10 Best Bourbons of All Time, Ranked by Spirits Critics

What is the best bourbon? That question has fueled more arguments at more bars than any other in American whiskey. We’re not here to settle the debate, but we are here to put some numbers behind it. The rankings below are drawn entirely from The Daily Pour Critics’ Score, our proprietary metric that aggregates our house rating with scores from the most trusted critics across the internet. Ten bottles made the cut. Every single one of them is worth your attention.

A quick note on methodology: when Critics’ Scores are tied (and there are several ties in this field), we broke the ties by our house score,

10. Bardstown Bourbon Company Distillery Reserve: Hokkaido Mizunara Oak Barrel Finish

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Released in July 2025, Bardstown Bourbon Company Distillery Reserve: Hokkaido Mizunara Oak Barrel Finish is a remarkable a blend of 9- to 18-year-old whiskeys finished for a lengthy period of 28 months in barrels made of rare Mizunara oak, sourced from Japan’s Hokkaido province. Bottled at 109.3 proof, it was available exclusively at Bardstown Bourbon Company’s distillery gift shop and Louisville tasting room .

Bardstown Bourbon Company’s second Distillery Reserve release was loaded with dessert-forward flavors. On the nose, bavarian cream and banana pudding collide with eggy custard caramel and buttercream frosting before clove and tobacco pull it back from the edge of dessert-cart excess. The palate is where the minerality shows up uninvited and somehow improves everything, adding a stony backbone to French toast, crème fraîche and blackberry pudding. The finish is long and drying, the kind that pulls moisture from your teeth while delivering maple donut, flan and heavy whipping cream in the same breath.

9. Wyoming Whiskey 1872

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Wyoming Whiskey 1872 is one of the more geographically interesting bourbons in the American whiskey conversation. Wyoming’s extreme climate, with its brutal winters and scorching summers, puts barrels through an accelerated seasonal cycle that pushes extraction hard and fast. The result, at 9 years old and 58% ABV, is a bourbon that was incredibly limited but earned rave reviews. Wyoming Whiskey has built a serious reputation over the years, and the 1872 is the expression that most convincingly argues the northern plains belong in the same sentence as Kentucky.

8. Redemption Whiskey 18 Year Old Bourbon

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MGP distillate gets an unearned bad reputation in some corners of the whiskey world, and one sip Redemption Whiskey 18 Year Old Bourbon is guaranteed to silence that crowd. At 18 years old and 51.7% ABV, this is the Indiana distillery’s stock at its most confident and fully realized: a dark, leathery, almost savory bourbon that opens with chopped peanuts, gingerbread and smoked meat on the nose before settling into crème brûlée, peanut brittle and vanilla ice cream drowning in hot fudge on the palate. It’s very oaky and tannic but never crosses into punishing territory, which is the tightrope act that kills most bourbons at this age. The finish drags on beautifully, moving through luxardo cherry and lemon curd before landing on cookie butter and dark chocolate. Priced above $200, it’s an incredible bourbon that comes from a source many whiskey drinkers reflexively dismiss. Their loss.

7. Russell’s Reserve 15 Year Old Bourbon (2024)

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This is Wild Turkey’s house style cranked to maximum volume: sawdust and root beer on the nose, that signature orange peel and baking spice lurking behind a wall of cola, cherry and bitter oak. At 58.6% ABV and 15 years old, it’s hot, it’s chewy, it’s sticky, and the oak is borderline overbearing in the best possible way. The finish is long and tobacco-forward with baking spice that lingers well past when you’ve set the glass down. Jimmy and Eddie Russell have been making this style of whiskey for a combined century-plus, and the 15 Year is the most uncompromising expression of what that means. If you come to this bottle looking for something gentle, you’ve made a wrong turn. Priced above $200 and worth every cent for the Wild Turkey faithful.

6. A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Bourbon Batch 2

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Virginia doesn’t always get the credit it deserves in the American whiskey conversation, but A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Bourbon Batch 2 is a compelling argument for paying closer attention. Coming in at a staggering 72.25% ABV over 10 years, this is a big, opulent pour that somehow manages to stay coherent: cherry cordial, Werther’s candies and crème brûlée on the nose, with Madagascar vanilla so prominent it practically announces itself. The palate is syrupy and almost chewy, delivering bold cherry, barrel char and salted caramel with a pungent pipe tobacco note that deepens everything. It’s proofy but not punishing, which is the most impressive trick it pulls off. The finish is nearly eternal, cycling through cola, cherry and crème brûlée long after you’d expect it to fade. Priced above $200 and worth tracking down; this is the best thing Bowman has put its name on.

