Rare and expensive bourbon whiskeys are an investment, and I’m talking more than just money. These bottles are an investment in time, effort, and cash. To dare pour all the bottles we’re featuring today in a blind taste test, you have to know someone, have very deep pockets, or… be me. You might be able to find a few at a really good whiskey bar for $50, $100, $250 a pour but elite, rare, and expensive bourbon is just that — elite, rare, and often really expensive.
Buying one or two of these for special occasions is much more approachable. But if you’re investing in a splurge bottle, it’s a good idea to know what you’re buying. To that end, I had my wife pull ten bottles from the “please don’t touch”-shelf in my office for a blind tasting. The prices ended up ranging from around $200 to over $3,000 per bottle, which is a good range for the high-end stuff.
Of course, that also means that it’s going to be really hard to rank these. Once you get to the highest end, it really comes down to your personal palate over craft — all of these are very well-made.
Our lineup today is:
- Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Spring 2022 Edition
- Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 1st Edition Aged 17 Years
- Eagle Rare 17 BTAC 2021
- Michter’s Singel Barrel Bourbon 10-Year
- William Larue Weller BTAC 2021
- Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select
- E.H. Taylor Bottled-in-Bond Single Barrel
- Four Roses 2021 Limited Edition Small Batch
- Barrell Craft Spirits Gold Label Bourbon
- George T. Stagg STAC 2020
Let’s dive in and see how these monster bourbons stack up against each other.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
- The 50 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2021, Ranked
- Every Winning Bourbon From Our 2021 Taste Tests, Blind Tasted And Re-Ranked
- 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
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1
Tasting Notes:
Oh, shit. We’re already off to the races on this nose. There’s this sense of blackberry jam filled into a yeasty doughnut that’s covered in powdered sugar with hints of old boot leather, dried braids of cedar bark, and black-tea-soaked dates, cinnamon, and nutmeg baked into a rich and moist sticky toffee pudding. On the palate, there’s a sense of creamy and lush eggnog next to more of that sticky toffee pudding with salted toffee drizzle bespeckled with orange zest that leads to cloves, floral black tea, and sticky pipe tobacco. That sticky tobacco binds to the blackberry jam on the finish with a pure silk mouthfeel.
The moment I nosed this dram and looked at the other nine, I realized that I’m f*cked. It’s going to take forever to rank these.
Taste 2
Tasting Notes:
The nose draws you in with a mix of maple syrup over a pecan waffle with a salted butter next to spiced cherry tobacco packed into an old wooden pipe and just lit before nutmeg and dried roses waft in, leading to old library books, worn boot leather, and a hint of burnt toffee. The palate has a slight warming feeling around the mouth that isn’t hot at all but leads to mince meat pie tobacco with a rich and spicy cherry pie filling topped with eggnog ice cream and wrapped up in old leathery tobacco leaves and packed in an old cedar box. The end is luxuriously soft and lush with the spicy cherry melding with the sticky tobacco and Christmas cake vibe to create a silky end.
Yup, f*cked.
Taste 3
Tasting Notes:
Black Forest Cake with the dark and damn near creamy stewed cherry, moist chocolate sponge, rich vanilla-laced cream frosting, and flakes of dark and salted dark chocolate counters a layer of mulled wine spices and soft, almost green cedar. The palate amps up the dark and stewed cherry while adding in plenty of nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and ground ginger with a thin line of black licorice and maybe some bespoke root beer. That whole vibe combines into a fleeting note of Cherry Coke on the back end before the sweetness fades toward garden boxes made from old railroad ties and filled with dark potting soil, mint, and nasturtiums.
Me thinking about ranking these first three:
Taste 4
Tasting Notes:
This is much lighter on the nose with layers of old leather jackets next to dark red berries, orange oil, plenty of eggnog creaminess, a stack of sourdough doughnuts, and a hint of singed marshmallow. The palate has a deep maple syrup sweetness and woodiness that leads toward berry brambles full of tart and sweet berries, green leaves, sharp thorns, and plenty of rich black soil. The mid-palate has a nice balance of spiced maple syrup, vanilla tobacco leaves, and dark chocolate-covered espresso beans. The end has a sweet oak feel that leads to dry almond shells, dry braids of sweetgrass, and another dose of those dark berries.
Okay, I feel like I have my feet under me with this one. This is great but a slight (and I mean slight) step down from the first three.
Taste 5
Tasting Notes:
There’s creamy vanilla that’s part vanilla cream sauce, part eggnog, and part creme anglais with a hint of salted caramel that’s just “wow” on the nose. That continues toward this soft yet airy fried doughnut vibe with a hard sugar icing, kind of like a croquembouche with salted cream filling and a dusting of nutmeg. The palate leans into a lemon and vanilla-laced shortbread with roasted cinnamon sticks dipped in spicy cherry syrup, more of that svelte vanilla creaminess, and a hint of smoked apricot and plum with a leathery edge. The finale is sweet, savory, bitter, and a little smoky with a matrix of marzipan covered in salted dark chocolate next to choco-cherry sticky pipe tobacco layered into an old cedar humidor and the wrapped in old yet supple suede with a fleeting hint of dried mint on the very end.
