We’ve spent a lot of time calling out very expensive bourbons over the last months. The end of a year has that effect with special releases, once-in-a-lifetime gifting opportunities, and year-end lists. Let’s get back to basics and name some amazingly tasty bourbons that all cost less than $20 per bottle.
Below, we’re calling out 10 bottles of bourbon that both taste great and cost less than a 20-spot. And let’s get this out of the way. Yes, there are very good bourbons that still cost less than $20. But those bourbons aren’t going to be mind-blowing or life-changing. They’re just going to be really good and get the job done without being offensive. What more can you ask for? It should also come as no surprise that it’s the big Kentucky industrial distilleries that can afford to produce good-quality bourbon at this price point.
Lastly, there’s price. All of these prices are based on Total Wine in Louisville, Kentucky. Prices have gone up since last year at this tier. Most of these bottles are anywhere from $1 to $4 pricier than the same time last year. That means that these bottles may sneak above $20 in your region (depending on availability and local taxes). Thems the breaks, folks. Let’s dive in!
10. Old Forester 86 Proof Bourbon Whisky
ABV: 43%
Average Price: $18
The Whisky:
Old Forester’s 86 Proof is a very straightforward whisky. The mash bill is mid-range rye with 18% next to 72% corn and a final 10% malted barley (the same bill for all their bourbon). The juice is aged in a fairly heavily charred oak barrel for an undisclosed amount of time (the youngest barrel is likely older than four years). The whisky is then blended and proofed down to a very manageable 86 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a big nose of vanilla-cherry tobacco with a hint of fresh mint lurking in the background next to a touch of floral honey.
Palate: The taste has a grilled corn-on-the-cob vibe with a hint of pepper and butter next to small doses of citrus and soft oak.
Finish: The end is surprisingly long and leaves you with a spicy warmth and a touch more of that sweet corn and butter.
Bottom Line:
This is a great place to start your love affair with Old Forester’s bourbons. They release some amazing limited editions throughout the year alongside a killer core line. This expression is specifically built as a mixer. You make highballs or simple dive bar cocktails with this one. It shines brightest in those applications. So break out the Coke and ginger ale and have some fun with this one!
9. Benchmark Bonded Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $18
The Whiskey:
This four-year-old bonded bourbon is the budget version of Buffalo Trace’s Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. line — it’s the same mash bill and all of those bourbons are bonded too. That also means that this bourbon is only proofed down to 100 proof, far above the Old No. 8 entry point for this brand’s cheapest bottle.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is surprisingly bright with a nose full of lemon-honey tart sweetness, a touch of vanilla extract, a hint of charred wood, and maybe a little wet leather.
Palate: The taste keeps it simple and really leans into the oak and vanilla while the honey sweetness mellows to a standard caramel with a hint of spicy tobacco.
Finish: The end is pretty short but leaves you with that vanilla, honey, and tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is the most drinkable and mixable Benchmark. The whiskey shines through in a whiskey and Coke. It also works really well as a beer and a shot of bourbon for your dive bar nights at home with your crew. You can make a cocktail with this, but there are better options further down this list for that.
8. J.W. Dant Bottled In Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $15
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is made with the iconic Heaven Hill bourbon mash bill — 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley. The nuance is that the barrels chosen for this brand follow a different flavor profile than the ones for the other iconic bourbons coming out of Heaven Hill these days. Think of this like a throwback bourbon to the 1950s that hasn’t changed all that much (besides the age of the barrels in the whiskey).
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this one is pure banana bread brimming with buttery cake, walnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg, and a touch of honey.
Palate: The palate leans into the wood with a No. 2 pencil vibe that leads towards dry vanilla husks and a touch of salted caramel-covered peanuts.
Finish: The back end of the sip stays sweet and nutty as wintry spices cut with orange oils drive a slowish finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a great standard mixing whiskey to have on your home bar. It’s great for a classic bourbon highball with good mineral water and a nice fruity garnish. It also works as a shooter thanks to that honeyed sweetness.
7. Four Roses Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $19
The Whiskey:
This introductory juice from Four Roses is a blend of all 10 of their mash bills. The barrels are a minimum of five years old when they’re plucked from the warehouses, blended, brought down to proof, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose also brings along dried flowers, plenty of honey, and orchard fruits, with a hint of dark spice.
Palate: The palate adds vanilla to the honey and apple foundations with a light sense of tinniness that feels kind of cheap.
Finish: The end is short but full of orchard fruit, caramel sweetness, dark spice, and green oak with a nice vanilla underbelly.
Bottom Line:
This is where we get into the cocktail base whiskeys. Yes, you can still use this for highballs (with soda pop or mineral water). But you can also make a good and very simple old fashioned with this one and it’ll be A-okay.
6. Jim Beam Double Oak Twice Barreled Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 43%
Average Price: $19
The Whiskey:
Originally only released on the international market, the expression became so popular that customer demand led to it hitting U.S. shelves a couple of years ago. This is standard Jim Beam that’s aged for around four years that’s then re-barreled into new oak barrels for another shorter rest. Finally, those barrels are batched and proofed for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a hint of dry firewood sitting in black soil on the nose that leads to more classic Beam notes of cherry vanilla cream soda, dry apple, buttery caramel sauce, and a hint of old oak staves.
