There are new bourbons hitting the shelves practically every day now. You may not have to keep up with it all, but I do (it’s a tough job, but someone has to…etc). While reviewing them all would be exhausting and generally probably self-defeating, in the interests of both my time and yours, today I’ll be diving into 20 new bourbons that are both under-the-radar and priced less than $100, but worth seeking out.
Admittedly, “under the radar” is pretty subjective. I don’t know what you know, but I do know that the bourbons below are pretty far from the mainstream. This isn’t a list for new Wild Turkey expressions or Buffalo Trace drops or Heaven Hill one-offs. This is for the smaller brands that don’t get the same level of exposure as these international icons.
The 20 bourbons below are all available now and very new (a few are last year’s expression drops). I’ve added my own tasting notes for each and then ranked them according to which ones I think are most exciting. Let’s dive in!
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
20. Castle & Key Small Batch Bourbon
ABV: 49%
Average Price: $50
The Whiskey:
Castle & Key Distillery is the renovated Old Taylor Distillery outside of Frankfort, Kentucky. This distillery has spent years contract distilling for other brands, until this year when they released their first batch of this expression in April. The juice is a mash of 73% white corn, 17% malted barley, and a scant 10% rye. After four years, 80 barrels are chosen for this small-batch expression and proofed down with local water.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a sense of unbaked sourdough cinnamon rolls next to Graham Crackers dipped in vanilla-creamed honey served with a warm can of peach soda. The palate leans into the fruitiness with a pink taffy vibe that’s countered by slight pepperiness, a touch of “woody,” and more of that creamy honey laced with vanilla. The fruity take on a savory essence — think cantaloupe — on the mid-palate before circling back to the pepperiness with a bit of woody spice on the short end.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those bottles that arrived with a lot of hype. And … it’s fine. This feels way more like a cocktail base than a sipping whiskey. I’m looking forward to seeing what Batch #2 brings later this month.
19. Black Button Distilling Four Grain Straight Bourbon
ABV: 42%
Average Price: $50
The Whiskey:
Rochester’s Black Button is putting out one of the more interesting four-grains at the moment. The mash is only 60% corn that’s supported by 20% wheat, 11% barley, and nine percent rye. The bottle doesn’t carry an age statement but it is “small-batch.”
Tasting Notes:
You’re drawn into this one with a rich and buttery toffee next to soft and sweet peach with a light touch of old leather and pine. The palate holds onto the sweetness while adding in a layer of vanilla ice cream cut with salted caramel stripes as a line of walnut oat cookies dries out the otherwise light sip. The fade is longish and brings about a mild rye peppery spice that lingers and overwhelms that sweetness finally.
Bottom Line:
This is another whiskey that leaves you with a “that’s nice” vibe. It’s really well made and hits a nice balance of fruity and classic. Still, there’s a lot on the shelf that’d easily challenge this bottle and win at $50.
18. Manifest Whiskey Project No. 4 Blend of Straight Whiskeys
ABV: 48.5%
Average Price: $40
The Whiskey:
This Florida distillery/blendery is doing some really interesting, bespoke shit right now. Their latest release is a blend of straight bourbons and straight ryes (making this technically an American blended straight whiskey). The juice is part 75% corn, 21% rye, and four percent malted barley four-year-old sourced bourbon. That’s cut with Manifest’s own organic wheated rye whiskey with 60% rye and 40% wheat, which then rests for two and half years.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a homemade creamy vanilla pudding on the nose that really leans into nostalgia while layering in cherry compote, tobacco leaves dipped in mulled wine, and spicy minced meat pies. The palate builds on that nose with a Black Forest cake full of creamy vanilla, flaked dark chocolate, soft dark chocolate cake, and more of that cherry sauce. That sweet mid-palate circles back around to the tobacco with a slight spice and a hint of old oak on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is lush and really feels like a great digestif sipper (it’s dessert in a whiskey glass!).
