It’s a new day and there are new bourbons to try, rank, and argue over. With the holidays just around the corner, now’s the time to start thinking about which bottles you’ll be taking to that Friendsgiving party or gifting in some secret Santa at work (always give booze at those). To that end, I grabbed eight new bourbons (either brand-new expressions or this year’s batch release) and tasted them blind.
I kept this panel of bourbon away from the mainstream to help find you something a little more “crafty.” Quite often, very small bourbons like Square 6 (tasted below) come from behemoths Heaven Hill but that particular expression is made entirely in their tiny craft distillery in a visitor’s center as a “craft” product. Other bourbons on this list are made at MGP of Indiana but then sent to specific regions where those whiskeys become something else via tinkering by a craft bottler or blender. The throughline here is that these are small-time and unique brands instead of overtly mainstream ones. (This is also in contrast to “crafty” flavor notes in a whiskey that denote “wet graininess” or “porridge” aspects popular in craft whiskeys these days).
To rank these bourbons, I’m going by the taste alone. Price is neither here nor there this time of year. This is simply about finding good new bourbon to drink and enjoy with friends and family. The point is to find something a little different and unique to try.
Our lineup today is:
- Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Bottled-In-Bond Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch no. B2205
- Olde Raleigh Small Batch Honey Barrel Finished Bourbon
- Bespoken Spirits Straight Bourbon Whiskey
- Square 6 High-Rye Bourbon
- Dunce Whiskey
- Cathead Distillery Old Soul 7-Year-Old Bourbon TinType Series #1
- 291 Bad Guy Colorado Bourbon Whiskey
- Oak & Eden Wheat & Spire Fired French Oak
Okay, let’s dive in and find a great bourbon whiskey for you to drink right now.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
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- The Affordable Vs Expensive Blind Bourbon Bottle Battle
- We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
- The Best-Known Basic Bottles Of Bourbon, Blind Tasted And Ranked
- The Single Best Bottle Of Whiskey From Each Of The 50 States
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a dark cherry bomb next to spiced prune jam over cinnamon and pecan waffles with real maple syrup, dark chocolate powder, and a hint of vanilla cream. The palate leans into Cherry Coke spicy vibes with a hint more of that dark chocolate leading to freshly fried apple fritters, eggnog creaminess, and a mix of orchard woods. The end has a soft warmth thanks to the wintry spices that lean toward sour, sweet, and spicy mulled wine with a whisper of fresh pipe tobacco laced with dates, dark cacao, and cedar bark.
Well, this is brilliant. Can we call this ranking now? This is going to be hard to beat.
Taste 2
Tasting Notes:
There’s a tannic nature to the nose with dark and woody spices (cloves, allspice, anise) next to a mild sense of Honey Nut Cheerios. The palate has a honey candy feel next to Hot Tamale candies, singed toffee, and dark red berries with a dry edge. The end has a sense of honey vanilla wafers next to more of that bold cinnamon and woody allspice, a hint of cherry/vanilla, and a twinge of charred oak with honey tobacco backing.
This is pretty damn nice too. It’s subtle but has a bold woody/honey feel to it that’s very enticing.
Taste 3
Tasting Notes:
This has a very light nose with hints of winter spices, mocha lattes, and maybe some sourdough bread crusts with hints of orchard fruit and nuts. Those nuts lean toward peanut brittle on the palate with a whisper of gingerbread, Almond Joy, and maybe some more of that sourdough with a hint of salted butter. The end is ultimately pretty light but creamy, full of vanilla, and hints at apple tobacco.
This was fine. It feels like something you’d mix with more than a sipper though.
Taste 4
Tasting Notes:
This is a grain bomb on the nose with thick lines of wet oats, bran muffins, and cornbread batter mixed with pancake batter and maybe even some wet grass with hints of cherry soda and vanilla cookies lurking underneath with a dash of dark winter spice. The palate is largely the same with a massive dose of Cream O Wheat and buttery white grits next to molasses-laced bran muffins and vanilla white cake.
This is very much in the new wave of super grain/porridge forward craft bourbons. This one is especially pronounced in that way.
Taste 5
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sense of orchard fruits next to dried cranberry, a hint of pear candy, and cinnamon/vanilla cookies dipped in waxy milk chocolate. The palate leans into the pear with a drizzle of caramel, chocolate, and vanilla sauces all spiked with mild winter spice. The end has a soft sweetness with a hint of Hot Tamale candies, chocolate tobacco, and pear juice.
This was also just fine. It was well-balanced but a little “meh” overall.
Taste 6
Tasting Notes:
There’s a subtle boot leather on the nose with a hint of caraway on rye crust next to salted caramel sauce, and old oak staves with a hint of musty earthiness. The palate leans into the salted caramel with a buttery underbelly next to warm winter spices — cinnamon, cardamom, star anise — next to burnt orange and a whisper of marzipan. The end is fruity, vanilla-filled, and just kissed with woody tobacco spice.
This was a pretty nice pour overall. It felt like a solid sipper that’d also make a killer Manhattan thanks to that rye vibe.
Taste 7
Tasting Notes:
There’s a whole fruit basket of fruitiness with stone fruit really shining through — think apricots and peaches — next to old tart apples, cinnamon sticks, toffees dusted with crushed almonds, and a murmur of chamomile tea. The palate has a crafty graininess that’s akin to oatmeal cookie dough with a hint of nuttiness, brown sugar, cinnamon, and something slightly floral but woody. The end brings the apricot back as a spicy jam with a little vanilla creaminess and tannic florals.
