This 100-proof bourbon (and rye) got its 9-year-old age statement back in 2020 after it was removed for a few years, and some limited-edition 12 and15-year-old expressions came to market as well.

While this last whiskey may not be the flashiest, it’s arguably the most consistently excellent. There are four Small Batch expressions available: Booker’s (barrel proof, filtered only for char), Basil Hayden (mild 80-proof, high-rye bourbon), Baker’s (relaunched as a single barrel release), and Knob Creek. There is no real meaning behind the term “small batch,” so for many brands it simply means smaller volume than other whiskies they produce.

Jim Beam’s Small Batch Collection was created by former master distiller Booker Noe in 1992, at a time when bourbon was struggling for relevance (hard to imagine now). However, if you are in the market for a little guidance as to what might be a quality bourbon to try, one that you can actually find for less than $100 per bottle (and mostly much less than that), here is an updated list of twelve bourbon brands to drink now. Just don’t let the haters whiskey-shame you for your personal preferences. Or vice versa–go ahead and make a cocktail with that $500 bottle if you damn well please. If you prefer drinking Jim Beam out of a red plastic cup with a healthy pour of Coke, that’s cool too. If you like to sip Pappy Van Winkle from a Baccarat crystal tasting glass, that’s just fine.

Other than that, there is no wrong or right, despite what blowhards and bourboomers online might tell you. How you feel about bourbon is entirely subjective, although there are a few objective truths: it must be made from a mash bill containing at least 51 percent corn, aged in new charred oak containers (not barrels, even though virtually all bourbon is aged in them), distilled in the U.S., and meet certain proof requirements, which you can Google if you are interested. Some of this is actually helpful in understanding what's out there, while a lot winds up being useless bourbon bloviating.īourbon, and all whiskey really, is subject to passionate obsession as much as anything else that people have strong feelings about-music, food, cars, movies, etc. And we come to bars and liquor stores armed with a ridiculous amount of knowledge about the truth behind the stories distilleries weave. We spend exorbitant amounts on rare releases, then make fun of people for doing the very same. We tell people they are wrong for liking certain brands or drinking it a particular way. We argue incessantly about it on Twitter and Reddit. These days, we take bourbon way too seriously.

Vice Versa by Jack Woodford