No one will blame you for doing a spit-take when you see a bottle of bourbon costs $200. It’s a lot. That said, it’s also… not that crazy. Bourbon is a commodity that gets rarer with age — and rarity drives prices up. Still… asking someone to pay two bills for a single bottle of bourbon feels like a thing — which means that the bourbon in that bottle had better be f*cking amazing.
You’re in luck. There are a lot of great bourbons out there that costs between $150 and $200 that are freaking great, live up to the price, and even deserve the hype. Below, we’ll be listing 12 of them.
The thing about bourbon at this price point is that there’s a lot of variation. We’re talking about bourbons with very unique oak finishes, special single barrels, high-age statements, special batches, and one-offs. The flavor profiles can be polar opposites on some of these, so I did rank them. While all of these bourbons slap, some are transcendent.
Let’s dive in!
12. Old Man Winter Bourbon From The Black Hills
ABV: 54.9%
Average Price: $154
The Whiskey:
This new release is a masterful blend of whiskeys from the core of America’s distillery region. The blend in the bottle is a batch of Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee whiskeys that are balanced to highlight classic bourbon notes at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Peach cobbler with a big scoop of malted vanilla ice cream pops on the nose with a light sense of rye bread crusts, caramel pie, and mild orange zest cut with oaky tobacco.
Palate: Apricot jam over buttermilk biscuits leads the taste toward white pepper spiciness, winter spice barks, and a bright burst of grapefruit pith before this mild sense of white grape juice and almost savory melon arrives.
Finish: That melon goes full honeydew on the finish with a bit more of that orange before black peppercorns and smoldering smudging sage drive the end toward woody tobacco boxes wrapped in old leather.
Bottom Line:
This is a very fruit-forward bourbon blend. That fruit manifests more as stewed summer fruits in a nostalgic way — think one of your grandparent’s peach cobblers with a big ol’ scoop of vanilla ice cream. Classic woody spice notes, tobacco, and light citrus bitterness nicely balance that fruit. It’s a complex whiskey that’s amazingly approachable, and delicious in a whiskey cobbler cocktail.
11. Old Carter Straight Bourbon Whiskey Very Small Batch 3-KY
ABV: 58%
Average Price: $180
The Whiskey:
Old Carter is a hidden-away bottler right off Whiskey Row in Louisville. It’s still very insider. Their process is all about finding great barrels of whiskey, blending them, and bottling them for whiskey lovers in the know. In this case, that was a very small batch blend that yielded only 1,116 bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A thickness comes through on the nose with a creamy vanilla and maple syrup vibe with a buttery underbelly accented by old corn husks, woody cinnamon, allspice, and lush nutmeg with a hint of hazelnut.
Palate: Thick salted caramel sauce vibes with a black-tea-soaked date feel as cinnamon syrup and smoldering orchard wood leads to a big mid-palate Kentucky hug.
Finish: That warmth fades quickly as hints of dried cranberry tobacco and cedar braids filled with wicker and sweetgrass end the sip on a dry note with a touch of floral honey lurking underneath it all.
Bottom Line:
Old Carter has been sourcing and bottling stellar whiskey over the years. While you might not be able to find this exact bottle (very little makes it out of Kentucky), try any bourbon from them. You should be able to find these at really good whiskey bars. Buy a pour and take it slow, this is great slow-sipping whiskey.
10. Chicken Cock Red Stave Petite Sirah Barrel Finish Kentucky Straight Bourbon
ABV: 51.2%
Average Price: $199
The Whiskey:
Chicken Cock is great at dropping big limited releases every year. 2023’s big bourbon was a “Red Stave” Kentucky straight bourbon made from a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley. That whiskey is left to age for an undisclosed amount of time before being re-barrelled into select J. Wilkes Petite Sirah barrels for a final mellowing run.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a sweet mulled wine cut with piney honey, plenty of spice barks, and hints of dried red berries before veering toward creamy toffee and vanilla beans.
Palate: Wild berry jam and bold winter spices mingle with rich dark chocolate, creamed honey, and vanilla lattes on the palate before the mulled wine spices start sneaking in and building.