Johnny just swept the leg and I fell flat on my face. Now, little birds are singing and flying in a circle over my head. I thought I was getting a handle on this but this was a knockout. It’s just brilliant.
Taste 6
Tasting Notes:
This is completely different with a nose full of ripe peaches, Hostess Apple Pies, vanilla icing, cherry Necco Wafers, sweet black licorice, and old cedar all mingling. The palate is super fruity and has an ultra-plush Cherry-Vanilla-Cream Coke vibe that leads to cherry multivitamins with a hint of old boot leather, a hint of dry reeds, and some soft winter spices. The finish is, again, ultra-plush with marzipan end layered with hints of orange oils and dark chocolate tobacco laced with dark cherry syrup and a hint of apple core and stems leading to a final beat of soft vanilla oils.
Well, this is clearly something from Tennessee (that Necco Wafer and multivitamin note is a dead giveaway). That said, this was pure silk, and all the fruitiness made sense. Not sure where this will go… It doesn’t feel top five right now but there’s a ways to go.
Taste 7
Tasting Notes:
Red fruit leather and old cellar beams mingle with vanilla wafers with a nougat, buttery toffee, and a good dose of orchard fruit and wood. The palate has a sharp and warm cinnamon tobacco vibe that leads to more of that dark fruit leather with hints of old leather, mulled wine spices, and old cedar bark countered by a sweet mid-palate full of cotton candy and doughnut balls. The end is all about those dark and leathery berries with a slight blackberry pie vibe that attaches to the spicy tobacco on the very end.
Okay, I’m getting a better handle on these. This is delicious, but a pretty big step down (just in form and depth) from the first five sips.
Taste 8
Tasting Notes:
This opens with honey and butter melting over a hot sourdough biscuit with tart berry compote on the side next to a dry humidor and a touch of dry mint. The palate is all about a dark plum jam layered with allspice, cloves, and nutmeg countered by orange oils and dark chocolate flaked with salt. The end arrives quickly and layers cinnamon and ginger to the spice mix before veering into an orange-choco tobacco chewiness with a mild layer of mint-chocolate ice cream on the back end.
Hum. This was really good but a little thinner than expected. There wasn’t that “wow” factor.
Taste 9
Tasting Notes:
Dark cherry and candied ginger lead the way toward fruity multivitamins (hello, Tennessee) on the nose with nice doses of sourdough crusts, pine tar, and Key lime pie with a buttery Graham Cracker crust. The palate counters the creamy lime with dark cherry tobacco and bruised peaches swimming in black tea, dried hibiscus, black licorice, and cherry root beer. The mid-palate has a waxy and sour cacao nib vibe that’s accented by orange blossoms and cherry-choco tobacco leaves stacked in an old leather pouch with a hint of cedar lurking in the background.
This is the good stuff but not the “wow” stuff. Feels very mid-range amongst these pours.
Taste 10
Tasting Notes:
Boom! The nose is full of Red Hots, sharp ginger, cloves, anise, sassafras, and nutmeg countered by rich vanilla, apple blossoms, and a hint of old cellar beams. The palate then blows out with a lot of ABVs and numbs the spices toward a hint of cotton candy and smoked apricot before the vanilla arrives and smooths things out. The finish is creamy and sharp with those ABVs and spice sneaking back in with a note of dark chocolate-covered espresso beans and old cedar next to a hint of spicy cherry tobacco.
Damn, that was an ABV bomb.
Part 2: The Ranking
10. E.H. Taylor Bottled-in-Bond Single Barrel — Taste 7
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $225
The Whiskey:
The whiskey in this case is a 12-year-old barrel of E.H. Taylor. After the right barrels are found, they’re then cut down very slightly to bottled-in-bond proof, or 100 proof, with that famously soft Kentucky limestone water.
Bottom Line:
This was the most “one-note” whiskey on the list, which is kind of a crazy thing to say because this is unequivocally a great pour. That said, when stacked up against this murderer’s row of whiskeys in this tasting, this was the least engaging overall.
9. Four Roses 2021 Limited Edition Small Batch — Taste 8
ABV: 57.2%
Average Price: $770
The Whiskey:
2021’s LE Small Batch is a blend of four bourbons. Four Roses is renowned for its ten distinct recipes with two mash bills and five yeast strains. This whiskey marries four of those recipes with two from Mash B (very high rye) and two from Mash Bill E (high rye). The yeasts at play are “delicate fruit,” “spice essence,” and “floral essence.” The barrels ranged from 12 to 16 years old, making this a fairly old bourbon, all things considered.
Bottom Line:
Again, great whiskey but just didn’t hit the heights it needed against this lineup. Overall, this is a tasty sipper that felt a little thin compared to the others today.
8. George T. Stagg BTAC 2020 — Taste 10
ABV: 65.2%
Average Price: $1,532
The Whiskey:
We started off with the biggest whiskey of the line-up. This juice is distilled from Kentucky corn, Minnesota rye, and a touch of malted barley from North Dakota. The whiskey then spends 15 years and four months in oak in three different warehouses on three different floors. Over that time 59 percent of the whiskey is lost to the angels, leaving a high-proof bourbon.
