Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon (image via Whitney Harrod Morris/The Whiskey Wash)[/caption]
Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon
Retails around $50 to $60
Packaged in a beautiful, faceted bottle and topped with the iconic horse and jockey stopper, this single barrel release from Buffalo Trace lays claim to being “the original single barrel bourbon.” Made from a high-rye mashbill, it’s citrus-forward and floral, with a nice dry finish.
Barrell Bourbon 007 (or whatever number you can find)
Retails around $80
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Independent bottler Barrell Craft Spirits has dished up hit after hit with its series of numbered, cask-strength sourced bourbon releases. We’ve tasted several and liked them all, although our favorite of the bunch was Batch 006. They all retail around $80, and they’re all worth it.
Willett Pot Still Reserve
Retails around $50, or even less in some markets
Delightfully affordable, Willett Pot Still Reserve narrowly edges out Blanton’s Single Barrel for the most striking bottle of the bunch: a long-necked, full-bellied thing made to resemble the stills that made the liquor inside. Honeyed and buttery yet still offering some spice and complexity, Willett Pot Still Reserve is easy to love.
Booker’s Bourbon
Retailing around $60
This small-batch series started out as a Jim Beam Christmas tradition: Booker Noe would select his favorite barrels, bottle them at cask strength, put a handwritten label on them, and give them as gifts to friends and family. Today, they’re one-off vattings, still bottled at cask strength. Until recently, they were simply numbered; this year, they’ve gotten individual names. We tasted Booker’s Bluegill Creek earlier this year, and loved it.