17. Green River Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $38
The Whiskey:
Green River Distillery has been pumping out contract distilled juice for a while. In the spring of 2022, they finally released their much anticipated Green River Bourbon to much hoopla. The bourbon is a blend of five years and older barrels of bourbon made from a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% winter rye, and nine percent malted two-row and six-row barley.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a hint of dry cornmeal on the nose with clear and rich butterscotch (which feels a little young) alongside vanilla pudding cups, wet brown sugar, and a hint of an old leather jacket. The taste holds onto that leather note as a foundation and builds layers of sticky toffee pudding with vanilla buttercream, a handful of roasted almonds, and a thick buttery toffee sauce tying it all together. The finish is green with a big note of fresh mint that leads back to the leather with a whisper of dark fruit leather and Red Hots.
Bottom Line:
This feels a little all over the place but really does come together pretty nicely by the end. This isn’t something I’d race out to try again, but I can see using the rest of my bottle in highballs and cocktails and being pretty happy about it.
16. Clyde May’s Special Reserve Straight Bourbon Six-Year-Old
ABV: 55%
Average Price: $75
The Whiskey:
This Alabama whiskey (distilled in Indiana) is a small-batch product of hand-selected barrels. Those barrels are expertly blended by the Clyde May’s team to highlight classic bourbon notes in this special edition from late last year.
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the spicy apple pie filling on the nose with clear notes of cinnamon and clove next to tart apples, plenty of brown sugar, a pad of butter, and a whiff of raw sourdough yeast rolls. The apple becomes stewed on the palate with an almost apple fritter vibe as the spices really amp up with extra hot Red Hots and a hefty dash of that clove. The end is a mix of packed brown sugars and dark winter spices with a long, warming buzz that nearly washes everything out.
Bottom Line:
This absolutely needs a rock or a few drops of water to calm it down. Once you’ve done that, it is pretty nice for a sort of classic apple pie bourbon. That said, this is still squarely in the cocktail-base section of this list.
15. Blue Note Juke Joint Uncut Whiskey
ABV: Varies
Average Price: $40
The Whiskey:
This sourced whiskey comes from Kentucky. The juice is a blend of 70% corn, 21% rye, and nine percent malted barley whiskey that’s aged for up to four years before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This smells like “bourbon” on the nose with hints of caramel, vanilla, oak, and a dollop of maple syrup. The palate has a thick winter spice vibe with dusty cinnamon and nutmeg-heavy eggnog with a creamy edge next to vanilla tobacco with a whisper of cedar humidor. That spice really amps up toward the finish with a Red Hot tobacco chew and dry wicker finish.
Bottom Line:
“Hey, that’s pretty nice” was my reaction to this. Again, this is not something I’m racing to find more of, but I dig it when it’s put in front of me. If you find yourself with one, it won’t disappoint as a classic bourbon.
14. St. Augustine Distillery Port Finished Bourbon
ABV: 51%
Average Price: $80
The Whiskey:
This Floridian bourbon rests for three years in new American oak, giving it a classic base. Then the booze goes into port casks from San Sebastian Winery next door to the distillery for up to six months (depending on the Florida heat). The end result is a unique bourbon that’s both enticing and refined.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a touch of woodiness but the star of the show is the red berries that are both tart and sweet next to a dusting of winter spices. Vanilla and hints of mint show up on the palate with white pepper, mild florals, and a little bit of ripe cherry. The end leans into oak, dark chocolate bitterness, and a whisper of ripe red berries with a touch of clove.
Bottom Line:
Berries and spice are the dominant factors on this one. It’s a little thin but is unique enough to grab your attention — well, enough for a cocktail base that is.
13. Luca Mariano Single Barrel Bourbon
ABV: 51.5%
Average Price: $66
The Whiskey:
This whiskey marries Italian-American heritage with bourbon in Kentucky’s horse country. The juice is a contract-distilled high-rye bourbon that spends six years resting in new American oak. That juice is then just barely touched with local water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose feels like walking through a peach orchard on a sunny day with blossoming honey suckles wrapped around cinnamon sticks in your hand. The taste builds on that spiced honey with a mild root beer vibe next to overripe peach, a touch of vanilla cream, and a whisper of fresh mint. The finish stays fairly mellow with the creamy honey and mild spices blending with a soft touch of vanilla/mint tobacco warmth.
Bottom Line:
This is where we leave the cocktail base bourbons behind and get into the sippers. This is a pretty mild bourbon overall, but it hits nice as an everyday sipper — a table bourbon, if you will.
