9 Best Bourbons Under $100 Worth Spending Your Money On

The bourbon shelf between $50 and $100 is where the real action happens. You’re past the entry-level stuff, but you haven’t yet crossed into “save it for an extremely special occasion” territory. This is the sweet spot: cask-strength releases, age-stated beauties and limited-edition blends that punch well above their price tags.

The rankings below are built on The Daily Pour Critics’ Score, our proprietary metric that aggregates house ratings with scores from the most trusted critics across the internet. Ties are broken by price, accessibility and overall narrative weight.

9. Middle West Spirits Cask Strength Straight Wheated Bourbon Whiskey Michelone Reserve

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Columbus, Ohio’s Middle West Spirits released this four-grain cask strength wheated bourbon in October 2024, priced at $69.99, and it’s a compelling entry from a distillery that doesn’t get nearly enough national attention. Built from non-GMO yellow corn, soft red winter wheat, two-row barley and dark pumpernickel rye, the Michelone Reserve Batch 001 comes in at 61.1% ABV and leads with a nose that smells like a Sunday brunch spread: French toast, buttercream frosting, cornbread and gingerbread, with walnuts lurking in the background. The palate adds orange peel and Demerara to the cornbread base, then layers in butterscotch, cherries, cinnamon and a crack of pepper. The finish is long and leans into char and cinnamon before circling back to luxardo and buttercream. At 120-plus proof, the heat is real but never punishing, and the soft sweetness of Middle West’s wheated profile stays intact throughout. A strong debut batch.

8. High West Cask Strength Bourbon Batch 25K14 (2026)

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High West‘s new Cask Strength Bourbon is a blending showcase, full stop. The Park City, Utah operation sourced every drop of this from Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee (none of it is distilled in-house, interestingly), pulling together bourbons aged anywhere from six to 20 years across five distinct mashbills. The result, bottled at 58.5% ABV and priced at $69.99, is a non-chill filtered blend that smells like a diner counter at closing time: Demerara, gingerbread, anise, cola, marshmallow fluff and cornbread. On the palate, cinnamon and candied ginger kick things off before the sweetness takes over with cornbread, rhubarb and brown sugar. The finish dries out with dusty oak and maple syrup, then opens back up with blueberry preserves, blackberries and a whisper of tobacco and clove. It’s a well-balanced, crowd-pleasing release, and a smart addition to High West’s core portfolio.

7. Booker’s 2025-02 ‘By the Pond’

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At $99.99, Booker’s 2025-02 “By the Pond” sits at the very top of this list’s price ceiling, and it earns every cent. Beam’s “Booker’s” batches are usually worth the spend, and this one is our favorite batch in recent memory. Aged 7 years, 1 month and 20 days and bottled uncut and unfiltered at a bruising 63.25% ABV, this batch from Beam is dark, brooding and loaded with personality. The nose is a dessert counter: confectioner’s sugar, cookie dough, icing and butterscotch on one side; coffee grounds, dark chocolate and black cherry on the other, with gingerbread and anise threading between them. The oily palate brings heat, but it’s measured, and the pastry notes (buttercream, cornbread, peanut brittle) share space with cherry, peach cobbler and orange peel, while bitter tannin, coffee and tobacco keep the whole thing from tipping too sweet. The finish goes long with apple pie a la mode, brown sugar, lemon oil, leather and tannin. Big, bold and beautifully structured.

6. George Dickel Bottled in Bond 13 Year

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Distilled by Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. in 2008 and bottled in 2021 under Bottled-in-Bond regulations, this 13-year-old Dickel is the kind of age-stated American whiskey that makes you question why you’d spend more. The nose opens with bold butter toffee, sour apple, rising bread, nougat, sourdough and a light dusting of pepper and clove. The palate is rich and viscous with lemon curd, toffee and a faint touch of coffee, while the finish is impressively long, a bit bitter in the best way, and closes out with cocoa, nougat and something that lands like a PayDay bar.

5. Yellowstone Limited Edition Aged 10 Years (2025)

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The 2025 edition of Yellowstone Limited Edition marks a first for the series: for the first time, the blend steps outside Kentucky, bringing together bourbon from Limestone Branch Distillery with barrels from Indiana’s Ross & Squibb (the distillery most people still call MGP). Bottled at 105 proof and priced at $99.99, the three-mashbill blend is sweet, soft and well-structured at 52.5% ABV. The nose leans into corn-heavy sweetness, with butterscotch, caramel corn, white chocolate chips and crème brûlée alongside a nice raspberry filling note and powdered ginger. The palate follows with soft oak and baking spice, cherry and raspberry, then crème brûlée and smoked oak. The finish is long and drying, moving through cinnamon and clove, dark coffee and cacao, dried cherry and raisin, before landing on vanilla custard and waffle cone. Balanced, rewarding and a strong showing for a series that keeps raising its own bar.

