Best Value Bourbons Right Now? Anyone?

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Basil Hayden’s and Woodford Reserve at Costco for $30 is pretty hard to beat, good old black label Jack when things are lean. I consume far too much to be too selective or spendy. As Stalin said, quantity has a quality of it’s own.

That said I’m perfectly willing to drink some rich guys top shelf shit while he tells bullshit stories, I’m a cheap date
 
raymizejr1232 said:
Ah shoot, I didn't realize this. It looks like they're going to be opening a distillery in Troy soon. I'll have to checkout Dettling though!
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Alabama ABC is a pain to work with so it can surprisingly be hard to find there, but if you keep an eye on their website they will release single barrels occasionally. If you like coffee, tobacco, and chocolatey whiskey, Dettling is where it's at.
 
Heaven Hill BIB. Every time it’s in a lineup for a blind tasting, I consistently rank it in the top tier. It used to be hard to find, but I see it everywhere now for like $45.
 
Jeff Johnston said:
Damn the price of bourbon has skyrocketed. So I'm always looking for values (i.e., cheap) based on what I think tastes good compared to its price. Right now on the lower shelf (under $30) I'm liking the Elijah Craig Small Batch or the Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond. But I'm asking because there are likely some others out there that are affordable that also don't taste like a bucket of assholes. Thoughts?
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Wild Turkey 101? The name says it all, mate!
 
Jeff Johnston said:
Damn the price of bourbon has skyrocketed. So I'm always looking for values (i.e., cheap) based on what I think tastes good compared to its price. Right now on the lower shelf (under $30) I'm liking the Elijah Craig Small Batch or the Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond. But I'm asking because there are likely some others out there that are affordable that also don't taste like a bucket of assholes.
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My personal favorites for the price point are Knob Creek, and for a few bucks more, Michter’s.
A buddy of mine has tried nearly everything, from white label Jim Beam to Pappy 23, and his all time favorite bourbon was Benchmark Single Barrel.
I’ve never had it, but Benchmark’s higher tier bourbons are apparently criminally underrated and great for the price. Either the SB or full proof bourbons share the same mashbill as pappy.
 
If price is an issue…which is odd given the rate of bankruptcies and distillery closures at the moment….I suggest Evan Williams Bottled in Bond (green label) or Evan Williams Black. Both super cheap, both remarkably drinkable at that price and and I’ll put on a peer with anything twice as much or more.
 
I try to make my life simple. Red wax is easy to spot so I just walk over to the makers, grab a bottle, and head home. The mid grade benchmark isn’t bad if you want to try something different on the cheap end. But makers has never done me wrong
 
Usually my goto for budget would be Makers and Bulleit I think are pretty decent wets.
Have tried to see if I can get chicken cock this end of the world but no luck yet.
 
Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel and Larceny for me. Starting to see more Eagle Rare 10 and EH Taylor Small Batch on the shelves here, no markup. I try to have at least 2x of each of those on hand when I can.
 
There are some market reports that suggest Bourbon will decline in price this year, the hype cycle may be over, but we will see it when we see it. I used to go to Weller (green Special Reserve) when it was normal price, and up the range for bigger times as the 107 is a pull from the Pappy line, but now less often. My go to for a regular day and not breaking the bank is Michter’s - anything in the regular line - even their Rye, predictably great.
 
A couple of my everyday drinkers are Russell’s 10 year, wild turkey rare breed and knob creek 12 year. Of course any special pick you can find from those labels are superb but the regular juice is pretty good as well
 
evandoyle.doyle said:
A couple of my everyday drinkers are Russell’s 10 year, wild turkey rare breed and knob creek 12 year. Of course any special pick you can find from those labels are superb but the regular juice is pretty good as well
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Evan- I stopped in at Wild Turkey Distillery a couple of weeks ago with my eye on this “special” Russell’s, but had to pass on it at that price. 😳
 

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