When the George T. Stagg distillery first released Blanton’s in 1984, it was priced at a then-jaw-dropping $30—double or triple the cost of most other bourbon on the shelves. At the time, the industry was still in the midst of a decadeslong tailspin, a glut of barrels accumulating in Kentucky warehouses as Americans focused their attention on vodka, wine coolers and any cocktail made with peach schnapps. So why release a luxury product?
“[Elmer T.] Lee had nothing to lose,” claimed The New York Times in its 2013 eulogy of the legendary master distiller. By then, however, his distillery was known as Buffalo Trace and Blanton’s was on the verge of becoming a unicorn, with a market price of $300—that is, if you could actually find it. Today, the idea of a world-class bourbon for under $50 seems downright laughable.
And yet, there is a lot more out there than you might think.
If the focus of bourbon enthusiasts, especially “taters,” today seems exclusively homed in on allocated LEs (limited editions) that sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars, MSRP be damned, the industry stalwarts continue to release plenty of exemplary bourbon at a great price. There is simply an economy of scale that allows the massive, multinational conglomerate–owned distilleries like Wild Turkey (a Campari subsidiary), Jim Beam (Suntory) and Four Roses (Kirin) to continue to offer top-shelf liquid at bottom-shelf prices. As one of our tasters bluntly figured:
“If you’re aging a spirit, you’re not going to spend all that time just to make something shitty.”
Nonetheless, this was a fairly challenging tasting due to an overriding sameness from bourbon to bourbon. Unlike, say, single malt whiskeys, rum or agave spirits, bourbon has a much narrower profile for what it can actually taste like. Strict production rules dictate that it be predominantly corn-based and aged in new charred oak, and the next thing you know, you find yourself swimming in a sea of caramel, vanilla and baking spice sameness.
Of course, there were a few standouts.
For this tasting, Punch’s editorial staff was joined by Aaron Goldfarb, a frequent Punch contributor on the topic of whiskey. We blind-tasted 15 bourbons, almost exclusively from Kentucky’s largest distilleries, though a few economically priced craft options were also included. Below are our top five picks.