Finish: The mulled wine-soaked red berries and raisins drive the finish toward a lush toffee and vanilla cream with a bold warming winter spice layered into a rich pipe tobacco.
Bottom Line:
Bourbon and red wine-soaked oak just works (for this whiskey critic anyway). There’s a nice sense of dark and dank red fruit that accents the warming spiced bourbon wonderfully. There’s also a nice whisper of pine dank in there that takes this one to a new level. I’d recommend pairing this as a neat pour with a dessert course or putting it into a funky Manhattan with some dark red fruit vibes.
9. Blackened x Rabbit Hole A Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskeys Distilled in Tennessee & Kentucky Finished in Calvados Casks Cask Strength
ABV: 53.3%
Average Price: $160
The Whiskey:
This collaboration between Metallica’s Blackened and Rabbit Hole is masterful whiskey. The blend is a 13-year-old Tennessee high-rye bourbon batched with Rabbit Hole Heigold High-Rye Double Malt Bourbon (with malted rye and malted barley). Once batched, the whiskey was re-barreled into Calvados casks (an apple brandy) for a final rest before 100% as-is bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice sense of chili pepper warmth on the nose with a hint of macadamia cookie nuttiness, honey Graham Crackers, light summer florals, and a whisper of darkly stewed apple.
Palate: Cinnamon-infused pear brandy sparks on the palate with a sense of clover honey, walnut loaf, and this thin line of smoked applewood with a good sense of barrel warmth.
Finish: The honey and walnut drive the finish toward a soft warmth that leaves the gentlest numbness on the senses.
Bottom Line:
This is just a really nice sipper, folks. It’s deep and balanced with a classic sense of bourbon that then goes beyond the ordinary with a nice nuttiness, honeyed sweetness, and subtle warmth. Sip it over a big rock while you listen to your favorite Metallica album. You can’t go wrong.
8. Hardin’s Creek ‘Frankfort’ Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 55%
Average Price: $199
The Whiskey:
This is the same 17-year-old Beam bourbon aged at the Frankfort, Kentucky campus. This set of warehouses is more easterly in the state where the humidity gets bold in the summer and the foothills of Appalachia start to roll in. The actual buildings are also tighter with less ventilation, creating a more enclosed hot box vibe for the ricks.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Soft woody notes pop on the nose with a sense of old tobacco in a cedar humidor next to toasted marshmallows over a smoldering campfire with rum raisin, bespoke cherry soda pop, and salted caramel that’s cut with molasses leads to a medley of sugar cookies cut with almond and lemon oils next to spiced nut cakes.
Palate: The caramel gets dark and salted on the tip of the tongue as the palate leans into mincemeat pies and dark mulled wine with a sense of brandy-soaked fruit cake, rich marzipan, and soft pipe tobacco with a sense of floral honey backing everything up.
Finish: The end takes on a woody vanilla pod vibe over soft notes of winter spice barks, soft cedar, and old saddle leather shined with cherry wax and honeycomb before a malty chocolate shake arrives with a lush and silky finish full of holiday spices and dry smudging sage piled up in an old rickhouse on a warm but musty day.
Bottom Line:
First, 17-year-old Beam whiskey is pretty freaking amazing. Add in a delicately balanced batch from a specific location and you have a great bourbon. This one rewards you for taking your time, nosing, adding water, going back and forth, and really digging in. There’s so much going on and it’s all good.
7. Frank August Case Study 2: XO PX Brandy Cask Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $199
The Whiskey:
This Kentucky bourbon is all about time … and old-world oak. The whiskey was batched and then re-barreled into a 1992 cask that held PX brandy for 17 years. Another portion of the whiskey went into an XO PX brandy cask from 1948. The barrels were still wet when they arrived in Kentucky and re-filled with this bourbon, adding to the depth of that final aging of the final batch.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This starts with a deep sense of old-world oak before diving into dark prunes and dates with stewed apricots, soft dark chocolate, spicy mulled wine, and brandy-soaked pears rolled with rose-water-soaked marzipan with a hint of soft buttery toffee underneath it all.
Palate: Those dark fruits and murky spices drive the palate toward brown sugar, rum raisin, more of that brandied pear, old oak staves from an older cellar, soft reminiscent notes of cognac and Norman cider, and this fleeting sense of stewed prunes with a whisper of birch smoke.