Palate: There’s a sweet sense of creamed honey on cinnamon toast on the palate that leads to singed marshmallows and spiced-cherry tobacco leaves with a hint of cedar lurking behind it.
Finish: The end has a nice sense of woody vanilla pods and cherry bark next to dark chocolate laced with cinnamon and tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This isn’t a bad sipper over a lot of rocks. But you’ll want to focus on cocktails with this one too. We suggest using this for batched cocktails like an old fashioned or Manhattan.
5. Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $19
The Whiskey:
This is Evan William’s small-batch bourbon reissue. The expression is a marriage of 200 barrels of Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon (78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye). That whiskey is batched and then proofed down to 90 proof (instead of the old 86 proof) and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a very distinct nose that ventures from vanilla-soaked leather to a very clear sense of allspice berries and ground clove with a hint of cornbread batter and soft oak.
Palate: There’s a light sense of caramel apples on the palate leading toward Johnnycakes covered in butter and honey with a light nutmeg lurking in the background.
Finish: The finish arrives with a hint of dry reeds that end up on a vanilla cream with brown spices.
Bottom Line:
This is another one that you can get away with sipping over some rocks in a pinch. Think of it like a good table whiskey. This really shines in cocktails though. We suggest leaning toward citrus-forward smashes and sours with this one.
4. Jim Beam Black Extra-Aged Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 43%
Average Price: $18
The Whiskey:
This expression replaced the old Jim Beam Black Label 8 Year, which was a huge favorite amongst the old-school Beam heads. The whiskey in this bottle is aged longer than your average four-year-old Beam, but there is no age statement on exactly how long. I’ve heard things, but only rumors. The best way to think of it is that it’s aged for as long as it needs to be before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A clear sense of expensive vanilla beans next to apple cotton candy, honey-buttered cornbread, soft oak staves, and Dr. Brown’s Cherry work through the nose.
Palate: The taste has a hint of sourdough apple-cinnamon old-fashioned doughnuts next to vanilla pound cake with a hint of poppy seed and orange zest, a whisper of clove and anise, and a smidge of pecan pie.
Finish: The end has a dried vanilla tobacco vibe by way of spiced apple cider and old cinnamon sticks next to a hint of raisins and bruised peach skins.
Bottom Line:
You can 100% sip this over some rocks and not be mad about it at all. Overall, this is a good utility bourbon to have on hand for everyday sipping, mixing, and cooking. Throw some of this in your next batch of pancakes or sugar cookies and you’ll be all set.
3. Wild Turkey 101 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50.5%
Average Price: $19
The Whiskey:
Wild Turkey 101 starts with Turkey’s classic 75/13/12 (corn/rye/barley) mash bill. The hot juice then spends at least six years in the cask before it’s batched and just kissed with Kentucky limestone water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a cherry bomb on the nose with deep notes of burnt orange, buttery toffee, old oak staves, and cumin-heavy taco seasoning with a hint of old leather gloves and clove buds.
Palate: The palate has a vanilla pudding cup vibe next to butterscotch candies, nougat, and a twinge of menthol tobacco next to clove-studded oranges on the mid-palate.
Finish: The end of this is a classic cascade of bourbon notes: caramel, vanilla, cherry, winter spices, and light woodiness.
Bottom Line:
This is the gold standard of utility bourbon. It’s deeply spiced with a sweet edge that works as a sipper over rocks or in your favorite whiskey-forward cocktails. You can make a bourbon sour with this that’ll slap. At the same time, mix up a spicy Manhattan that’ll equally slap. “Dealer’s choice” is what we’re getting at.
2. J.T.S. Brown Bottled In Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $16
The Whiskey:
This is a quality whiskey from Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash bill (78% corn, 12% malted barley, and 10% rye). That means this is the same base juice as Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, several Parker’s Heritages, and Henry McKenna. It’s a bottled-in-bond, meaning it’s from similar stocks to their iconic Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond and a few other whiskeys on this list.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Cream soda with a dash of cherry opens the nose next to dry leather patches, caramel sauce, and a light touch of floral honey.
Palate: The palate brings forward dry and woody spices with a hint of eggnog creaminess leading toward Graham Crackers and a sweet tobacco chew.
Finish: The end turns the woody spice into old oak with more vanilla, honey, and leather lingering the longest.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best bourbons at the best price on the shelf right now, full stop. It’s incredible how well this whiskey sips over some ice. You can also make a killer old fashioned with this stuff.
1. Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $18
The Whiskey:
Heaven Hill makes great whiskey, especially inexpensive bottled in bonds (as we’ve shown on this list). This “b-i-b” is tailored for the Evan Williams flavor profile. Still, this is Heaven Hill, so we’re talking about the same mash bill, same warehouses, and same blending team as beloved bourbons like Elijah Craig and all other Heaven Hill bourbon releases. This is simply built to match a higher-end Evan Williams vibe.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a lovely nose at play with soft taco mix spice next to creamy vanilla, caramel-dipped cherries, a hint of pear skins, and plenty of nutmeg.
Palate: The palate has a minor note of cornbread muffins next to cherry-vanilla tobacco with a dash of leather and toffee.
Finish: The end leans into some fresh gingerbread with a vanilla frosting next to hints of pear candy cut with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Bottom Line:
This is excellent bourbon at any price point, one of the best values in all of whiskey, and just great all around. Sip it, mix it, or shoot it — no matter what, you’ll be in for a classic bourbon treat.
