Bottles of Bourbon whiskey coming in at just under $100 dollars are sure to be special. When you can get pretty darn good stuff for about $30, bottles priced at more than triple that had better be worth it. But these aren’t standard issue bottles — unique barrelling methods and craft techniques abound — which means that calling one dram “better” or “worse” is mostly a matter of taste. It’s all about where your palate is at, which flavors intrigue you, and what you find yourself reaching for.

Do you like to be a bit mystified or do you look for more classic bourbon whiskey flavors? Do you want high proof or something more simple to sip? Cask strength? Single barrel? Limited edition? The best we can tell you is that we vouch for the expressions featured below. Try them and see what you think.

The actual price of these bourbons is really going to depend on where you’re standing when you buy a bottle. Some of these are only going to be available in their local markets at these prices. A few might even be cheaper, depending on your state’s liquor taxes. Those are the breaks.

Now let’s get to it!

Jefferson’s Ocean Aged At Sea Wheated Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $90

The Whiskey:

Jefferson’s Ocean is already crafted as a unique and very tasty dram. This expression uses a wheated mash bill (instead of high rye) that’s aged for six to eight years on land. Barrels are then loaded onto a ship and sailed around the world where the spirit and wood interact the whole time thanks to the choppy seas, creating an incredibly unique whiskey in the process.

Tasting Notes:

This has a very subtle nose, with hints of vanilla, dark salted caramel, and mild eggnog spice drawing you in. The palate holds onto those flavors fairly well, while adding in a touch of popped corn to the salted caramel as the vanilla becomes more of an eggnog spiced pudding that remains very airy and light. The end is slightly nutty with a touch of cedar as the spice and svelte vanilla slowly fade away.

Bottom Line:

This is an interesting sip that’s shockingly accessible. It really is well-rounded and delivers on classic bourbon notes next to an overall easy-drinking experience with a cool story to boot.

Remus Repeal Reserve Series IV

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $94

The Whiskey:

MGP makes a lot of the whiskey you love that’s bottled under different labels. They also bottle their own labels from their massive stock and this yearly limited release is their highwater mark. The juice is a blend of two 12-year-old rye’d bourbons — one with 21 percent rye and one with 36 percent rye. The married juices are then touched (just barely!) with the Ohio Valley’s soft limestone water and bottled in a classy Don Draper-era bottle.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a real sense of fresh maple syrup on the nose that leads towards a rich vanilla creaminess with hints of Christmas spices full of candied orange rinds. The palate zeroes in on the spices and becomes more sharpened and peppery with more creamy vanilla, dried dark fruits, and a touch of dry cedar. The end is very long and leaves you with a warming spicy tobacco chewiness with no rough edges whatsoever.

Bottom Line:

If you ever wondered what an MGP bourbon tastes like from the source, this is a great place to start. The dram really does benefit from a drop or two of water to open it up. Do so and you’ll find some coffee and chocolate bitterness and maybe a hint of Amarena cherry syrup.

This is essential drinking to get a better understanding of the power of MGP in relation to the wider whiskey world in general.

Hillrock Solera Aged Bourbon

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $95

The Whiskey:

Hillrock’s Solera Bourbon is a mingling of Spain, Scotland, New York, and Kentucky in the bottle. The bourbon (own-make from New York’s Hillrock blended, with sourced Kentucky juice as well) is aged in sherry casks from Spain (much like many a great scotch) using the Spanish “solera” method. That’s where a sherry barrel is never fully emptied before more fresh juice goes in for a maturation cycle. That process is repeated over and over again, creating a sort of heritage to the spirit that goes all the way to the first fill.

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a hint of honey next to dried red fruits, a touch of cinnamon, and a very distant note of sweet spring flowers. The palate, on the other hand, has this sweet lightness that hints at plummy and nutty sherry wood while leaning into bright dark cherries and dried apricot with an underbelly of bourbon vanilla and Christmas spices. The end holds onto that spice and cherry, creating a cedar box full of cherry tobacco warmth that’s just pure velvet.

Bottom Line:

You really need to take your time with this bottle (if you can find it). Nose, sip, add water, nose again, sip again. Repeat. There’s a lot of depth in play and it’s worth going slow to find them in this dram.

Garrison Brother’s Small Batch

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $96

The Whiskey:

Garrison Brothers is a true grain-to-glass experience from Hye, Texas. The juice is a wheated bourbon made with local grains. That spirit is then aged under the beating heat of a hot Texas sun before the barrels are small-batched, proofed with local water, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a caramel apple note on the nose next to a bit of dry straw, worn leather, and … what feels like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That cereal nature continues through the palate with a sugary and buttery shortbread note mingling with hints of vanilla cake frosted with lemon cream leading to a touch of orange oils. The end is very long and warm with a bit of cinnamon that ultimately leads back to the caramel apples plus just a touch of dry campfire smoke at the very end.

Bottom Line:

This is a bold bourbon that’s not going to be for everyone. There’s nothing subtle in play in this sip but you are getting exactly what’s advertised: A well-crafted whiskey that’s made with a lot of love and feels like Texas in a bottle.

Wilderness Trail Wheated Bourbon Aged 6 Years

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $98

The Whiskey:

The team over at Wilderness Trail continues to wow with last year’s 6-year-old Wheated Bourbon release. The juice is a mash bill of 64 percent corn, 24 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley and uses co-founder Dr. Pat’s (yes, he’s a real doctor) proprietary yeast. The juice is then aged in their main warehouse where it’s moved to a new floor every one of those six years, allowing a little extra magic to happen in the barrel.

