The Best American Whiskeys Under $25

This is a Kentucky straight bourbon and is the entry-level bourbon for the brand. Four Roses has two separate mash bills they can use for their bourbons. One is labeled recipe "B" and is 60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% malted barley. The other is recipe "E" and is 75% corn, 20% rye, and 5% malted barley. Both mash bills are utilized for this bottling. Additionally, Four Roses uses up to five different yeast strains for their bourbons. All are used here. Over time, the Yellow Label bottle has changed with the label losing the yellow color. Beginning in spring 2018, the name for this product is simply "Four Roses Bourbon".

Wild Turkey is known to barrel its whiskey at a lower entry-proof, meaning the product is a lower proof as it comes off the still prior to maturing. That lower entry proof lends to more flavor from the mash bill (corn, rye, and malted barley). Wild Turkey Bourbon 101 is pulled from the barrel at 109 proof before being proofed down only a touch.

Old Grand-Dad is based on the high-rye bourbon recipe made famous by Basil Hayden -- it's his picture on the bottle. This is the Bottled-In-Bond version of Old Grand-Dad Bourbon, meaning it was all distilled in the same calendar year. Additionally, it was aged at least 4 years under government supervision, and it is bottled at 50% ABV. Along with Old Overholt Rye, Old Grand-Dad falls under "The Olds" whiskeys released by Jim Beam. 

Rebel Yell is a wheated bourbon brand contract distilled at Heaven Hill Distillery, but owned by Luxco, Inc. Rebel Yell has been a registered brand since 1936 although the recipe for the bourbon dates back to 1849. It is bottled without an age statement at 80 proof. Note: The portfolio for Rebel Yell all received a makeover with updated labels in April 2019. Also, the brand has since changed the name from Rebel Yell to simply Rebel so this product has been discontinued.

Old No. 7 (sometimes referred to as Black Label or just Jack) is made from a mash bill of 80% corn, 12% barley, and 8% rye. Limestone-filtered water and a starter mash (aka sour mash) from previous batches are added for fermentation to allow for consistency. After a six-day fermentation, the mash is distilled to 140 proof. The new-make whiskey is then charcoal-mellowed through 10 feet of maple charcoal prior to aging. Aged at least four years in new, charred American oak barrels which the distillery makes itself.

That's right, folks, a Bonded version of Old Overholt. Distilled in one season, at one distillery, and bottled at 100 proof. This straight rye whiskey is aged for four years in new, charred American oak. Product launched in February 2018 with availability limited to the US.

The name Old Forester was allegedly chosen in honor of a doctor named Forrester, who regularly prescribed the bourbon to his patients at a time when it was still sold in pharmacies "for medicinal purposes." However, the signature for which this bourbon gets its name and which is displayed on each bottle, is the founder of the brand, George Garvin Brown. This is made in both 86 and 100 proof versions.

Production started on Ezra Brooks around the 1950s by the Medley Distillery. Today the brand is owned by Luxco. Its mash bill consists of corn, rye, and malted barley. This Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey bears no age statement and is bottled at 90 proof. In 2018, Luxco opened Lux Row Distillers in Bardstown, KY so expect the bourbon to be made there in the future. 

Larceny Small Batch is a brand extension of Heaven Hill's Old Fitzgerald line. According to their story, back in the day, John E. Fitzgerald used his privilege of holding the keys to Pappy Van Winkle's bonded warehouse, where the Old Fitzgerald bourbons were kept, to steal the best casks for himself. These became known as the "Fitzgerald Barrels." Larceny is a wheated straight bourbon made from a blend of selected barrels made in honor of this legend. It bears no-age statement and is bottled at 92 proof.

George Dickel No. 12 is made from a mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% barley. Of course, as this is a Tennessee whisky (their spelling), it does go through the Lincoln County process of filtering through sugar maple charcoal. However, instead of the whisky being continuously dripped through a large vat of charcoal like Jack Daniel's, Dickel distillate is placed in a vat along with the charcoal and allowed to sit for a few days before it is drained. Aged for an unspecified amount of time in new, charred American oak before bottling at 90 proof.

"Bottled in Bond" used to be a code for "the good stuff." Bonded whiskey is subject to regulation and production rules above and beyond those that normally govern the production of whiskey. Aged at least four years, with a higher proof, and in strictly controlled warehouses, this bottle is a return to a classic expression of whiskey.