The Top 2017 North American Whiskeys Under $100

This bottling from Crown Royal is the second in the Noble Collection following their Cornerstone Release in 2016. This Canadian whisky uses Crown Royal's De Luxe Whisky as the base and finishes the aging process in former Californian Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. Bottled at 40.5% ABV and available beginning spring 2017 in the US and Canada.

This Kentucky straight rye is made by taking Michter's US*1 Single Barrel Rye at barrel strength and finishing it in a secondary barrel. These finishing barrels are made from 24 month air-dried staves. The barrels were toasted, not charred. As the rye whiskey is bottled at cask strength, the proof will vary. On average, it is 108.6 proof. This limited release is hitting shelves beginning September 2017.

This Kentucky Rye consists of a four-year-old rye which then sees an additional seven years in newly charred quarter-cask oak barrels. This re-barreled rye then gets blended with straight rye whiskey to create Basil Hayden's first "limited edition" offering. It is bottled at 40% ABV.

This bottling marks the 12th release in Woodford Reserve's Master's Collection which was first introduced in 2006. As the name suggests, malted barley is smoked with cherry wood in the kilning process for this Kentucky straight bourbon. This smoked malted barley makes up 30% of the mashbill, much higher than is traditionally used in bourbon production. Bottled at 45.2% ABV, there is no age statement. Available in select US and international markets beginning November 2017.

Little Book Chapter 01: The Easy is the first whiskey created by Freddie Noe, 8th generation whiskey maker and grandson of Booker Noe. Booker nicknamed Freddie "Little Book" hence the name of the whiskey. This will be an annual release with a different blend each year, and like Booker's Bourbon, will be uncut and unfiltered. This whiskey is not a bourbon, but a blended American whiskey comprised of all straight whiskey. The components: 13 year-old corn whiskey (aged in used barrels), 4 year-old bourbon, and rye and malt whiskey each aged about 6 years. All but the corn whiskey were aged in new, charred barrels. No neutral spirit, no color nor flavoring is added all of which are allowed in this category. Expected to hit shelves in October 2017.

The brand calls this their "triple-terroir expression," utilizing rye grain, water, and oak locally sourced from their grain-to-glass Vermont farm distillery that opened in 2015. Farmstock Crop No. 001 is a rye whiskey comprised of 20% WhistlePig's triple-terroir whiskey that aged in Vermont oak for at least 1 year, 49% 5-year rye whisky from Alberta Distillers that also aged in Vermont oak, and 31% 12-year rye from MGP in Indiana. All were blended together and bottled at 43% ABV.

High West is back with a limited edition of Bourye. Released February 2017, this is made by blending together straight bourbon (75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley mashbill), and straight rye whiskey (95% rye, 5% malted barley mashbill). The whiskey in the blend is aged between 10 and 14 years, and sourced from MGP. The expression is bottled at 46% ABV.

Double Cask was released in January 2017 from Wyoming Whiskey. They take their five year old bourbon, and finish a batch of it in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. The bourbon itself has a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley, and the expression is bottled at 50% ABV. Seven states will receive a shipment of Double Cask, with a total release of 110 cases.

Released in August 2017, this is distilled at House Spirits in Portland, Ore. The American single malt whiskey is distilled from Oregon two-row pale malted barley which was fermented with ale yeast. It is double pot-distilled and aged in full-sized, new charred American oak barrels. Each bottling is comprised of several single barrels, typically five to six for each batch. The whiskey is non chill-filtered and bottled at 45% ABV.

The first batch of the 2017 Booker's Bourbon releases is named for Tommy Crume. Tommy worked alongside Booker Noe at the Jim Beam Distillery and worked his way up to Distillery Manager. After almost 30 years, he retired in 2016. This batch was selected by Fred Noe, Beam's Master Distiller, along with Tommy himself, Booker's Roundtable, and a select group of whiskey experts and writers. The batch comes from two production dates and aged in three different 9-story warehouses. 41% came from the 6th floor of Warehouse E, 13% from the 6th floor of Warehouse H, and 46% came from the 7th floor of Warehouse D.