The Best Bourbons Under $40 (2021)

Written by Brian Donnelly, CSS, WSET III

July 12, 2021

TL;DR

The Best Bourbon between $30 and $40 – Woodford Reserve

The Runner Up – Russell’s Reserve 10 Year-Old

The Best Entry Level Bourbon – Basil Hayden

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

Overview

The $30 to $40 price range offers a wide selection of high-quality Bourbons. With each jump in price tier, it becomes more challenging to find noticeable differences in quality between popular brands. Since there is excellent Bourbon at every price point, the consumer can be more critical of the products with higher price points. For the most part, there is no best bourbon, because that answer lies solely the drinker.

I’ve listed a few bourbons below that I believe bring tremendous value for the money. I’ve chosen Woodford Reserve as my favorite option at this price point. What can I say? I’ve been a Woodford and Chris Morris fanboy for many years. Many of my peers in the spirits world believe that Russell’s Reserve 10 Year-Old or another brand is the dominant player at this price point. This means you’ll need to go out there and sample many different brands and form your own opinion. Challenging work, right?

The Rules

The deciding factor I look for the most is value. Is this product delivering real value for the money? To be considered a great bourbon to me, I’m searching for three things mostly:

  1. Does this product have a unique flavor, or is it muted or generic?

  2. Does this product deliver a depth of complexity with its flavor?

  3. Finally, what kind of finish and length does this product have?

I'm not too fond of the notion of scores, rankings, or ratings. I also don't care about, including tasting notes. The only thing that is important to me is if the quality and taste of the product are worth its retail asking price.

I did include a few rules to give myself some constraints.

  1. This tasting only included Bourbon and not all American Whiskeys, so I didn't include any Rye, Tennessee Whiskey, Blended, Wheat, Malt, or American Single Malt.

  2. I choose to not included any "allocated items." I want all options to be widely and readily available to all consumers.

  3. No wine cask finished products, such as Sherry, Port, or Madeira.

  4. There are no Limited-Time Releases, Store Pick Single Barrels, or Distillery Exclusives.

What about Allocated Bourbons?

One elephant in the room I would like to address is allocated, limited, or challenging to find bourbons. Due to Bourbon’s rising popularity, demand has often outstripped supply for many brands, especially many famous brands from the Buffalo Trace Distillery. My goal is that every Bourbon I recommend in this article series is readily available to the average consumer. I tasted four bourbons in this price range that would be considered allocated: 1792 Bottled-In-Bond, E.H. Taylor, Jr. Small Batch, W.L. Weller 12 Year-Old, and Eagle Rare. All are great bourbons, and depending on the retail mark-up, they are worth purchasing. Besides excluding allocated bourbons, I also decided to leave out all barrel-proof and wine cask finished products. The complete list of the fifteen bourbons considered for this price range is listed at the bottom of this page.

Let's examine the winners:

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The Best Bourbon between $30 and $40

Woodford Reserve, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Woodford Reserve is a unique combination of pot and column still Bourbon, produced at the historic former Labrot and Graham Distillery in Versailles, Kentucky by Master Distiller and industry legend Chris Morris. Woodford Reserve is the Official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby.

Brian’s Note: Woodford Reserve, to me, is the defining Bourbon in this price range. Complex and versatile, this brand provides excellent value for the money to the consumer.

Parent Company: Brown-Forman Company, Lousiville, Kentucky

Mash Bill: 72% Corn, 18% Rye, 10% Malt

Proof: 90.4 (45.2% ABV)

Retail Price: $35 (750ml)

For more information about the history of Woodford Reserve, click here.

The Runner Up

Russell’s Reserve 10 Year-Old, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

This brand is named for the legendary father and son duo, Jimmy and Eddie Russell, who both work side by side as current Master Distillers at Wild Turkey. This expression is produced from Wild Turkey’s signature mash bill from hand-selected barrels that have been matured for a minimum of 10 years.

Brian’s Note: Many brands are removing their age statements because it gives Blenders more flexibility in choosing barrel options for their final flavor profile. Like Scotch, when a Bourbon lists an age statement on the bottle, the youngest whiskey in that bottle must be that age statement. I love that Wild Turkey has chosen to keep the age statement. This product is a sleeper and offers consumers tremendous value for their money.

Parent Company: Campari Group, Milan Italy

Mash Bill: 75% Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Malted Barley

Proof: 90 (45% ABV)

Retail Price: $34 (750 ml)

For more information about the history of Russell’s Reserve 10 Year, click here.

The Best Entry Level Bourbon

Basil Hayden, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Basil Hayden is a light-bodied high rye bourbon produced by the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, as part of their Small Batch Bourbon Collection.

Brian’s Note: I would love to see Jim Beam offer this product at a higher proof, and non-chill filtered. While this brand is undoubtedly tasty and perfect for the customer base they’re targeting, but it feels like the producer is intentionally holding back on what could be something so much more.

Parent Company: Beam Suntory, Chicago, Illinois

Mash Bill: Unknown, Traditional Bourbon, High Rye

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)

Retail Price: $40

For more information about the history of Basil Hayden, click here.

Closing Thoughts

Your order preference might be slightly different than mine, and that's perfectly ok! The best Bourbon within any price range lies entirely in the drinker's palate, but the four options featured in this article should be a great starting point. I've included a link in the description below with the written details from this video and the complete list of all options that I sampled in this price range.

Please drink responsibly.

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Tasted and Reviewed in September of 2020

  • Chattanooga 91 - $34

  • Eagle Rare - $34

  • Russell’s Reserve 10 Year - $34

  • Jefferson’s - $35, Woodford Reserve - $35

  • Smooth Ambler Contradiction - $35

  • Four Roses Small Batch - $35

  • Maker’s Mark 46 - $35

  • Wild Turkey Longbranch - $36

  • I.W. Harper - $36

  • Weller 12 Year - $38

  • Breckenridge - $40

  • Wyoming - $40

  • E.H. Taylor, Jr. - $40

  • Basil Hayden - $40

Affiliate Disclosure

The links for product recommendations in this post are affiliate links. At zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. This helps support this channel so that I can continue to bring you new content.