The Best Whiskeys for Tax Season

Tax season is upon us. Whether you're looking to celebrate, or for a glimpse of relief, we've got you covered with whiskey choices.
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Tax season can provoke varied emotions. For some, it’s a time of jubilance—a thrilling windfall, for spending with enthusiasm: whiskey, plane tickets, fancy dinners, more whisky. For others, the prospect of checks to be written casts a pall across the bright cheeriness of springtime, a tightening of the belt, a kind of inescapable gloom emanating from somewhere near the zone of your wallet.

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No matter which camp you’re in this year, you could probably do with a drink. Allow us.

If You Got Money Back

Congratulations! Uncle Sam is cutting you a check. It’s time to splash out.

Wild Turkey Master's Keep

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Decades

Is Wild Turkey Rare Breed or 101 your favorite everyday whiskey? Why not explore the upper reaches of the range? Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Decades is a blend of 10-year-old to 20-year-old whiskey from Wild Turkey is about as classy as they come. “This is Wild Turkey after Cotillion school,” says our reviewer. “The gobbler wearing a tuxedo.”

Spice Tree Extravaganza

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It’s hard not to love Compass Box—their gorgeous bottles, tongue-in-cheek attitude, and wizardry in the blending room endear the brand to even the most skeptical of Scotch drinkers. Spice Tree Extravaganza is the high-end version of Compass Box’ popular Spice Tree release, and it’s “decadent…delightful…wunderbar.”

Michter’s Celebration

Make out like a bandit this year? Perhaps it’s time to spurge. If its $5,000 price tag doesn’t make you at least a little curious, maybe our review will convince you: “A pour of indisputable elegance, structure, and balance…Grace Kelly in a glass.”

If You Owe Taxes

Buck up, champ. The feds might take your money, but they’d never take your whiskey…right?

Mellow Corn Bottled-in-BondMellow Corn

This bottled-in-bond corn whiskey from Heaven Hill clocks in at just over $10 a bottle in most markets, yet delivers that most elusive of whiskey experiences with aplomb: something really strange and unusual. Usually you have to pay for novelty!

Made from 90% corn and aged in used cooperage, Mellow Corn is a bartender favorite, due in no small part to its hipster-friendly packaging. Plus, it actually tastes pretty good. Honest.

George Dickel Tennessee Whisky

Perpetually second fiddle George Dickel is one of my favorite budget brands. Their flagship No. 8 Sour Mash Tennessee Whisky is sweet, smooth, and has a mysterious vitamin flavor that makes you think for a second that it might be somehow healthy. Think of it as a tax tonic.

Dewar’s White Label

Feel like you’ve just spent enough money domestically to last a decade? Look to Scotland for relief. Dewar’s White Label is around $20 in most stores, and it’s a surprisingly balanced, enjoyable dram that makes a killer highball.

Margarett Waterbury

Margarett Waterbury is the author of "Scotch: A Complete Introduction to Scotland's Whiskies" and a full-time freelance writer and editor specializing in the beverage industry. Her work has graced the pages of numerous publications, including Whisky Advocate, Food and Wine, Spirited Magazine, Artisan Spirit, Edible Seattle, Sip Northwest, Civil Eats, Travel Oregon, and many others. She also boasts editorial experience as the former managing editor of Edible Portland and as a co-founder and former managing editor of The Whiskey Wash. In recognition of her talent, Margarett received the Alan Lodge Young Drinks Writer of the Year award in 2017 and was awarded fellowships for the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in 2017 and 2019.

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