cake lushness. It’s worth taking your time with this one is what I’m getting at.
10. Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
This very affordable offering from Heaven Hill is hard to beat at its price. The juice utilizes a touch of rye in the mash bill and is then aged for ten long years in a bonded rickhouse. The best barrels are chosen by hand and the whiskey is bottled with just a touch of water to bring it down to bottled-in-bond proof.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens slightly tannic with rich orange zest and vanilla cream next to woody winter spice, fresh mint, and wet cedar with a hint of gingerbread and burnt cherry.
Palate: The palate hits on soft vanilla white cake with a salted caramel drizzle and burnt orange zest vibe next to apple/pear tobacco leaves dipped in toffee and almond.
Finish: The end has a sour cherry sensation that leads to wintery woody spices, cedar bark, and old cellar beams with a lush vanilla pod and cherry stem finish.
Bottom Line:
This has a lot of fans. I find it fine as a sipper when poured neat. I prefer it over some rocks with a dash of Angostura Bitters. But it really shines brightest when you make simple, whiskey-forward cocktails with it.
9. Larceny Barrel Proof Batch No. A123 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 62.9%
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
This year’s first Larceny Barrel Proof is made with Heaven Hill’s standard wheated bourbon mash bill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. The batch is made from a combination of six to eight-year-old barrels from Heaven Hill’s rickhouses. The final blend is bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Chili pepper spice and almost damp masa come through on the nose with a hint of mustiness next to nut loaf cut with a twinge of apple cider juice and some orchard tree branches with a hint of apple caramel candy lurking underneath.
Palate: Sweet vanilla cake leads to a hint of cinnamon bark and creamy eggnog with plenty of nutmeg before a light ABV heat rises and leads to apple cores and soft leather.
Finish: A sharp winter spice dominates the end with a sense of old apple bushels, broken-down used bourbon barrels, and a hint of caramel vanilla creaminess.
Bottom Line:
This is another great candidate for making whiskey-forward cocktails. The flavor profile is deep and engaging and stands up to mixing or just a little ice as a slow sipper.
8. Old Elk Wheated Bourbon Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $68
The Whiskey:
This craft whiskey from Colorado takes the idea of wheated bourbon to the very edge of its limits. The mash bill carries a whopping 45% wheat, pushing this very close to being a wheated whiskey. The hot juice is then aged for an undisclosed amount of years before it’s batched and cut down to proof with that soft Rocky Mountain spring water Colorado is known for.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: You’re drawn in by a big bowl of vanilla ice cream drizzled with salted caramel sauce next to a very faint hint of dried florals.
Palate: The palate builds on that ice cream, creating a sundae with crushed almonds, creamy toffee brittle, and a hint of eggnog spice.
Finish: The end is medium-length with a touch of that buttery sweetness carrying the sip to a warm end.
Bottom Line:
This is another great candidate if you’re looking for a unique bourbon to break up the monotony of the standard stuff. The floral note works really well with the creaminess of the overall pour. This is one of those pours that you can serve however you want and it’ll be good.
7. Stellum Bourbon
ABV: 57.49%
Average Price: $63
The Whiskey:
The whiskey in the 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 bourbon. Basically, the process is a sort of hybrid reverse solera technique where the blend gets more whiskey to keep the proof high and the blend consistent in flavor as the batch is drained off.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: 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.
Palate: 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.
Finish: 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 probably the best-built whiskey on the list. It’s just good bourbon. It rules over a big rock or in a cocktail. You can sip it neat. You can shoot it. You can add water and taste it like a pro. It just works.
6. Pursuit United Straight Blended Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 54%
Average Price: $63
The Whiskey:
This bourbon is a vatted from 40 total barrels from three different states. While the team at Pursuit United doesn’t release the Tennessee distillery name, we know the whiskeys from Kentucky and New York are from Bardstown Bourbon Company and Finger Lakes Distilling, respectively.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a rush of cedar next to Christmas spices steeped in sweet red wine.
Palate: That sweetness tends to lean into fresh honey with a touch of caramel and maybe a little dark chocolate on the end. The taste holds onto the honeyed sweetness with burnt sugars, light cedar, chocolate tobacco leaves, and a hint of orange oils.
Finish: That orange is what builds and powers the finish to its silken end, concluding with an orange-choco vibe and a very soft landing.
Bottom Line:
This is another bourbon that just works. It’s refined yet approachable. It’s a bourbon-y bourbon that you can enjoy with your crew on the weekend or as a fine cocktail base or as an everyday sipper to take the edge off.
5. Redwood Empire Pipe Dream Bourbon Whiskey Cask Strength
ABV: 58.4%
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
This uncut and unfiltered version of Redwood Empire’s beloved bourbon is a four-grain whiskey built from a blend of California, Kentucky, and Indiana whiskeys. The mash ends up being 74% corn, 20% raw rye, 4.5% malt barley, and a mere 1.5% wheat. The barrels in the final blend range from four to 12 years old with the older stuff coming from the Ohio Valley.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a soft sense of classic bourbon on the nose with a rich and dark cherry by way of a vanilla pod, light caramel sauce, and pecan waffles with a glug of pancake syrup and a dollop of cinnamon-brown sugar butter next to a whisper of old boot leather.