Finish: The end goes full cognac with bright orchard fruits and berries with a hint of floral honey, soft vanilla oils, and sharp marmalade next to soft scones bespeckled with rum raisin and smeared with softly whipped salted butter over a plate made from dessert-wine-soaked oak staves.
Bottom Line:
This is a fantastic sipper. I’d highly recommend pairing this with a big East and/or Southeast Asian meal. There’s something about the honey, orange, plums, and pears that speaks to those flavor profiles.
6. Knob Creek Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 18 Years
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $196
The Whiskey:
This is a super rare limited release for fall 2023. The whiskey in the bottle is Beam’s standard mash bill that’s distilled at a slightly different temperature and treated with a little more care during aging by placing barrels in very specific locations throughout their vast warehouses. After 18 long years, the best of the best barrels are small batched, and just proofed before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Dark molasses and pecan clusters with salted dark chocolate lead to brown butter, old figs, and salted caramel with a woody sense of cherry and apple bark next to cinnamon-laced cedar sticks with burnt orange.
Palate: The palate is full of lush vanilla notes next to singed cherry bark and apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks, star anise, salted black licorice, and dark chocolate-covered espresso beans with a hint of dried red chili spice turning up the heat on the mid-palate.
Finish: The end has a floral honey sweetness that balances everything toward orange blossoms and bruised peaches, cherry tobacco, and clove tobacco.
Bottom Line:
Speaking of old Beam whiskey, this is another masterpiece. The beauty of this one is that it never feels “over-oaked” — or too woody. It’s soft and delicate with a luxurious mouthfeel that highlights soft sweetness, dark fruit, and warming spice. Pour it neat and enjoy the ride.
5. Rabbit Hole Heigold Singel Barrel Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 52.8%
Average Price: $173
The Whiskey:
This is a four-year-old single-barrel version of Rabbit Hole’s beloved Heigold expression. That’s the brand’s double malt (malted rye and malted barley) that has a high-rye bourbon mash bill (70/25/5 corn/malted rye/malted barley). Prime barrels are bottled as-is at cask strength to highlight the beauty of Rabbit Hole’s spirit.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is lush with deep layers of maple syrup over pecan waffles with a good hit of salted butter (really good butter) next to dark chocolate chips, old boot leather, smudging sage that’s just smoldering, and a fleeting sense of old rickhouses on a crisp fall day.
Palate: The palate follows the nose’s path with caramelized pecans finished with floral honey and dusted with candied orange peels, ground pear chips, and very dark chocolate with a pinch of salt and apple blossom before the sharp and woody winter spice kicks in.
Finish: The end leans into the dryness of the winter spice mix before silky marzipan and maple syrup creamed with butter creates a luscious finish that slowly fades from warm to comforting.
Bottom Line:
This is a lush sipper. It’s so deep and fun with a sense of quintessential Kentucky bourbon vibes. While the price makes this feel like a celebratory sipper, this is the sort of bourbon that you’ll want to enjoy every day.
4. Augusta Distillery Buckner’s Aged 13 Years Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 60% (varies)
Average Price: $199
The Whiskey:
This is a very niche brand out in rural Kentucky that’s sourcing old barrels. The whiskey in the bottle is a Kentucky straight bourbon that rested for 13 years before it was bottled completely as-is both unfiltered and at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a sense of old barrel houses full of sweet and spice bourbon next to a gentle moment of creamy vanilla honey with old corn husks stuffed in the honey which is poured over spiced winter nut breads with a hint of butteriness and earthy nutshells.
Palate: The clove, allspice, and anise of the nut bread amp up the buttery palate with a sense of Earl Grey tea leaves, salted caramel, and mocha-heavy espresso beans next to a light marzipan moistness and hints of burnt orange next to old dry black cherry bark.
Finish: The end lingers for a while as the marzipan and orchard barks fade toward sharp eggnog spices and soft creaminess before the vanilla creamed honey slathers old oak staves with a good dose of earthy fall vibes kind of like a forest floor on a frosty day.
