Finishing isn’t new in the world of whiskey, but if you look around your local liquor store in 2024, you may notice that there are more finished bourbons than ever before. People are buying finished bourbons like they’re going out of style despite the fact that they’re… clearly not.
Whether established heritage brands like Wild Turkey and Old Forester or nascent names like Bhakta and Bardstown Bourbon Company, most whiskey brands have thrown their hats in the ring to challenge for finished-bourbon supremacy. With that in mind, there’s no time like the present to consider which of these brands has the best new finished bourbon of the year. After all, we’ve just passed the halfway mark of 2024 and are about to enter the fall release schedule, which classic Straight Bourbon Whiskey dominates.
So, before we get into the thick of the traditional bourbon calendar, here are the ten best finished bourbons released in 2024 (so far!).
10. Ezra Brooks Port Cask Finish Bourbon
ABV: 49.5%
Average Price: $32
The Whiskey:
Ezra Brooks is one of the more established names in bourbon, with a history that traces back to its founding in 1957. In 2024, however, this port-finished bourbon represents the newest lineup extension for the respected brand.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Aroma notes of candy cane, rich cherries, warm vanilla, and wood chips greet the nose at first before accents of tobacco leaf and clove enter the fray.
Palate: The ripe cherry note rushes in at first with nectarines and bananas, chocolate chips, and vanilla, painting the palate with a lush layer of sweetness. This whiskey has a lot of grip on the palate, punching well above its weight proof-wise and delivering a sipping experience more in line with whiskey in the 110 range.
Finish: The finish is lingering, marked by vanilla, oak, and milk chocolate. At the very end, this whiskey reintroduces the cherry note found early in each sip. This is surprisingly tasty stuff.
Bottom Line:
Ezra Brooks’ entire brand portfolio is full of incredible value bourbons, capable of delivering outstanding quality for a wallet-friendly price. This brand-new expression is perhaps the brand’s prime example.
9. Blood Oath Pact No. 10
ABV: 49.3%
Average Price: $185
The Whiskey:
Blood Oath is the well-received brainchild of food scientist and Luxco Head Distiller John Rempe. For Pact 10, Rempe, now a decade deep with these releases, utilized a double cask finish with Cabernet Franc barrels and Merlot casks.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The entrancing aroma of black pepper, Brazil nuts, caramel, cumin, duck fat, and clove tumble out of the glass on the first pass — forcing you to sit up and pay attention to each unique layer. After spending some time with the glass before imbibing there’s also a lovely cherry cordial undertone that binds all of those disparate parts.
Palate: This whiskey enters the mouth with a chocolatey kick and an almost chalky texture. A fresh crack of black pepper sits atop the chocolate note to go with some bright apricots, piquant raspberries, and a touch of toffee.
Finish: The finish on this whiskey is surprisingly lengthy, even more so given its proof, as the flavors settle mostly at midpalate and toward the back of the jaw, which makes sitting with each sip all the more delightful.
Bottom Line:
The Blood Oath series has featured a wide array of cask finishing techniques, but the throughline has been a high degree of quality, and Pact 10 easily continues that trend. Fans of previous iterations will find this year’s variation to be more in line with a classic finished bourbon profile, and that’s perfectly fine. John Rempe proves here that he can play the hits as well as anyone.
8. Bhakta 2014 Armagnac Finish Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 52.7%
Average Price: $149
The Whiskey:
Bhakta’s 99% corn bourbon, aged for 9 years, underwent a 125-day cask-finishing process in the belly of French Oak barrels, which previously held Bhakta’s award-winning 1973 Armagnac vintage.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Brownies and watermelon…do my nostrils deceive me? A fresh inhalation introduces cinnamon and white pepper, while the intriguing watermelon note asserts itself more forcefully on the second pass, along with milk chocolate.
Palate: Chocolate-covered cantaloupe, black pepper, and dates splash over the tongue, seizing its edges as this viscous pour displays some sturdy staying power. There are waves of vanilla, maraschino cherry, and Vermont maple syrup waiting in the wings and undulating under the surface as well.
Finish: This whiskey packs a lengthy finish that gently ripples from the middle of the tongue out to the periphery like a rung bell. The aftershock of a flavor bomb detonated without a hitch.
Bottom Line:
This top ten list is full of incredible whiskey, and the fact that Bhakta 2014 Armangac Finish Bourbon landed at this spot indicates that. This delightfully complex whiskey seamlessly introduces intriguing layers of flavor and coats your tongue without ever becoming muddled or mystifying. A whiskey that dares to be different and yet is instantly recognizable as a liquid indulgence — it’s hard to ask for more than that.
7. Jos. A. Magnus Cigar Blend Batch 208
ABV: 57.76%
Average Price: $190
The Whiskey:
Jos. A Magnus Cigar Blend is the heralded premium expression under industry icon Nancy Fraley’s purview. Eschewing the trend of releasing premium bourbon annually, Cigar Blend is released sporadically in limited batches. Batch 208, nicknamed “Maduro,” was released as part of a series of batches 207-212 earlier this year, which featured a blend of 9-year-old MGP 36% and 21% rye-recipe bourbon, 16-year-old Barton rye-recipe bourbon, and 20-year-old MGP 36% rye bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The proof is evident on the nose with cherry cola, tobacco leaf, and rich oak tones bursting out of the glass. After a few waves, there are additional notes of organic honey and trail mix, with dried cranberries, mixed nuts, and dark chocolate chunks coming through.