Palate: The palate has a soft creamed honey sweetness with a twinge of Cherry Coke next to buttery toffee dipped in crushed roasted almonds with a hint of Mounds Bar and chewy caramel.
Finish: A good dose of ABV heat kicks up on the mid-palate with a mulled wine spiciness and a touch of sour cherry. The end is nutty and full of dark cherry tobacco just kissed with dark chocolate and dark brown spices.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best releases from Redwood to date and makes me pretty excited for what’s to come. That aside, this works really well over one large ice cube in a rocks glass. It makes a really nice Manhattan too.
4. Noah’s Mill Small Batch Genuine Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 57.15%
Average Price: $67
The Whiskey:
This is the bigger and bolder sibling of Willett’s Rowan’s Creek Bourbon. It’s the same whiskey — a no-age-statement bourbon that’s made from four to 15-year-old barrels — that’s barely proofed down with local Kentucky water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Maple syrup-covered walnuts greet you with a sense of dark dried cherries and a hint of rose water next to old leather books and holiday spices.
Palate: The taste holds onto those notes while adding in a stewed plum depth with a whisper of caramel apple and orange oils.
Finish: The vanilla and sweet oak kick in late with a rich depth and well-rounded lightness to the sip fade towards lush cherry tobacco, soft leather, and winter spice matrix tied to prunes and dates.
Bottom Line:
This is a great, classic bourbon. It’s accessible (you can generally find it outside of Kentucky) and it’s very drinkable. If you’re looking for a quintessential bourbon drinking experience (neat, on the rocks, or in a cocktail), this is the bourbon you’re looking for.
3. Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Bottled-In-Bond Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $62
The Whiskey:
This new release from Huber Farm’s Starlight Distillery (the distillery to know if you’re in the know) is made from their high-corn mash with a sweet mash method (each batch is fresh) in their old copper pot still. The whiskey is barreled in Canton barrels and left to age on the farm for four years before it’s batched (only 20 barrels) and proofed down to 100 proof for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with dark stewed cherries and spiced prune compote next to cinnamon waffles with a hint of maple syrup and dark chocolate chips.
Palate: The palate is pure silk with notes of Cherry Coke next to clove-studded oranges dipped in dark chocolate with a flake of salt with whispers of apple fritters, eggnog spices, and singed cherry bark with maybe a hint of apple wood in the background.
Finish: The end has a subtle warmth thanks to wintry mulled wine spices that lead to fresh pipe tobacco kissed with dates and chocolate and packed into an old cedar box for safekeeping.
Bottom Line:
You really cannot go wrong with this essential-tasting bourbon.
2. Frank August Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $66
The Whiskey:
The first whiskey from Frank August is a sourced bourbon. The juice is made in Kentucky, where it’s also aged. The team at Frank August then takes roughly 10 to 15 barrels per batch and builds this bourbon painstakingly to fit their desired flavor profile. The whiskey is then lightly proofed down to 100 proof before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is pure classic bourbon with hints of salted caramel with a twinge of soft grains next to spicy cherry syrup, a whisper of sour apple, and a touch of aged oak staves soaked in mulled wine.
Palate: The palate moves on from the soft grains towards rum-soaked raisins with a warm winter spice matrix — cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice — before a brown sugar/rock candy sweetness takes over on the mid-palate.
Finish: The finish is long and sweet with a nice dose of sharp cinnamon and soft nutmeg that leads to a supple vanilla cream with a thin line of dry cedar and tobacco spice just touched with dark cherry on the very end.
Bottom Line:
I tend to use this to make a mean Sazerac, but it’s 100% delicious on its own in a nice glass (or with a nice piece of ice).
1. Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 12 Years Old
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $69
The Whiskey:
This is the classic Beam whiskey. The juice is left alone in the Beam warehouses in Clermont, Kentucky, for 12 long years. The barrels are chosen according to a specific taste and mingled to create this aged expression with a drop or two of that soft Kentucky limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with clear notes of dark rum-soaked cherry, bitter yet creamy dark chocolate, winter spices, a twinge of a sourdough sugar doughnut, and a hint of menthol.
Palate: The palate leans into a red berry crumble — brown sugar, butter, and spice — with a hint of dried chili flake, salted caramels covered in dark chocolate, and a spicy/sweet note that leads toward a wet cattail stem and soft brandied cherries dipped in silky dark chocolate sauce.
Finish: The very end holds onto that sweetness and layers in a final note of pecan shells and maple candy.
Bottom Line:
This is the best Beam product, kind of by far. It has the perfect balance of taste, warmth, and depth. It’s amazingly easy-to-drink neat while also really blooming with a little water or a single rock — expect a deeper level of creaminess and dark, almost waxy chocolate with a medley of dried tart berries with a soft whisper of hickory smoke.
All of that said, make a Manhattan with this and you’ll fall in love with that cocktail all over again.