This was pretty good. I’m not quite sold on the floral note but it’s still well-balanced overall.
Taste 8
Tasting Notes:
This opens pretty tannic and a little plasticky with a sense of cinnamon sticks, allspice berries, and licorice root next to cans of fruit salad, vanilla extract, and a hint of caramel. The palate leans into the caramel sweetness before hitting a pretty tannic bitterness tied to a woody spiced nature and some burnt orange. There’s a hint of banana bread and clove next to more tannic vibes.
I don’t know. This felt off. There’s an artificial vibe on the nose and the palate is so woody that it’s hard to get much else.
Part 2: The Ranking
8. Oak & Eden Wheat & Spire Fired French Oak — Taste 8
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $50
The Whiskey:
This Indiana whiskey is sent down to Texas where it’s batched and bottled. The juice in this blend has a mash of 51% corn, 45% wheat, and only 4% malted barley. The whiskey is finished “in the bottle” with a toasted French Oak spire.
Bottom Line:
This one is a pass for me. It’s too overly done with that spire in the bottle.
7. Square 6 High-Rye Bourbon — Taste 4
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $90
The Whiskey:
Square 6 is Heaven Hill’s bespoke craft whiskey that’s made at the Evan Williams Experience on Louisville’s Whiskey Row. The very small batch juice is made with a mash of 52% corn, 35% rye, and 13% malted barley. It’s pot-distilled on-site and aged right there on Main Street.
Bottom Line:
This is a grain bomb and very indicative of craft bourbon right now. So if you’re looking for something completely different, this is the play.
6. Dunce Whiskey — Taste 5
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $70
The Whiskey:
This whiskey from Tamworth Distilling technically isn’t a bourbon even though the mash is 70 percent corn with rye and malted barley as support. The whiskey (that they don’t call a bourbon for some reason) is batched by Tamworth and bottled with a pretty accessible 90 proof.
Bottom Line:
This was very much in the “fine” section of the tasting. It didn’t really capture my interest.
5. Bespoken Spirits Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 3
ABV: 47%
Average Price: $60
The Whiskey:
This Northern California distillery is all about making “craft spirits.” The juice in the bottle is a standard straight bourbon that’s distilled at MGP and aged for two years before being finished/blended in California.
Bottom Line:
Again, this was very much in the “fine” section. This was nice enough, and had classic bourbon vibes, but was ultimately a little light.
4. 291 Bad Guy Colorado Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 7
ABV: 57.8%
Average Price: $108
The Whiskey:
This Colorado whiskey is made from a mix of local corn, malted wheat, malted rye, and beech-smoked malted barley. As per 291’s classic aging methods, the whiskey is aged for about two years with aspen wood staves in the barrel to accelerate the aging process. Finally, this is batched and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This is where we get into the good stuff on this ranking. Overall, this was quality whiskey that had a nice depth to it. it was a little fruitier, which I think makes for a great mixing bourbon — especially with sours or flips.
3. Cathead Distillery Old Soul 7-Year-Old Bourbon TinType Series #1 — Taste 6
ABV: 59.6%
Average Price: $99
The Whiskey:
This whiskey was distilled in Indiana with a high-rye mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. Those barrels were then sent to Jackson, Mississippi, where they spent a few years aging. Finally, the team at Cathead batched the barrels and bottled them as-is.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid whiskey all around. There’s great depth and balance. It’s also nice to try an MGP that was aged in the deep south instead of the Ohio Valley. It’s unique and tasty. You can’t ask for more. Well, maybe it could be a bit cheaper.
2. Olde Raleigh Small Batch Honey Barrel Finished Bourbon — Taste 2
ABV: 50.09%
Average Price: $99
The Whiskey:
The juice in this bottle is a four-grain of corn, malted barley, rye, and wheat from barrels of whiskey sourced from Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Wyoming. Those barrels were five, nine, and 17 years old when they went into this blend and were finished in an old honey barrel.
Bottom Line:
This was very nice. It was super easy to drink with a clear honey vibe. Overall, I’d 100% use this for my next Gold Rush or whiskey sour.
1. Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Bottled-In-Bond Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch no. B2205 — Taste 1
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $60
The Whiskey:
This new release from Huber Farm’s Starlight Distillery (the distillery to know if you’re in the know) is made from their high-corn mash with a sweet mash method (each batch is fresh) in their old copper pot still. The whiskey is barreled in Canton barrels and left to age on the farm for four years before it’s batched (only 20 barrels) and proofed down to 100 proof for bottling.
Bottom Line:
This was the best bottle of whiskey today and it wasn’t even close. This was both classic and fresh with a deep bourbon feel. It was lush and silky and enticed you back for more. It also feels like it’d make an amazing cocktail while being an easy sipper.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Brass tacks, numbers four, three, and two are worth seeking out. Look back at those tasting notes and see what speaks to you. Five through eight are probably pretty skippable at the end of the day.
In the end, none of these came close to Starlight’s Bottled-in-Bond bourbon. It’s a damn near perfect whiskey in that category and really hits the flavor profile outta the park. Hurry though, it’ll sell out quickly on Seelbach’s.