Palate: Brown sugar greets the initial sip as slightly savory tones with nutmeg and barrel char, plus some mocha and dark chocolate. The whiskey has a well-rounded texture, but despite that, it’s worth noting that the proof is a tad distracting on the first pass. Subsequent sips see the alcohol burn dialed down, and once acclimated, those flavors really present themselves well on the palate.
Finish: The finish has a bright cherry, allspice, vanilla flavor that pairs well with a surprising pop of fernet. It lasts for a long time, and even though it’s a bit hot, it’s really quite a pleasant send-off.
Bottom Line:
Jos. A. Magnus Cigar Blend is one of the expressions that helped reinvigorate America’s interest in unique cask-finished whiskeys. It presents the alluring challenge of pairing this bourbon with a fine cigar like you would a well-aged brandy. For the aptly named Maduro batch, I’d highly advise you to accept the challenge.
6. Peerless Rum Barrel Finished Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 53.5%
Average Price: $149
The Whiskey:
This non-chill filtered, sweet mash barrel-proof bourbon pairs some of Peerless’ finest whiskey with a rum cask finish. With this second batch now under their belt, it looks like we can expect this expression to continue into the future.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The rum is evident in the best way possible, with bananas flambé and brown sugar resting on a bed of dense oak, cooked pear, and candied walnuts.
Palate: Carmelized bananas and custard hit the tongue with gusto on the first sip, along with the walnuts and brown sugar. The liquid has a heavy mouthfeel but couples that with a slick texture that explodes on the back palate, gently spreading up the roof of the mouth with grilled pineapple, joining more vanilla and oak.
Finish: The finish is medium-length, marked by more brown sugar and walnuts, with some black pepper, more muted banana peel, and cinnamon bark rounding things out.
Bottom Line:
Peerless presents: a rum lover’s bourbon. Whereas some brands go too far, allowing the finishing cask to do the heavy lifting while the base spirit is relegated to being background noise, this expression is truly a symphony that shines a light on both the bourbon and the rum. This is easy sipping; an island is not required.
5. Rabbit Hole Mizunara Founder’s Collection 15-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished In Japanese Oak
ABV: 57.1%
Average Price: $1,500
The Whiskey:
For this decadent exploration of terroir, Rabbit Hole founder Kaveh Zamanian took barrels of his brand’s premium 15-year-old bourbon and finished them for over 11 months in one of the most expensive finishing casks on the market: Japanese Mizunara oak. Due to the limited nature of both the bourbon and the finishing cask, less than 2,200 bottles of this expression were released.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Cedar, butterscotch, and orange blossom waft out of the glass to greet the nostrils when you first go in to nose this whiskey. There’s also a fair bit of leather and, intriguingly, squid ink hiding under those sweet, citrus-forward aromas. The nose is generally restrained in its sweetness, but there are layers to it, with notes of sugar cookies and honey joining allspice and clove.
Palate: The flavor of indulgently rich vanilla cream with orange zest opens the first sip, introducing the palate to an exceptionally slick mouthfeel. As this whiskey transitions toward the middle of the palate, one finds white chocolate, allspice, and apricot.
Finish: Each sip closes with a slightly floral flush, which soon gives way to earthy oak tones, a touch of mint, barrel char, and honey. It pulsates down your chest with a mellow, medium-length finish.
Bottom Line:
Mizunara is prized for its unique flavor profile, and it’s an expensive oak to procure because the trees each barrel is made from must be aged between 200-500 years before being felled. In that sense, while the bourbon in this release is hyper-aged at 15 years old, this is truly a whiskey over 200 years in the making. Give that fact due consideration as you savor every drop of this magnificent release — it’ll be a struggle not to empty the bottle in a far quicker fashion.
4. Seelbach’s Private Reserve Amburana Finished Bourbon Batch 003
ABV: 57.65%
Average Price: $90
The Whiskey:
Seelbach’s Private Reserve springs from the mind of Blake Riber, founder of Seelbach’s, one of the nation’s leading digital distributors of craft spirits. For the third batch of Seelbach’s Private Reserve, the brand has taken a nearly 7-year-old bourbon with 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley and finished it in first-use toasted Amburana barrels for a mere eight days.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Cinnamon rolls with vanilla frosting rumble out of the glass, along with the aroma of Brazil nuts, coffee cake, and caramel. Accenting notes of nutmeg, clove, and tobacco leaf also fill the air.
Palate: The flavors on the palate are more delicate and exhibit a finesse that you wouldn’t initially assume from such a forceful nose. The vanilla cream and cinnamon are soft on the palate, and the flavor of almond meat helps to curb the sweetness, which is evident but well executed. There’s a little milk chocolate and apricot on the second pass, which adds depth, as does a fresh sprinkle of clove and cayenne pepper.