12. Pinhook 2022 Vintage High Proof Bourbon
ABV: 58%
Average Price: $56
The Whiskey:
This contract distilled juice from Pinhook celebrates the young racehorse “Bourbondini.” The whiskey in the bottle is made from a mash of 75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% malted barley. After a long rest, the whiskey is just touched with water and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a big nose full of hot apple cider spiked with clove, raisins, and molasses next to a soft bar of high-quality marzipan all with a whisper of figgy jam in the background. The palate leans toward that savory fruit with a hint of dry tropical fruit before a chili-infused dark espresso takes over with a dash of powdered dark chocolate. The finish sweetens with a rich toffee and brown butter vibe as the charred barrel makes an appearance at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty chill sipper. I like to add a rock or two to calm it down and let it bloom a bit in the glass. If that wasn’t necessary, this would’ve ranked a little higher but here we are.
11. Daviess County Straight Bourbon
ABV: 48%
Average Price: $59
The Whiskey:
This Lux Row bourbon continues to fly under the radar. The whiskey is a blend of high rye and wheated bourbons from select barrels that Lux Row pulled from local distilleries. Those barrels are then masterfully vatted and proofed down with local water.
Tasting Notes:
Old honey candies mingle with orange oils, vanilla wafers, salted caramel sauce, and a hint of mint on the nose. A mild note of sweet cedar drives the palate as floral honey and spicy vanilla pudding round out the taste toward the mid-palate. The orange comes back in late with a dusting of black pepper next to more of that soft cedar dipped into that floral honey.
Bottom Line:
This has a sweet edge that’s very distinct. If you like honey in your bourbon, this is going to be the bottle for you. Still, there’s more depth than just honey and this bourbon works pretty well as an everyday sipper with a rock or two.
10. Penelope Architect
ABV: 52%
Average Price: $70
The Whiskey:
This bourbon is all about precision blending. The MGP barrels create a four-grain whiskey that’s finished in oak staves from Tonnellerie Radoux in France. Those staves are added to the barrels to create a unique finish that’s part Kentucky and part France.
Tasting Notes:
This starts fairly familiar with notes of sugar pie and vanilla cream with orange spice and a hint of dried florals that then veers into dried mushrooms and firewood bark with a bit of black dirt. The palate circles back to the sweetness with a big pile of pecan waffles covered in vanilla/maple syrup before soft orange-infused tobacco leads back to that wet firewood and black dirt on the backend of the sip. The very end has a touch of charred oak that’s more like singed red-wine-soaked-oak staves.
Bottom Line:
This is complex and interesting. There’s nothing quite like it on the list, and that might be off-putting for some palates. Still, all of that makes this a great palate expander.
9. Jeptha Creed Four Grain Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 49%
Average Price: $53
The Whiskey:
This four-grain bourbon is all about the farm-to-glass experience. The juice is made from a mash with Bloody Butcher corn — a sweeter red corn used by Indigenous Americans throughout the Midwest and South for millennia — grown right outside the still house on an expansive Kentucky farm. The red corn is mixed with malted rye, wheat, and barley in the mash and aged for an undisclosed amount of time before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This is like your grandmother’s garden on berry picking day on the nose with huge notes of rhododendrons and wisteria next to blackberry jam, blueberry pie, and mason jars of apricot jam with plenty of dark spices layered in. The palate holds onto the jammy notes but adds in rich vanilla pudding, candied walnuts, nutmeg dusted eggnog, and a tiny echo of cherry sasparilla. The dry spices circle back around on the finish with a touch more of that vanilla and a whisper of fresh mint from the garden with a little dirt still on it.
Bottom Line:
This is kind of an entry-level bourbon for Jeptha Creed and it rules. This punches above its weight class and could probably cost more without any complaints. It’s deeply hewn, transports you, and tastes unique without sacrificing tasting good. And we’re only halfway through this list…
8. Bardstown Bourbon Fusion Series #7
ABV: 49.05%
Average Price: $65
The Whiskey:
The latest in the Fusion Series from Bardstown carries on the tradition of blending Bardstown’s own juice with expertly sourced barrels. In this case, 70% of the blend is from three different three-year-old bourbons with varying high-rye mash bills. The remaining 30% is from two 12-year-old barrels with a low-rye bourbon mash. Those barrels are vatted at Bardstown and touched with a little water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The wood comes through on the palate as a cedar plank that’s had nectarines crushed on it and then thrown on a grill with supporting notes of crushed almonds, floral honey, and buttery toffee rounding out the nose. The taste leans into the sweet wood and toffee as a touch of old malt cookies with a hint of vanilla leads to a spiced mulled wine with a little more of that honey. The finish is bold and warm with plenty of cedar, dark spice, and mellow toffee.
