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🥃 Best Bourbons at Every Price Point Guide - Updated for 2026

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Wild Turkey 101 Ingredients
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 2025 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, 528 bottles were considered for this 2025 best bourbon update (10 more than last year!). 

Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond
$20 or Less 

  • Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond - $18.99 - 4.5 Stars - Alternatively Evan Williams 1783 can also be found for around a dollar more.  This reliable workhorse provides a relatively one dimensional vanilla flavor but it does it well and at a killer price point. There is no better value in whiskey.
  • Mellow Corn - $19.99 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. For the money, it is very much hard to improve on for quality. It also comes in 1.75L bottles though they are a bit hard to find. 
  • Benchmark Bonded/Full 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. While claims of it being "Baby Stagg" may be a bit of a stretch, it is one heck of a good value! Benchmark Top Floor is also a noticeable improvement over the standard benchmark for a dollar less. The bonded is under $20 almost everywhere and a few places have the full proof for the same price, a bargain.

$30 or Less

Wild Turkey 101
  • Jim Beam Black Label 7YR - $26.99 - 4.5 Stars - With the change back to an age statement and a bump of four proof points, Black label is once again a great budget workhorse. Watch it outshine other bottles twice the price for traditional bourbon flavors, also easy drinking.
  • Wild Turkey 101 - $24.99 - 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! Unfortunately, the market seems to be catching onto this bottle and prices have climbed a few dollars over the last year.
  • Maker's Mark - $26.99 - 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! You can also find Maker's 46  which is finished with French Oak Staves for around $5 more, throw in Maker's Cask and you have one heck of a vertical tasting panel. 
  • 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 and holds up neat as well. Peep the Single Barrel for which Four Roses now releases a number of it's 10 signature mash bills! Lots to explore there. I regularly restock this.
  • Old Grand Dad 114 - $29.99 - 4.5 stars - Another higher proof option, this bottle has been a Reddit and Twitter favorite since its introduction. It has a lovely spice to it while being very drinkable for the proof point. For only a few bucks more than the OGD bonded, it's such a winner that it may have impeded sales for the Ultra Premium OGD 16YR released back in 2024 for north of $200.


$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. 
  • Marker's Mark Cask Strength - $37.99 - 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! Total wine has dropped their price by $2 this year, making this bottle an absolute steal.
  • Evan Williams Single Barrel - 38.99 - 4.25 Stars - A younger Henty McKenna Bonded with many of the same tasting notes. Heaven Hill includes a vintage year for the barrels much like fine wine, and this bottle is much more complex than the entry level Evan Williams iterations. I love it! Some retailers will have it for $3-5 cheaper.


$50 or Less 

  • New Four Roses Single Barrel OBSF, Bright Rye, Apple, Vanilla, Clove and Cocoa. Aromas of Mint, Apple Allspice and Vanilla. On the palate, Bright Rye and Brown Sugar notes are balanced with a rich and long-lasting finish.
    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. As of 2025, they now offer Single barrel versions of four of their 10 mash bill recipes. Barrel strength versions can be found above $100.
  • Russel's Reserve 10 YR - $49.99 - 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 though it continues to increase in price (up from around $35 two years ago). Eagle Rare may now be a better pickup since I'm seeing it on shelves more regularly though it is seldom found still in some markets.
  • 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 WRDO review here. The summary is "dessert in a bottle" that puts most allocated bottles to shame.
  • Bardstown Origin Bottled-in-Bond - $48.99 - 5 stars - This six-year bonded bourbon has taken aficionados by storm. Bardstown may be known for contract distilling, but their Origin series is turning heads. Also check out the high wheat iteration at a slightly higher cost and proof though some find it more polarizing.

$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.
  • Ben Holiday Bottled in Bond - $54.99 - 5 Stars - Bonded Excellence from Wild Turkey, collaboration and special release varieties are also a fantastic choice
  • Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof Bourbon - $68.99 - A  certified allocation killer, Jack Daniel's Makes some great whiskey and puts out one of the most consistent single barrel lines as far as flavor profile is concerned. The Rye is also quite excellent.
  • James E. Pepper Decanter Barrel Proof - $64.99 - A truly lovely whiskey in a lovely bottle. It provides a huge depth of flavor with some atypical wood notes that resonate strongly with me. The lower barrel entry proof definitely shows up here. Can be found occasionally for as much as $10 cheaper, a must buy in my opinion. 
  • Elijah Craig Barrel Proof - $84.99 - 4.5 stars - Baking spices galore in the recurring classic. I tend to prefer these with a little bit of Ice or a spritz of water. There is lots to enjoy but it sometimes takes a little stimulation to bring out the depth. I tend to prefer the standard batched editions over private barrels. The distiller picks in particular are lottery tickets and vary greatly. 
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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