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The Best Cheap Whiskey You Can Buy

Whiskey, despite going off like a bomb this past decade, can still be an affordable game to play.

collage of three bottles of whiskeyDrizly

By Chris Wright and Johnny Brayson

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Even when your whiskey budget is tight, the liquor store shelf beckons like a boozy vending machine. Whiskey, despite going off like a bomb this past decade, remains an affordable game to play. But it’s also tough.

Products in the Guide

If you have, say, a Jackson and a Hamilton in your pocket, you are spoiled for choice. And while there are no right or wrong picks on the path to loving whiskey, some decisions might be wiser than others when it comes to cheap whiskey. Here are some of the best whiskeys to reach for that are affordable without sacrificing quality.

Best Overall Affordable Whiskey

  • Distillery: Buffalo Trace
  • Proof: 90
  • Price: $25 – $35

Buffalo Trace’s flagship bottle is an industry-standard — so much so that it often feels less exciting than its affordable competitors. But there’s much to be said for plain old quality. The juice in the buffalo bottle is aged at least eight years, according to BT, and it’s a younger version of some of the stuff that finds its way into some of bourbon’s most sought-after bottles. Its flavor isn’t as unique or punchy as some other bottles on this list, but it’s a great benchmark for simple, delicious “bourbony” flavors.

Best Affordable Wheated Bourbon

  • Distillery: Maker’s Mark
  • Proof: 90
  • Price: $20 – $30

The red wax seal; the Scottish spelling of “whisky.” It’s easy to love Maker’s and its quirks. Particularly easy, since it’s an affordable wheated bourbon — putting it in the same hallowed category of the Pappys and Wellers of the world, but for a whole lot less scratch. It’s got a big name, which sometimes pushes its price up, but it’s not uncommon to find it for around 20 bucks. That’s hard to beat.

Best Affordable High-Rye Bourbon

  • Distillery: Wild Turkey
  • Proof: 101
  • Price: $25 – $35

Wild Turkey bourbon has been around for a long time, since the 1940s; its master distiller, Jimmy Russell, has too (his son Eddie Russell is also a master distiller). Wild Turkey also makes an 80-proof bourbon, but the 101 is its true flagship. It has a mash bill that’s “high rye” (75 percent corn, 13 percent rye, 12 percent malted barley), giving it some spice to go along with its notable heat, and is aged in barrels with a deep char, then bottled at near barrel-proof. The result is a flavor bomb.

Best Affordable Rye Whiskey

  • Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery
  • Proof: 80
  • Price: $20 – $25

A quintessential cocktail whiskey. Thanks to its low price and consistent, balanced flavor, Old Overholt has been a go-to choice by bartenders for decades now. Rye whiskey, not bourbon, is the traditional choice for classic cocktails like the old fashioned and Manhattan, and Old Overholt — with its distinct caramelly notes — will never let you down in either.

Best Affordable Sleeper Whiskey

  • Distillery: Old Forester Distilling Company
  • Proof: 100
  • Price: $25 – $30

Old Forester is indeed an old brand — at 150 years and going, it’s the longest-running bourbon brand. It’s so old that its big innovation was being sold only in sealed glass bottles. In the past few years, the brand has gained some lost ground back in prestige, and the 100 proof is part of that. It’s a rich, flavorful bourbon with a mash bill that’s 70 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and 10 percent malted barley.

Best Affordable Sipping Whiskey

  • Distillery: Starward Australian Whisky
  • Proof: 80
  • Price: $30 – $35

Melbourne’s Starward has only been around since 2007, but over the last decade-and-a-half, the upstart Australian distillery has managed to win over the whiskey world. The brand’s unique combination of aging its whiskeys in wine barrels over a short “elemental maturation” period where they’re exposed to naturally occurring and rapidly changing temperatures results in a spirit that’s exceptionally smooth and bursting with unique flavors.