Tasting Notes:

The nose draws you in with a cinnamon-heavy pecan pie with a lard-hewn crust next to hints of wet pine. The palate leans into the corn syrup of the pecan pie while the cinnamon draws you towards an apple tobacco chew with a touch of caramel and vanilla lurking in the background. The finish doesn’t overstay its welcome and holds onto the cinnamon and pie vibes, ending on a fruity tobacco buzz.

Bottom Line:

This is a very limited release (the bottles were initially only available at the distillery). Still, if you’re able to snag one, really let this one settle and breathe. There’s a lot of great, hidden notes in the dram that’ll take time to sort through.

If you’re feeling fancy, make a Manhattan with this after you’ve enjoyed it straight. You won’t be disappointed.

Weller Antique 107

ABV: 53.5%

Average Price: $98

The Whiskey:

Back in the day, this was Weller 7-year-old. These days, the expression from Buffalo Trace’s warehouses is named after the 107 proof of the juice in the bottle. The whiskey is the iconic and seminal Weller wheated bourbon that gets a lot of hype, hence its price tag ringing in at double its MSRP.

Tasting Notes:

This opens up with sweet summer florals with a rounded and almost meaty honey base next to vanilla beans. The palate adds in a clear dusting of cinnamon next to cherry with hints of wet brown sugar and cellared oak. The short-ish end holds onto the spice and warms up your senses, leaving you with a cherry tobacco chew and buzz that’s smoothed out by a vanilla creaminess.

Bottom Line:

This is a highly refined workhorse whiskey. It’s a solid sipper, especially on the rocks. It’s also a killer cocktail base, thanks to its defined flavor profile and higher ABVs.

Redemption 9-Year-Old Barrel Proof

ABV: 54.1% (varies)

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This sourced whiskey from Indiana (MGP) is one of the best examples of how a unique shingle can make whiskey shine. Redemption’s team painstakingly searches the warehouses for just the right barrels to meet their taste requirements. In this case, that was a nine-year-old single barrel of bourbon with a mash bill of 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent malted barley.

Tasting Notes:

The nose really gives you a sense of oily vanilla pods with touches of wildflower honey, rich and buttery toffee, and a hint of dark roasted espresso beans. The palate holds onto those notes as the vanilla and honey both become creamy while adding a slight black pepper spiciness with a hint of salty smoked bacon fat lurking way in the background. The end is medium-length and touches back on that vanilla, toffee, pepper, and bitterness on the fade.

Bottom Line:

This yearly limited release is yet another reason to stop bashing sourced whiskey. This juice really shines and has a unique taste that feels like classic bourbon with palate expanding depths.

Belle Meade Single Barrel

ABV: 54.65%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This is also a nine-year-old MGP single barrel of bourbon at cask strength. Is it anything like the above bourbon? Let’s find out.

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with deep vanilla that mingles with hints of dark chocolate sugar cookies with a touch of mint. The palate centers the creamy vanilla while adding in a cinnamon bark vibe with notes of black pepper and floral honey moved into the background. The end is long-ish and carries more of that vanilla cream while that cinnamon becomes slightly chewy with a dried choco-mint tobacco buzz on the tip of the tongue.

Bottom Line:

You can definitely feel a few overlaps — namely black pepper and floral honey — between the two expressions above. But beyond that, this its own beast. And that’s the beauty of these barrel selections. Each team is going to look for flavors that suit their brand.

That’s also the beauty of aging whiskey: these two barrels could be from the exact same distillation, sit next to each other in a warehouse for years, and still end up being this unique.

Kings County Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This small Brooklyn craft distillery uses New York-grown corn with English malted barley in its mash (80 percent and 20 percent, respectively). The juice is then aged for four years in small-format barrels (only 15 gallons) and then proofed down to 100 proof and bottled in flasks.

Tasting Notes:

With no wheat or rye, the corn really shines on the nose with a buttery and slightly salted caramel kettle corn feel next to a hint of vanilla frosting and strawberry shortcake. There’s a greenness to the body that feels like wet pine next to dark chocolate with a touch of vanilla and malt. The (fairly quick) end moves away from that green note and towards a dry pine with a dark and bitter cacao nib feel, as the vanilla and caramel provide a counterpoint to those flavors.

Bottom Line:

Bourbon rarely has 20 percent malted barley in the mix. That makes this an interesting dram that will remind you of Scotland (if only very subtly).

High West Bourye

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This yearly limited release from Park City, Utah’s High West isn’t technically a bourbon (though that’s the only shelf you’ll find it on in a liquor store). It’s a blend between one MGP rye and two bourbons that have been aged at least ten years. High West’s team chooses the barrels specifically for their taste and marries them into this much-lauded blend of whiskeys.

The 2020 release was a marrying of MGP’s iconic 95 percent rye with a high-rye bourbon with 60 percent corn, 36 percent rye, and four percent barley, and a mid-range rye bourbon with 75 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and four percent barley. Again technically, that probably makes this an “American whiskey.” But we don’t really know since we don’t know how much of each barrel went into the batch — hence its categorization as a bourbon.

Plus, with no “Bouryes” on the market, we decided to give it shine here.

Tasting Notes:

The nose dances between cherry cola, grilled pineapples, rich salted caramel, and a touch of burnt sage. The palate has a Christmas cake vibe that leans into the nuts and candied fruits, which leads towards spicy orange chocolate with a slightly bitter black tea note. The finish holds onto those spices in the form of a chewy and buzzy spicy tobacco leaf with a touch of toffee and that cherry cola popping back in on the slow fade.

Bottom Line:

This is just interesting all around. There’s a lot going on that all seems to work well together. Again, this might not be for everyone but it’s definitely worth seeking out for a truly unique “bourye” experience that’s really unmatched out there.