Top Bourbons for Kentucky Derby Day

Made by Heaven Hill Distillery, this Henry McKenna bottling is a Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Aged 10 years, this release is also a single barrel release with each bottle bearing both the bottling date and the barrel number. Single barrel whiskeys are unique bottlings so your mileage may vary, but you'll generally be sipping a rye-drinker's bourbon. Big, bold, spicy and a great choice for an Old Fashioned--go easy on the sugar, amp up the bitters a bit and garnish with a single orange peel.

Woodford Reserve is known for aging their bourbon in heavily charred oak barrels, which give the whiskey a distinctive, deep, rich flavor and feel. Double Oaked is the same bourbon, given a second maturation, or finish, in barrels that have been toasted twice as long, but charred much more lightly than the other casks, for an additional 9 months. A package redesign was introduced in late 2016, featuring a shorter and wider bottle. It is still bottled at 45.2% ABV.

Wheated bourbon is bourbon with wheat as the predominant grain in the mash bill after corn. Traditionally, rye takes that second billing. Weller 12 Year is often referred to by some as the "poor man's Pappy". With the exception of the 23 Year Pappy Van Winkle which still has some Stitzel-Weller juice in it, all Pappy and Weller bourbons use the Buffalo Trace wheated mash bill. The main difference will be in the barrel management.

As the name indicates, this is a small batch whiskey comprised of selected whiskey barrels which were aged in Warehouse C. This warehouse was constructed by Colonel E.H. Taylor Jr in 1881. This bourbon is also a bonded whiskey which means that the bourbon was distilled in one season, aged for at least 4 years and bottled at 50% ABV.

W.L. Weller — named after William Larue Weller — is a wheated bourbon brand now owned by the Sazerac Company which acquired it in 1999. Made at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, Weller Special Reserve is the entry bottling to the Weller portfolio which features wheat instead of rye as the flavoring grain in the bourbon. It is a no-age statement release which is bottled at 90 proof.

The first mass-produced single-barrel bourbon, bottled by Master Distiller Elmer T Lee in 1984, gets its name from Colonel Albert Blanton. Colonel Blanton spent more than 55 years producing, studying and upholding whiskey traditions; holding almost every job imaginable at what is now the Buffalo Trace Distillery. Insider's note: Save the stoppers. They spell out Blanton's and depict eight different moments from the beginning to end of a horse race.

Four Roses Single Barrel is bottled at 50% ABV and is comprised of their OBSV recipe (Four Roses has 10 different recipes). It's a Kentucky straight bourbon made using a high-rye mash bill (60% corn, 35% rye, and 5% malted barley) and uses their delicate fruit yeast strain. Each batch will vary slightly as is to be expected from single-barrel bottlings.

Four Roses Small Batch is a straight bourbon that is comprised of 4 of the 10 recipes Four Roses employs. They use an equal measure of both of their mash bills (60% corn, 35% rye, 5% barley and 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% barley). They also use yeast strains which highlight both a light and spicy profile along with a rich and fruity one. It is bottled at 45% ABV.

Since 1983, the master distiller for Heaven Hill has chosen select barrels for this single barrel series. Each bottle is dated with the vintage date of when the bourbon was distilled along with the year it was bottled. Additionally, each bottle bares a serial number of the barrel from which it was drawn. Bottled at 86.6 proof.

Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon is one of the flagship products from Buffalo Trace Distillery. It is made from a low-rye mash bill and is aged for at least 10 years at the Kentucky distillery. The barrels are hand selected for quality and consistency before bottling. While the bottling proof was originally 101 when the brand was first released in 1974, it has been bottled at 90 proof since 2005.