Two-Fold is the brand’s entry-level whiskey, and it’s terrific. A double mashbill of wheat and malted barley makes for a mellow and creamy sipper that’s slightly sweet, and a total delight on its own or in a cocktail. And we’re not the only ones who think so: the whiskey took home a Gold medal at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, part of a dominant performance from Starward that saw the brand earn the Most Awarded Distillery of the Year title.

Read our full Starward Australian Whisky review.

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Best Affordable Bottled-in-Bond Whiskey

  • Distillery: Brown-Forman / Sazerac
  • Proof: 100
  • Price: $22 – $30 (1L bottle)

Early Times, recently acquired from Brown-Forman by Sazerac, is one of the best-kept secrets on the bottom shelf. Firstly, it comes in a one-liter bottles that are perfect for keeping as your home bar’s well bourbon or, even better, a bourbon to pull out when a crowd comes over. It’s also a really balanced bourbon that weds price, proof, age and flavor profile nicely. And it’s bottled-in-bond, which isn’t super common at this price point.

Best Affordable Scotch Whisky

  • Distillery: Brown-Forman / Sazerac
  • Proof: 80
  • Price: $40 – $50

“Budget” is best considered in relative terms in the scotch world. No, $50 is not cheap whiskey, but it is cheap and good scotch. Old Pulteney’s 12-year has been a favorite of value-minded scotch drinkers for years, and you can still enjoy it for a good price today.

Best Affordable Pappy Alternative

  • Distillery: Heaven Hill
  • Proof: 92
  • Price: $25 – $30

Heaven Hill’s budget wheated bourbon took over for its Old Fitzgerald line of whiskeys around 2012 (Old Fitz is available now in limited runs at high prices). Heaven Hill’s mash features 20 percent wheat, which is a slightly higher percentage than Maker’s. It’s an excellently balanced wheater, with notes of baking spices and lemon peel — our tester emptied his bottle pretty damn quickly. And while no one’s going to mistake this for a bottle of Pappy, it also isn’t going to set you back hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.

Best Affordable Japanese Whisky

  • Distillery: Suntory (multiple throughout Japan)
  • Proof: 86
  • Price:$40 – $45

In all likelihood, if Toki were made in the U.S. it would be cheaper. But it’s not, so … it’s not. Toki is Suntory’s mass-produced highball whisky. It’s made up of a number of spirits created across the company’s Japanese distillery collection, and it is as clean and crisp a whisky as you’ll taste.

Best Affordable High-Proof Whiskey

  • Distillery: Jim Beam
  • Proof: 114
  • Price: $25 – $35

OGD114 is the fullest, meatiest, fattiest cheap bourbon you can buy. Don’t just take it from us, though: the stuff has a cult following. As it should. It’s cheap, it’s got huge flavors, and, if you sip it neat, it’ll get you drunk. With a mash bill of 63% corn, 23% rye, and 10% malted barley, it’s a study in the power of secondary grains.

Best Affordable Bourbon Whiskey

  • Distillery: Heaven Hill
  • Proof: 87
  • Price: $25 – $35

Single-barrel whiskey is fun. You’re not drinking the blender’s best shot at bourbon — you’re sampling the boozy fruit of a single tree, which tends to have distinct flavor characteristics. But then, that depends on the barrel you get, doesn’t it? The problem: that sort of delicacy costs you more money. Evan Williams must have a brilliant barrel program because it does a solid job with this affordable version, with barrels that are usually between seven and eight years old. You can give it a taste and decide for yourself if you like what Evan Williams does with their whiskey.

Best Affordable Whiskey for Cocktails

  • Distillery: Four Roses
  • Proof: 80
  • Price: $20 – $25

Bourbon dudes clamber for the small batch and single barrel versions from Four Roses. But this baseline bottle is made by combining barrels from two high-rye mash bills, making it a balanced sipper or an excellent base for a cocktail.

Best Affordable Single-Barrel Whiskey

  • Distillery: Jim Beam
  • Proof: 95
  • Price: $30 – $40

It’s pulled from a single barrel of Jim Beam’s bourbon, which means you never know quite what you’re going to get. Overall though, it’s known as a steady-on whiskey and a fun alternative version of your normal old black label Jim.

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