Bottom Line:
This is a bold yet easy sipper. There’s a lot going on but it all makes sense. You can easily sip this over a rock or in a Glencairn and find something new every time.
7. Lucky Seven “The Hold Up” 12-Year
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $99
The Whiskey:
This whiskey was founded by cinephiles who also happen to be bourbon lovers — the “Lucky Seven” moniker is a nod to Warner Bros.’s iconic Sound Stage 7. The bourbon in this bottle is a blend of sourced 12-year-old barrels from Kentucky. Those barrels are hand-selected by the Lucky Seven team to create their perfect bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
Dried apricots and prunes lead to a date-rich cake with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to an echo of caramel corn with a flake of salt. The taste starts off sweet with a cotton candy depth that then turns toward old cedar planks, worn leather, and a hint of savory herbs like thyme and sage. The mid-palate pops with Red Hots as the caramel corn makes a comeback before the finish dives into a plummy tobacco chewiness and buzz.
Bottom Line:
That savory note around the mid-palate makes this an interesting pour. The profile around that is very classic but also very dialed in. This is an interesting sipper all around that deserves a little time to really dig into what’s buried in that profile.
6. A.H. Hirsch “The Horizon” Straight Bourbon
ABV: 46%
Average Price: $47
The Whiskey:
Hotaling & Co., started by San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing, is a hell of a blendery. This expression is a mix of two MGP of Indiana whiskeys. The lion’s share (94%) is a five-year-old bourbon with a fairly standard mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and four percent malted barley. That’s married to a six-year-old bourbon with a mash bill of 60% corn, 38% rye, and four percent malted barley. The whiskey is proofed down to 92 proof and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of pipping hot cornbread dripping with whipped butter cut with cinnamon and vanilla on the nose. That spicy vanilla butter really drives the palate’s flavor as the sweetness leans towards pancake syrup on a pecan waffle with a small hint of leather and tobacco lurking in the background. The finish pops with dried cherry tobacco dipped in cinnamon butter with a hint of that cornbread (now a little burnt) leading to a rich end.
Bottom Line:
This is another one that’s just interesting. While I said we are out of the “cocktail” bourbons, I do like this in an old fashioned. That said, this works as an easy on-the-rocks sipper just as well.
5. Lost Lantern 2022 Single Cask #1: Smooth Ambler West Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 61.5%
Average Price: $80
The Whiskey:
Lost Lantern just dropped their spring 2022 collection of single cask selections from some seriously big hitters in the craft whiskey world. For their first edition, the bottler chose a barrel from Smooth Ambler in West Virginia. This bottling is from one 53-gallon barrel of wheated bourbon from West Virginia that’s bottled as-is without filtering or cutting down with water. That means there are only 190-odd bottles of this around.
Tasting Notes:
You’re taken to a confectionary on the nose with dried cranberries and cherries rolling through rich, bitter, yet creamy dark chocolate that’s just been touched with dark and chili spices and bespeckled with crushed almonds. The palate builds on that with a Christmas cake spice mix next to more dried and candied fruits — think brandied cherries and candied orange peels — that leads toward a deep cacao note that’s nearly waxy. The end is all about the black cherry tobacco and old pine boxes that hold that tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is where things get really interesting on this list. I’d argue all the bottles above are fine if you stumble across them. This is the first bottle you should seek out and buy two of — remember, there are only 190 of these and that’s it, forever.