Bottom Line:
This had so much potential but those ABVs just blew everything out on the palate. That’s a shame. One single rock would have catapulted this whiskey higher on this list.
7. Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select — Taste 6
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $200 (1-liter bottle)
The Whiskey:
Frank Sinatra was one of Jack’s biggest fans. So much so that the crooner was buried with a bottle. The actual juice in this expression is a throwback to how Jack was made in Sinatra’s day. They use special “Sinatra Barrels” that have concentric grooves carved into the newly charred oak, giving the whiskey more surface area to do its thing. Once that’s aged, it’s blended with traditional Old No. 7 and proofed at 45 percent, as it also would have been back in Sinatra’s heydays.
Bottom Line:
This was a massive fruit bomb but still made sense. It was bold and unique. It just tasted really f*cking good. But that wasn’t quite enough today.
6. Barrell Craft Spirits Gold Label Bourbon — Taste 9
ABV: 56.77%
Average Price: $606
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is a blend of Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky bourbons. Each barrel in that blend is a minimum of 16 years old. The barrels were specifically chosen for their cherry, nutty, high-proof, and chocolate profiles. Half of those barrels were then finished in new American oak for a final touch of maturation before vatting and bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
Interesting, I blindly ranked two whiskeys with Tennessee in the mix back to back. This was way more wild and crazy than Jack, which was very enticing. That said, it didn’t quite hit the “wow, this is what I do this job for”-levels of greatness today.
5. Michter’s Singel Barrel Bourbon 10-Year — Taste 4
ABV: 47.2%
Average Price: $552
The Whiskey:
Michter’s is currently distilling and aging their own whiskey, but this is still sourced. The actual barrels sourced for these single barrel expressions tend to be at least ten years old with some rumored to be closer to 15 years old (depending on the barrel’s quality, naturally). Either way, the juice goes through Michter’s bespoke filtration process before a touch of Kentucky’s iconic soft limestone water is added, bringing the bourbon down to a very crushable 94.4 proof.
Bottom Line:
This is where things get close to splitting hairs. This is just classic, refined, and delicious. Still, it didn’t blow my socks off like the next four.
4. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Spring 2022 Edition — Taste 1
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $1,275
The Whiskey:
This wheated bourbon whiskey — 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley — was distilled and laid down in barrels back in 2004. The barrels were vatted after 17 years and proofed down to the bottled-in-bond standard of 100 proof and then bottled in the iconic Old Fitz decanter for a Spring 2022 release.
Bottom Line:
Okay, this is the splitting hairs section. I legit wrote “perfect” in my notes while tasting this pour. I guess that means that the next three are not only perfect whiskeys but somehow added more perfection to the mix.
3. Eagle Rare 17 BTAC 2021 — Taste 3
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $3,205
The Whiskey:
This whiskey was produced in the spring of 2003. Since then, it lost 73 percent of its volume to the angels as it rested in warehouses C, K, M, and Q on various floors. The barrels were then vatted, barely proofed down, and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This might as well have been a tie with the next two. It’s so deep and interesting while delivering a serious classic vibe that’s pure bourbon to its core.
2. Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 1st Edition Aged 17 Years — Taste 2
ABV: 59.1%
Average Price: $3,200
The Whiskey:
The base of the spirit is Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon 78 percent corn mash bill. This particular whiskey is built from several barrels from four warehouse campuses in the Bardstown area. In this case, the whiskey is made from 28 percent 20-year-old barrels, 44 percent 19-year-old barrels, and 28 percent 17-year-old barrels. Once those barrels are vatted, the bourbon goes into the bottle as-is, without any cutting or fussing.
Bottom Line:
Again, this is a perfect whiskey. I don’t know what else to say. This could have been number one had the order of drams been different, more on that next.
1. William Larue Weller BTAC 2021 — Taste 5
ABV: 62.65%
Average Price: $3,200
The Whiskey:
Distilled back in the fall of 2009, this barrel-strength bourbon skips the Minnesota rye and instead uses North Dakota wheat with that NoDak barley and Kentucky corn. The juice spent 12-and-a-half years mellowing in warehouses C, D, K, L, and Q on floors one through three. While maturing, 64 percent of the whiskey was lost to the angels before it was small-batched and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This was the last amazing bourbon in the lineup. The pours directly after this ranked seventh, tenth, ninth, sixth, and eighth respectively. So, did this edge into the first place slot because of that placing?
Maybe….?
You know what, it doesn’t matter. This is still my all-time favorite bourbon. It’s so refined while offering true depth, surprises, comfort, and nostalgia in every sip, every time.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
It’s interesting how a top-five shook out almost immediately. Which is wild given that the “bottom” five on this list are all stellar pours of whiskey. But there’s always nuance to be found, even at the highest echelons.
In the end, great bourbon tends to be revered for a reason. It’s usually pretty f*cking great. So, good luck out there tracking any of these down!