Finish: The finish has trace elements of vanilla cream, cinnamon, apricot, and almond, which are evident throughout each sip. Intriguingly, the finish also introduces the flavor of stout beer. It’s medium to long with almost no alcohol punch, which allows you to mine all of the flavors it brings to the table.
Bottom Line:
Bourbon fans have become well-acclimated to Amburana finishes over the past few years. Despite the powerful impact the Brazilian casks can wield on a spirit, some increasingly restrained and nuanced experiments have been hitting the market. Seelbach’s Private Reserve’s third batch is one such example, utilizing the exotic wood sparingly to spectacular results.
3. Old Forester 117 Series: Rum Finish Bourbon
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $250
The Whiskey:
Old Forester’s 117 Series first debuted in the spring of 2021 to spotlight some of the distillery’s most exclusive experimental whiskey. For this 2024 iteration, they’ve taken barrels that held rum for at least four years and used them to finish their classic base bourbon for approximately six months. Of note, each bottle in the 117 Series comes in the smaller-than-standard 375ml format.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The aroma of caramelized bananas, chocolate-covered mocha beans, apricots, and citrus tones strut their stuff early on as you nose this whiskey. Additionally, there’s a bright cherry undertone and some palo santo lurking underneath.
Palate: A slick mouthfeel coats your palate almost immediately when you sip this whiskey and introduces milk chocolate and bright cocktail cherry sweetness to go along with flavors like bruised peaches, overripe bananas, and white pepper. The tip of the tongue has a bit of creme brulee sweetness and dark chocolate, and that palo santo aroma from the nose hits the tongue at midpalate, providing momentum from the tip of the tongue to the back of the throat.
Finish: The 117 Series’ Rum Finished Bourbon has a lengthy finish aided by its mouth-coating viscousness. The length of the finish is welcome, and the flavors are all tasty, but the absence of spice is a noticeable, albeit small, knock against it.
Bottom Line:
Tasted in this lineup, Old Forester’s Rum Finished Bourbon proves that it’s just as impressive in an open field as it is against its own. This whiskey ranked high among the best in Old Forester’s brand lineup, and its placement near the top of this list should only serve to solidify it as one of the better bourbon releases of the year.
2. Angel’s Envy Cask Strength Port Finished Bourbon
ABV: 59.9%
Average Price: $310
The Whiskey:
Angel’s Envy Cask Strenght Bourbon, now in its 11th iteration, takes some of the most distinctive barrels in the brand’s portfolio and sees them finished in barrels that previously held port wine for up to 14 months. At full cask-strength, this release and the brand’s cask-strength rye are typically the highest-proofed expressions you can expect from Angel’s Envy each year.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Nutty port tones create the aroma of umami, chilled black cherries, and freshly polished leather on the nose. It immediately comes across as rich and displays a depth of flavor that draws you into the glass, beckoning an initial sip.
Palate: The whiskey is at first demure, and it lures you into exploring further until it bursts unexpectedly at midpalate with rich cherry notes, leather, peanut shell, and chewy ginger cookies. The mouthfeel is dense, allowing all of that flavor to fully blossom on a bed of mature oak, cooked apples, vanilla, and black pepper spice.
Finish: The finish is impressively lengthy, showcasing more of a cherry undertone with dense oak, milk chocolate chips, and clove rising in prominence until it’s all gone.
Bottom Line:
Angel’s Envy Cask Strength is a pricy expression that proves its mettle by plumbing a depth of flavor far beyond the reach of most other bourbons on the market today. By serenading you with a muted siren’s song up front, this whiskey crashes against your palate with syrupy red berries and all of the hallmarks of mature oak, which will leave you floating on waves of lip-smacking flavor.
1. 15 Stars Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished In Sherry Casks
ABV: 57.5%
Average Price: $180
The Whiskey:
For this award-winning expression, 15 Stars showcases a blend of 18, 13, and 10-year-old straight bourbon whiskeys from Kentucky and Indiana. That bourbon is then finished in sherry casks for an undisclosed period of time.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Rich black cherry tones fuse with figs and brown sugar to create a rich layer of aromas that sit over some slight smokiness and an interesting note of brioche bun. The aroma notes come across as truly decadent, with an alluring depth of flavor that also contains some oily nuttiness and a savoriness along the lines of duck fat.
Palate: In the mouth, the flavor of gooey waves of caramel sauce over vanilla ice cream with Luxardo cherries and a slight bit of peanut brittle will light up your eyes and lead to you eagerly welcoming a second sip. Each layer is dense and well-developed, and once you’ve got that second sip on your palate, the umami, and nutty tones accent the red-berry sweetness and push all of the top notes deeper into your taste buds.
Finish: The finish is only medium-length, and the proof is nearly absent throughout, but the mouthfeel is oily, and the persistent flavor of cherries, caramel, and vanilla hangs on through the end of each sip with salted almonds and nutmeg keeping the balance.
Bottom Line:
15 Stars isn’t really a well-established brand, but for those in the know, this is the expression that put them on the map. If you weren’t previously familiar with this brand, be advised that they have some rock-solid whiskeys all along their core lineup. However, this Sherry Cask Finished Bourbon is far and away the star of the show, and its place on this list is all the proof you need.