4. American Highway Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
ABV: 48%
Average Price: $99
The Whiskey:
This whiskey from country music legend Brad Paisley actually crisscrossed the country with the star. The juice in the bottles is largely from Bardstown Bourbon Company, with four whiskeys aged three to 15 years with both low and high rye bourbons in the mix. The team at Bardstown worked closely with Paisley — a whiskey nerd himself — to select, blend, and finish the bourbon according to Paisley’s palate. After a 7,314-mile trip across America, the barrels were vatted, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lightness at first whiff that gives way to a soft apricot jam on a buttered Southern biscuit next to a hint of cinnamon-spiked caramel and apple cider-soaked oak staves. The palate really does burst forth with firework aerials of old leather, toffee candies, Red Hots, peanut brittle, nougat, milk chocolate, and vanilla pipe tobacco. The mid-palate sweetness fades as the pipe tobacco takes on a little warmth and spice while brioche, black pepper, and braided dry cedar bark round out the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a hell of a whiskey. Yes, it sounds so gimmicky, but never bet against Bardstown Bourbon Company. This is the bottle you drop on the table when someone starts going on and on about how shitty “celebrity” whiskeys are. This expression delivers as a great sipper and a mean base for a Manhattan. And there are still four more bourbons to go. What a time to be alive.
3. Blue Run Bourbon Reflection I
ABV: 47.5%
Average Price: $99
The Whiskey:
And we’ve officially come full circle. This whiskey was distilled at Castle & Key back in 2018. 200 of those barrels were hand-picked for this release to take a look back at the past two years and “reflect” upon the trials they brought.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a distinct note of tart yet slightly sweet cherry on the nose with a supporting cast of butterscotch candies, mild firewood, and a hint of pancake batter. That batter becomes a stack of pancakes with vanilla-laced butter, maple syrup, and a few nuts thrown in that lead to a herb garden full of rosemary bushes. That savory note mellows out through the mid-palate as a dusting of nutmeg rounds out the finish with hints of woody maple syrup and a final echo of that tart cherry.
Bottom Line:
Always bet on Blue Run to knock it out of the park. Even with these new contract distilled releases (compared to their sourced barrels), you’re getting expertly made bourbon that takes you somewhere. It’s deep, rewarding, and fresh.
2. Starlight Distillery Bourbon Finished in Cognac Barrels
ABV: 55.5%
Average Price: $79
The Whiskey:
Starlight Distillery, part of Huber Orchard, Winery & Vineyards in southern Indiana, is one of those distilleries where I ask, “where have you been all my life?” This release — from the distillery’s broad selection of uniquely finished whiskeys — is made with Starlight’s own four-year-old bourbon that’s loaded into hand-selected Cognac casks for six months. The whiskey then goes into the bottles with no fussing.
Tasting Notes:
Smoked maple syrup and raw tobacco lead the way on the nose as floral honey, dry cacao powder, and a hint of rum-soaked raisin mingle throughout. The palate turns that cacao into a dark chocolate bar with almonds layered in as a mild, dry chili pepper adds some pep on the mid-palate. There’s a dark and worn leather vibe that kicks in as the finish arrives with hints of apple-raisin-honey cider pipe tobacco vibing with old leather tobacco pouches and dry sweetgrass braids round out the end.
Bottom Line:
This is the tip of the iceberg of all the beautiful whiskey coming out of Starlight and Huber right now. But if you’re going to start somewhere, let it be here. This is great juice made by a family who’ve spent the last nearly two centuries refining their craft.
1. Barrell Bourbon New Year 2022
ABV: 57.67%
Average Price: $90
The Whiskey:
Okay, bear with me. This is a bourbon blend made with five, six, seven, nine, and 14-year-old bourbons from Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Wyoming, New York, and Texas. All of those bourbons are expertly blended in Barrell’s Louisville facility and then bottled as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
I swear, this has a nose that’s exactly like a rich, moist, and spicy carrot cake smothered in cream cheese frosting, and it works. The nose is rounded out my Meyer lemons, honeydew melon, grassy sugar cane, and a touch of white peach. The palate is part of apple Jolly Rancher and part raspberries in cream with some brown sugar and cinnamon in the mix. The mid-palate has a banana cream pie vibe that leads to a little bit of waxy cacao bean and a fleeting sense of granite countertop covered in oak staves. The finish has a mix of green tea and mint chocolate chip ice cream with this small whisper of salty pretzel wrapped in banana leaves.
Bottom Line:
This is a wild ride. It’s so out there but I love it. That said, these bourbons are not for the faint of heart, especially not for anyone looking for a “classic” bourbon experience. This feels like the future in a glass and I’m here for it.