Bottom Line:
This is bold bourbon that’s balanced and subtle. It’s soft in all the right places and engagingly brash as a counterbalance. This will widen your eyes and then comfort you with that iconic Kentucky hug by the end.
3. Hardin’s Creek ‘Boston’ Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 55%
Average Price: $169
The Whiskey:
This is part three of the Hardin’s Creek 2023 releases. This whiskey is a 17-year-old bourbon made with Beam’s classic mash bill. The whiskey spent all 17 of those years in rickhouses on the Boston, Kentucky campus (a little further south of the Bardstown area). Those warehouses are in a flatter area (instead of tucked away in hollers or perched atop hills). So the actual buildings had more access to bathing warm sunlight, wind, and rain — all of which slightly shifted the aging process of the barrels in those warehouses.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a classic medley of wet brown sugar cut with rich vanilla buttercream, cinnamon bark, and dark cherry cola just kissed with dark chocolate and salt.
Palate: The taste leans nutty (more almond shell than marzipan) with a deep sense of salted dark chocolate-covered espresso beans next to sticky toffee pudding, salted caramel sauce cut with orange zest, and a hint of coffee cake dipped in black tea with a fleeting sense of old rickhouses floors and dry tobacco.
Finish: That dry tobacco and earthiness amp up the finish as the spice barks sharpen toward a warming finish full of Kentucky hugs, vanilla beans, and soft spiced brandied cherries dipped in dark chocolate.
Bottom Line:
This is a great example of how much the place a whiskey is aged can affect the final product. This has a depth that’s dark and almost murky with heavy chocolate and coffee oils that feel real with a sense of essential Beam flavor notes subtly layered in. It’s a dream to sip.
2. 15 STARS Fine Aged Spirits Sherry Cask Finish A Select Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskeys Finished in Sherry Casks
ABV: 57.5%
Average Price: $179
The Whiskey:
This 2023 release from 15 STARS was made from a blend of 10 and 13-year-old Kentucky and Indiana bourbons. Those barrels were batched by the 15 STARS crew and then the whiskey was re-barreled in sherry casks for a final touch of maturation. That whiskey was then bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Plums, dates, and figs come through on the nose with deep marzipan cut with pear brandy and dipped in salted dark chocolate next to eggnog spices and creaminess with a good dose of Christmas nut cakes.
Palate: The eggnog lusciousness leads the palate toward soft vanilla cookies, salted caramel chews, and a hint of spiced plum jam next to buttermilk waffles studded with pecans before old cellar oak adds an earthen layer.
Finish: The sweetness of the leathery dried fruits drives the finish toward winter spice barks and berries with a sense of old pipe tobacco braided with smudging sage and a whisper of dried mint next to cedar and fall leaves.
Bottom Line:
This is an award-winning bourbon that lives up to the hype. It’s one of those bourbons that as soon as you sip, you’ll know why it’s so special. It’s straight-up delicious.
1. Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished In Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout Barrels
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $159
The Whiskey:
This new release from Bardstown Bourbon Company is a collaboration with Chicago’s Goose Island’s iconic Bourbon County Stout. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of six- and seven-year-old Kentucky bourbons that are batched and then re-barreled into Bourbon County stout barrels. 12 months later, the whiskey is blended with another 9-year-old Kentucky bourbon, barely proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A moment of honey draws you in on the nose before veering toward rich and very dark chocolate with a deeply stewed cherry cut with oily vanilla, mulled wine spices, and pear brandy-soaked marzipan with a hint of candied orange zest, dry espresso beans, and moist tobacco leaves.
Palate: There’s a moment of malted chocolate shakes on the taste that leads to a rich spiced Christmas cake brimming with walnuts, sultanas, candied cherry, candied lemon rinds, and leathery dates that lead to moments of creamy and very boozy eggnog poured over a Black Forest Cake.
Finish: The Christmas spices, fruit cake, dried fruit, and eggnog all combine on the finish to create a rich and sumptuous finish full of luscious textures and just the right amount of spiced whiskey warmth.
Bottom Line:
This was one of my favorite pours of 2023. It’s rich, lush, and brings all the right depth while holding onto a silky texture. This is also a great pairing whiskey for big meals with big flavors — it can stand up and will accentuate anything (try it with wild game, trust us).
