TL;DR

The Best Bourbon between $10 and $20 – Old Forester 86

The Runner Up – Old Charter

The Third Option – Old Grand-Dad 80

The Best Value for the Money – Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond

Special Note

I plan to redo this entire series in 2022 to reflect the many new options available at each price point.

- Brian, December 2021

The Best Bourbon Under $20

Old Forester 86, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky

The Old Forester brand has been around since 1870, when a Louisville Pharmaceutical rep named George Garvin Brown was the first person to sell Bourbon in a packaged and sealed bottle, giving customers a consistent and high-quality product that they could trust. The brand has been produced without interruption since 1870, including providing Bourbon for "medicinal prescriptions" for the thirteen years of Prohibition. The Brown-Forman family still carries on the family legacy that George began, and every bottle of Old Forester Bourbon still has the wording "The First Bottled Bourbon."

Old Forester 86 is the first or entry-level expression in the extensive Old Forester family of brands. This product is owned by American Whiskey giant Brown-Forman and is produced at the Brown-Forman Distillery near Dixie Highway in Shively, Kentucky. The company has built a beautiful new distillery for Old Forester on Main Street's historic whiskey row in downtown Louisville in recent years. To my knowledge, all the commercially available product though is still produced at the Brown-Forman Distillery. The Whiskey Row distillery is open to the public, and the tour is definitely worth it. Book a tour.

Parent Company: Brown-Forman Company, Louisville, Kentucky

Mash Bill: 72% Corn, 18% Rye, 10% Malted Barley

Proof: 86 (43% ABV)

Retail Price: $20 (750 ML)

For more information about the history of Old Forester, click here.

The Runner Up

Old Charter No. 8, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

This brand is produced at the legendary Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfurt, Kentucky. Buffalo Trace does not publicly disclose the exact breakdown of their brand's mash bills, but Old Charter uses mash bill #1, a traditional bourbon mash bill of corn, rye, and malted barley, but with a low rye content. This is the same mash bill as other popular Buffalo Trace brands, including Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor, and George T. Stagg. Compared to Old Forester 86, which has a higher rye content, Old Charter will have a little less spicy and might appeal more to a beginner whiskey drinker.

Parent Company: Sazerac Company, New Orleans, Louisiana

Mash Bill: Unknown, Buffalo Trace’s Mash Bill #1, Low Rye

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)

Retail Price: $18 (750 ML)

For more information about the history of the Buffalo Trace Distillery, click here.

The Third Option

Old Grand-Dad 80, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

This brand has been popular among bartenders and industry professionals for years. This brand is owned by Beam-Suntory and produced at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, using a unique high rye traditional Bourbon mash bill. The Old Grand-Dad family of brands includes the 80 proof, Bottled-in-Bond, and the 114, and they're all great Bourbons for the price.

Old Grand-Dad was named for distiller Basil Hayden, whose high rye Bourbon recipe was passed down for generations. During the thirteen years of Prohibition, Old Grand-Dad was produced and sold by the American Medicinal Spirits Company for "medicinal prescription."

Parent Company: Beam Suntory, Chicago, Illinois 

Mash Bill: Unknown, Traditional Bourbon, High Rye

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)

Retail Price: $14 (750 ML)  

The Best Value for the Money

Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Finally, I wanted to include one more option that I thought offered a lot of value for the price. The Evan Williams Botted-in-Bond delivers a high-quality certified Bottled-in-Bond product for around $14 for a 750 ML. This expression is owned and produced by Heaven Hill Brands in Bardstown, Kentucky.

The mash bill is 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley. I sampled three Evan William expressions in this competitive set, and the white label Bottled-in-Bond outshined both the original black label and the 1738 sour mash.

Many of you might be wondering, what does Bottled-in-Bond mean?

To qualify, the whiskey must be from a single distillery, and the bottled product must come from the same distilling season, either January 1st to June 30th or July 1st to December 31st. It must be aged for at least four years in wood containers and bottled at 100 proof, or 50% ABV. This is a labeling term frequently seen on whiskey labels, but it is not limited to whiskey. Other spirit categories can also be labeled bottled-in-bond.

When the US Bottled-in-Bond Act was passed in 1879, it was meant to give consumers a labeling term to have some base measure of quality for the product they were purchasing. The risk of buying rotgut whiskey made from neutral grain spirits and tobacco juice is no longer a threat to consumers. However, the labeling term Bottled-in-Bond still reassures buyers that the product they're purchasing meets a base standard of quality.

Parent Company: Heaven Hill Brands, Bardstown, Kentucky

Mash Bill: 78% Corn, 10% Rye, 12% Malted Barley

Proof: 100 (50% ABV)

Retail Price: $14 (750 ML) 

• Henry McKenna - $10

• Benchmark - $11

• Evan Williams Black - $12

• Evan Williams 1738 - $14

• Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond - $14

• Old Grand-Dad 80 - $14

• Ezra Brooks - $15

• Jim Beam White - $16

• Rebel Yell - $16

• Old Charter - $18

• Old Forester 86 - $20

• Jim Beam Black - $20

• Four Roses - $20

• Wild Turkey 101 - $20