5. George T. Stagg Kentucky Straight Bourbon 2024 (Buffalo Trace Antique Collection)

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At 68.05% ABV, 15 years and 2 months old and carrying the full weight of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection’s reputation, 2024’s GTS the highest-rated edition on record. This bourbon is powerful in the best way: black pepper on the nose, brown sugar and dark cherry on the palate, brown butter and molasses weaving through a sticky, viscous mouthfeel that coats everything. The finish is long, peppery and rich with syrupy cherry, char and tobacco. The ethanol prickle is real, but it’s the price of admission for a bourbon this decadent.

4. Brown-Forman King Of Kentucky 2024 Bourbon

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Sixteen years old, 65.2% ABV: the Brown-Forman King Of Kentucky 2024 Bourbon is a masterclass in layered richness, opening with big cherry, decadent toffee, buttercream and root beer on the nose before the barrel char and tobacco remind you this isn’t a dessert, it’s a bourbon. The palate is velvety and supple in a way that’s almost disorienting at this proof, delivering cherry cola, pot de crème, brown sugar and a gorgeous luxardo note that feels like a secret ingredient. The finish is where it really earns its place on this list: maple, buttercream, espresso, fig and blackberry all show up, and none of them feel rushed. This is a powerful, loaded, absolutely alive bourbon that belongs in any serious conversation about the category’s best.

3. The Last Drop No. 37: 27 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Buffalo Trace Distillery

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Twenty-seven years aging in new oak barrels in a Kentucky warehouse — wild. The Last Drop No. 37: 27 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Buffalo Trace Distillery is the oldest bourbon on this list, and the fact that it’s not a tannic, over-oaked wreck is its single most impressive achievement. At 60.9% ABV and priced with a suggested retail price of $6,950, this is a collector’s bottle with the liquid to back up the hype: salted caramel, hazelnut and strawberry syrup on the nose, alongside luxardo cherry, leather and gingerbread. The palate delivers dark chocolate, apple pie, blackberry and a big tobacco note that anchors everything. The finish moves from cinnamon and nutmeg into sweet caramel, mocha and cherry cordial, with toasted oak providing a long, warm landing. Yes, it’s oaky. At 27 years, it would be alarming if it weren’t. But the oak serves the bourbon here rather than smothering it, which is the rare trick that earns a 98 Critics’ Score.

2. Michter’s 25 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon

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Michter’s 25 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon is the kind of release that stops conversations. At 58.1% ABV, 25 years old and selling for an average price north of $9,000, per Wine-Searcher, it earned a 98 Critics’ Score and a place on this list just one rung below the top. Michter’s releases this expression only when its team decides the barrels are ready, which means that many years it doesn’t come out at all. That scarcity is not manufactured hype; it’s the result of a genuinely uncompromising approach to extra-aged bourbon.

1. Michter’s 20 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon (2022)

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The best bourbon in our archive is younger than the bottle ranked just below it, but achieved the closest thing to a perfect score — a 99. Michter’s 20 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon (2022) is bottled at 57.1% ABV, and it’s an astonishing piece of work. The nose is the first surprise: rich and decadent but also light and almost fluffy, with crème brûlée, cookie dough and caramel sitting alongside strawberry and peach in a combination that feels more like a spring afternoon than a 20-year-old cask. The palate brings it back to earth with cherry, oak, tannin, tobacco and cinnamon, but the transition is seamless. The finish is lush and long, cycling through cherry, buttercream frosting and cinnamon in a slow, unhurried fade.

What makes this the best? It’s the range. Most bourbons at this age commit hard to oak and leather and never look back. The 2022 Michter’s 20 Year is far from one-dimensional; it’s a bourbon that’s rich, decadent and well (but not over)-aged. Priced above $200 and nearly impossible to find, it is, by our critics’ measure, the finest bourbon we’ve ever put a number on.