Plenty of the bourbons that win at the big spirits competitions are limited releases with prices to match, but the results also include bottles you can find on the shelf at most liquor stores. For this list, we went back through the 2025 and 2026 results and picked out seven bourbons that won major awards and sell for less than $60 in the US.
For each bottle, you’ll find the award, the price, tasting notes, and a little background on the distillery.
Early Times Bottled-in-Bond, 100 proof, $17+
Awards: 1st Place, Best Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon, IWC 2026 and IWC 2025
Early Times Bottled-in-Bond has won the bottled-in-bond bourbon category at the International Whisky Competition two years in a row. Of the five bourbons that won categories at IWC 2026, it was also the cheapest and the one you’re most likely to find on a store shelf.
On the nose, you’ll find dried fruits, with honey and caramel to follow. The palate is thick and syrupy, with spice, caramel, candy corn, vanilla, oak, and brown sugar.
John Henry “Jack” Beam, Jim Beam’s uncle, introduced the brand in 1860, and the bottled-in-bond version was once the best-selling bourbon in the US. Sazerac bought Early Times from Brown-Forman in July 2020 and moved production to the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown the following summer, keeping the original recipe. The mash bill is 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley.
It also won a Master medal at the American Whiskey Masters 2026.
This is a seriously good value bourbon. Easy to find, easy to drink, and hard to argue with.
Willett Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond 4 Year Old, 100 proof, $20
Award: Spirit Gold Outstanding, 98 points, IWSC 2026
Old Bardstown Bottled-in-Bond is mainly sold within Kentucky, so if you live somewhere else in the US, you may need to look a little harder for it, but at around $20 it’s one to keep an eye out for. The judges at the IWSC finished their notes with a single word: “Superb.”
Willett is a family distillery in Bardstown with roots that go back to 1936. Even Kulsveen, who married into the Willett family, bought the business and revived it in the 1980s. Willett started distilling on site again in 2012.
The mash bill is 72% corn, 13% rye, and 15% malted barley. You’ll find bright, grainy aromas, then a dry, balanced palate with marmalade, brioche, and a light floral note, followed by a long finish where the oak and the spirit come together well.
Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond, 100 proof, $19
Awards: Trophy and Double Gold, ISC 2026
This is a bourbon full of buttery corn and oak, with lemon and orange coming through from the rye and a long, toasty finish, and you might also pick up black pepper, vanilla, and caramel along the way.
The ISC, which awarded this bourbon a trophy, is judged blind by distillers, master blenders, and buyers, so none of the judges knew the brand or the price when they scored it.
Heaven Hill introduced this white label release in 2012, and it’s made at the company’s Bernheim Distillery in Louisville from a mash bill of 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley. It’s easy to find and costs around $20, so it’s a simple choice if you want an everyday bourbon with a recent trophy to its name.
Elijah Craig Small Batch, 94 proof, $22+
Award: Best of Class, SIP Awards 2026
Elijah Craig is named after a Baptist preacher who is traditionally credited as one of the first people to age whiskey in charred oak barrels. The Small Batch first came out in 1986 as a 12-year-old, and Heaven Hill dropped the age statement in early 2016, citing demand.
Its win at the SIP Awards came from consumer judges. Earlier in the year, it also picked up Gold at the International Spirits Challenge.
It uses the same mash bill as Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond, at 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley. The spirit goes into the barrel at 125 proof and ages in level 3 charred oak before it’s bottled at 94 proof, and Heaven Hill has described it as a blend of barrels between eight and 12 years old.
On the palate, there’s vanilla bean, sweet fruit, and fresh mint, along with wood spice, smoke, and nutmeg, and the finish brings plenty of butterscotch and a bit more spice.
Green River Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon, 90 proof, $40+
Award: Best Overall Bourbon, NYWSC 2025
At the 2025 New York World Spirits Competition, the judges called Green River’s Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon “a richly textured bourbon.”
Expect peppery spice on the nose, then grains, oats, and creamy butterscotch with a little oak on the palate, and a long finish where the grain gives way to honey, spice, and barrel notes. You may also pick up brown sugar, baking spice, and a hint of cocoa.
The mash bill is 70% corn, 21% wheat, and 9% malted barley. The whiskey ages in level 4 char barrels in traditional open-air rickhouses before it’s bottled at 90 proof.
Green River Distilling Co. is in Owensboro, Kentucky, on a site that has been making whiskey since 1885. The brand returned to shelves in 2022.
Maker’s Mark 46, 94 proof, $39+
Awards: World’s Best Finished Bourbon, WWA 2026; Double Gold, 99 points, SFWSC 2026
Maker’s Mark 46 starts out as fully matured Maker’s Mark. The whiskey is emptied from its barrel, ten seared French oak staves are fitted inside, and the whiskey goes back in for more aging before it’s bottled at 94 proof.
The recipe was created by Bill Samuels Jr., son of Bill and Margie Samuels. When it launched in 2010, it was the first new Maker’s Mark brand since the original bottling in 1958. Maker’s Mark is now owned by Suntory Global Spirits.
You’ll find toasted coconut, anise, honeysuckle, and honeyed brioche, along with caramel, baking spice, vanilla, plenty of French oak, and a hint of lemon peel on the finish.
New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon, 100 proof, $40
Award: World’s Best Bourbon, WWA 2026
New Riff’s Bottled-in-Bond is the distillery’s core expression; it’s widely available in the US, and it is (according to the WWA) the world’s best bourbon.
The mash bill is 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley, which is a much higher share of rye than any other bourbon on this list. The bourbon ages for at least four years in 53-gallon new oak barrels that have been toasted and charred, and it’s bottled at 100 proof without chill filtration.
On the nose, there’s lemon zest and butterscotch. The palate brings cinnamon, caramel, fresh fig, vanilla cookie, and pumpernickel rye, along with some less expected notes of dried leather, corned beef, and brine, and the finish is warm and sweet, with caramel, lemon peel, and coffee.
Which One Are You Opening First?
If you want to spend as little as possible, Early Times, Willett Old Bardstown, and Evan Williams all cost around $20, and all three are bottled-in-bond. Elijah Craig and Green River sit in the $25 to $40 range.
For $35-$40, Maker’s Mark 46 and New Riff both took World’s Best titles at the World Whiskies Awards this year.
Which of these would you pick up first? Let us know in the comments.