4. Larceny Barrel Proof Bourbon Batch B525

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Larceny Barrel Proof Batch B525 is the May 2025 release from Heaven Hill’s beloved wheated cask-strength series, distilled from its 68% corn, 20% wheat and 12% malted barley mashbill and bottled at 58.7% ABV for around $65. The nose is all vanilla custard and graham cracker, with golden raisin, madeleines, macadamia nuts and maple adding depth. The palate is velvety, with a pleasant oakiness balancing out a big, sweet profile: peanut brittle, cola, black cherry, molasses, nougat, caramel, Red Hots, a touch of mint and a faint mineral note. The finish runs long with tannin, soft oak, clove, cinnamon, leather, brown sugar, cola, sassafras and marshmallow.

3. Barrell Bourbon

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Barrell Craft Spirits has released a staggering number of blended bourbon batches, and they’re frighteningly consistent. We’d recommend just about any batch (you should try as many as you can), but for this list we’ll spotlight a personal favorite, Batch 034. This is a blend of 6-, 8-, 10- and 15-year bourbons from Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky, bottled at 57.31% ABV. The nose is bold and rich: nutmeg, tannin, praline, caramel, a touch of fudge, light stone fruit and faint cherry cordial. The palate has a lightly syrupy viscosity that carries cocoa, toffee, salted caramel, pear and cherry. The finish is dry and cocoa-forward, packed with nougat, sweet cream, a shot of espresso and big peach and cherry notes. It’s the kind of release that darn near has it all, as our reviewer put it, and the layering of Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky character across multiple age statements is exactly what Barrell does better than almost anyone else in the blending game.

2. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch B525

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Released in May 2025 and priced at $75, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch B525 is the oldest ECBP batch since September 2023, clocking in at 11 years and 6 months from Heaven Hill’s 78% corn, 10% rye and 12% malted barley mashbill, bottled at a hefty 63.1% ABV. The nose is powerful but surprisingly light on its feet: Werther’s caramel candies, creamed corn, flan, pie crust, peanut butter, praline and cinnamon, with strawberries smothered in powdered sugar, luxardo cherry and plum evolving over time. The palate is chewy and rich, with oak and tannin announcing themselves immediately before giving way to a full frozen custard experience, a scoop of vanilla in a waffle cone topped with fudge and chopped peanuts, plus beignet, butterscotch, coffee grounds and nutmeg. A fruity side opens with more time in the glass: cherry, raisin, apple fritter and black cherry. The finish brings caramel corn, crème brûlée, blackberry ice cream, waffle cone, tannin, oak, peanut and milk chocolate-covered cherry. Bruising but sweet and layered, this is one of the best batches of ECBP in recent memory.

1. Still Austin Bottled In Bond Red Corn Bourbon (2025)

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The highest-scoring bourbon on this list at 94 points, and priced at $85, Still Austin’s Bottled In Bond Red Corn Bourbon is the kind of release that makes you wonder why Still Austin isn’t talked about in the same breath as the big Kentucky names. This is the third annual release of the Red Corn BiB, now six years old, distilled from a mashbill of 36% Jimmy Red corn, 34% white corn, 25% rye and 5% malted barley and bottled at 100 proof per Bottled-in-Bond law.

Six years in the Texas heat is not the same as six years in Kentucky or Indiana; the accelerated maturation wrings out a richness and oak presence that feels well beyond the age statement. The nose is sweet and inviting: buttercream, crème brûlée, stewed cherries and plums, cinnamon and sassafras. The palate is pleasantly oaky with graham cracker, butterscotch, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cherry, blackberry, fig and sassafras again. The finish stays rich and full, running through gingerbread, butterscotch, cherry, browned butter and chocolate shavings before signing off with oak and tannin. At $85, this is one of the most underrated annual bourbon releases in the country.

Still Austin releases a different Bottled-In-Bond expression each season, and Red Corn is the summer release — so keep your eyes peeled as the weather warmed up; the secret is out on how incredible this bourbon is, and it’s gotten tough to find.