Starting whiskey recs v2.0

Since publishing the original Starting Whiskey Recommendations a few things have bugged me. First, it seemed silly to include two Bourbons from Wild Turkey when there are other great producers. Second, the McKenna Single Barrel has gotten nearly impossible to find, much more so for anywhere near $30. Once deciding to make some updates to the Bourbon it only made sense to add in Rye (an oversight the first time around) and tweak the Scotch, where I also thought improvements could be made. At that point a whole new post was warranted, and with me continuing to learn and the ever-changing market it makes sense to do this periodically anyway. Plus, if I'm being honest, it is/was a puzzle to obsess over.

This time I'm adding categories to better explain the thought process and not letting myself re-use a whiskey maker. To get around this, I'm also slightly expanding what I'm recommending by including alternatives in some categories. These aren't beholden to the no duplicates rule.

The below whiskies are still intended to be a starting point for someone new to it, covering different styles, distilleries and more. Including whiskies both reasonably easy to find and (generally) consistently well-priced was a big focus. You may have to shop around a little but it shouldn't be a complete pain. In addition, each bottle I consider to be good quality and (for the most part) we're skipping over those on the bottom-shelf. Included are name, approximate ideal price (for 750ml), proof, distillery/producer and a description.

Without further ado, here are 6 Bourbons, 3 Ryes, 7 Scotches and 2 Irish. That makes 18 total, pushed up to 24 including the alternates. Hopefully that's not too much to handle. If all this interests you, I'm still intending to do a mid-range post, and have been working on it, but that's going to take some more time (and $).

Bourbon

All the options listed below are 'Kentucky Straight Bourbon' and, naturally, come from Kentucky. The absolute max price for any is $35 and most come in easily below.

Personal Favorite

1. Knob Creek Small Batch

• ~$30

• 100 proof

• Jim Beam distillery

• First Bourbon I liked and still a favorite, good age and balanced profile

Sweeter Staple/Hunt Target

2. Buffalo Trace

• <$30

• 90 proof

• Buffalo Trace distillery (Sazerac)

• One everyone should try, drinkable and affordable, now usually requires some hunting

Spicier Staple

3. Wild Turkey 101 -> my review

• <$25

• 101 proof

• Wild Turkey distillery

• Other end of the spectrum, rye spiciness, too good for price, literally everywhere

True Budget

4. Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond (white label)

• ~$15

• 100 proof

• Heaven Hill distillery

• Best of an altogether great budget brand, lacking depth but good flavor, a steal

Or try: Jim Beam Black Extra-Aged (<$20)

Lower Proof Sipper

5. Woodford Reserve Distiller's Edition

• ~$32

• 90.4 proof

• Woodford Reserve distillery (Brown-Forman)

• Quality if not super special, easy to drink/find, very reasonably priced in crazy market

Or try: 1792 Small Batch (~$30)

Full Flavored

6. Johnny Drum Private Stock

• ~$32

• 101 proof

• Willett distillery

• Certainly rougher around the edges but robust flavor, surprised not more popular

Or try: OGD 114 ("Old Grand-Dad" ~$32) -> my review

Rye

These are also whiskies exclusively from the United States, different from Canadian 'Rye.' Unlike Bourbon, which comes from 51+% corn in the mash, Rye is 51+% rye grain. The flavor is thus generally drier and spicier. The first two are 'Straight Rye' and the third is a blend.

Sweet and Spicy Old Style

1. Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond

• ~$25

• 100 proof

• Heaven Hill distillery (Kentucky)

• Old Monongahela (PA) style, incredible combo of fruit and rye, stupidly cheap too

Prototypical Rye

2. Sazerac Rye

• <$30

• 90 proof

• Buffalo Trace distillery (Kentucky)

• 'Baby Saz' built an empire in New Orleans, hardish to find but great taste and value

Very Rye Forward

3. High West Double Rye!

• ~$30

• 100 proof

• High West distillery (Utah)

• A delicious rye-full punch in the mouth, from some genius blenders in Utah

Or try: Bulleit 95 Rye (<$30)

Scotch

It's pretty crazy how high Scotch prices are right now. Even with the Biden Administration ending tariffs on single malts (yay!), we probably won't see the change reflected in stores for a while. This, combined with the nature of an import, means that Scotch will continue to have a higher entry point than Bourbon, which is set here up to ~$50. The few changes made below were to better show the diversity of flavors.

Classic Malt Blend

1. Monkey Shoulder -> my review

• ~$33

• 80 proof

• Made by William Grant & Sons

• Combo of 3 Speyside whiskies, a great intro to malt whisky in general, light and sweet

Or try: Great King's Street Artists Blend (~$36) -> my review

Smoky Blend

2. Johnnie Walker Double Black

• ~$35

• 80 proof

• Made by Diageo

• JW with extra Islay whisky, smoke and oil and fruit, a relatively gentle intro to peat

Citrusy Single Malt

3. Glenmorangie Original 10 year

• ~$40

• 80 proof

• Glenmorangie distillery, Highlands

• Crisp citrus, subtle and well-balanced, always my first single malt recommendation

Floral Single Malt

4. Glenlivet 12 year

• <$45

• 80 proof

• Glenlivet distillery, Speyside

• Wish it was still cheaper but hugely available, more floral, incredibly drinkable

Sherried Single Malt

5. Aberlour 12 year

• ~$50 (the only one really pushing the limit)

• 80 proof

• Aberlour distillery, Speyside

• A favorite distillery, sherry maturation lends rich sweet and spice (think Christmas cake)

Coastal Funk Single Malt

6. Old Pulteney 12 year

• ~$42

• 80 proof

• Old Pulteney distillery, Highlands

• Some drams feel impacted by the sea, salt and a hint of smoke gives funky complexity

Peated Single Malt

7. Laphroaig 10 year -> my review

• <$45

• 86 proof

• Laphroaig distillery, Islay

• Peat flavors distinctly Islay, medicinal, fruit and seaweed and smoke

Or try: Ardbeg 10 (<$50)

Irish

In the past year I've tried a few more Irish whiskies in this tier but nothing will be replacing the two below, for now. Powers is the next brand to explore.

Triple Distilled Classic Irish

1. Tullamore D.E.W.

• ~$22

• 80 proof

• Tullamore Dew distillery

• Sweet, fruity, more interesting than you'd think and oh so smooth

Step-up/More Flavorful Irish

2. Jameson Black Barrel

• ~$35

• 80 proof

• New Midleton distillery

• Best Jameson in the tier (Caskmates good too), double charring gives extra flavor
  

Well, I don't know about you, but I think this is an improvement. Hopefully someone gets something out of it, and if not it was just a continuation of a fun exercise for me. As always let me know what you think. I love to talk about this stuff.

For today, adios.