Old Charter 8 Year

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $12
Place of Purchase: Somewhere in Nashville, TN
Rating: 7.8

The shock yellow label on this reminds me a bit of the way the old Jim Beam Rye labels looked before they switched to the ho-hum hue they use now—which is more like the color of your Dad’s faded Dockers. Old Charter is hardly a “sexy” name in the drinks biz, but it is one of the oldest. It was a brand I had heard of but never seen populating the shelves of New York liquor stores, so when I saw a bottle in a package store down in Tennessee, it was an easy call to grab it. The 12 dollar price tag certainly wasn’t discouraging me, either. At that price point, I was expecting an everyday “shot and a beer” type whiskey and that’s exactly what this is. At least the label is doing its part to set it apart from the pack. Otherwise, it’s just another in a long line of prosaic bourbons featuring the word “Old” in their name. They are legion.

Jim Beam Black

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $26
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

Like any red-blooded American, I've consumed my share of white-label Jim Beam over the years, but the older I get, the more I avoid it. Let's just say it does the job, but in this new era where a veritable explosion of single-barrel, small-batch whiskeys have raised the bar for American bourbon, "regular" Jim Beam has been relegated to where it belongs: a commodity to mix with Coke at a tailgate or teenage pool party. Jim Beam Black, however, is supposedly a cut above its fairer-labeled brother, a more refined, complex affair more suited to sipping neat on the front porch of your McMansion. Well, after sampling a bottle, I remain unconvinced. There's nothing "wrong" with Jim Beam Black but I can think of half a dozen bourbons at this price point I'd rather sit back and relax with. I'm truly sorry, that's just the way it is.

W.L. Weller 12 Year

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $18
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.2

William Larue Weller, what have you wrought? Quite a lot, I think. The entire Weller range provides some of the most reliable quaffs to be found at prices that'll leave you plenty of dosh in your pocket for the OTB or purchasing Halloween candies for the little ones. Warehouse was selling this for an absolutely sick sub-$20 price about a year ago, unfortunately I haven't seen it there recently. But even at its more typical low to mid twenties price, this is a bargain that almost seems unfair to the people producing it. I mean this is 12 year old bourbon! Granted it's not single-barrel, but it might as well be. There are flavors hitting from all directions in this and a finish that lets you down gently for the next go-round. Not sure what else "we" need in a drink, but if I can think of it, I'll tell you.

Eagle Rare Single Barrel

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.3

Eagle Rare isn't so rare, but it is definitely near the top of the heap as far single-barrel bourbons in the $25 range. In fact, you could say Eagle Rare commands an “aerie” far above all others, but that would be inaccurate, not to mention a rather childish way of looking at things. Better for you to just pour a glass of this rich and complex bourbon and relax a bit.

Ancient Ancient Age 10 Star

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $8 (375ml)
Place of Purchase: ABC Store - Asheville, NC
Rating: 8.5

I’m not sure what to read into it, but one of the small joys in my life is visiting liquor stores whenever I’m on the road, always on the lookout for a.) some obscure and never before seen brand or b.) a known and loved brand being sold at some ridiculously low price. Yes, it’s sad but true--I have basically memorized the price of almost every scotch, bourbon, vodka, gin and rum sold by Warehouse Spirits in NYC. Warehouse doesn’t have the lowest price in town on everything but it’s close enough to serve as a benchmark of sorts. In any case, this example has more to do with a.) than b.) , anyway.

The place was a state-run Asheville, NC ABC store. Time was pressing--I had a plane to catch and only about 5 minutes to scan the shelves for anything out of the ordinary. And there it was, a 375 ml bottle of Ancient Ancient Age Ten Star priced at 8 dollars. I’d heard of Ancient Age but hadn’t seen a bottle of it in almost 20 years. I remembered it being a “low-end” whiskey, but I figured 8 dollars wasn’t much of a gamble, so I grabbed it and headed for the airport. And like the money I placed on Greece to win the Euro ’04 back in the day, it was a casual, almost flippant bet that paid off handsomely. AAA 10 Star is quite simply one of my favorite bourbons ever. Sweet without being cloying, fiery without being molten, it’s almost like a dessert wine, robust and complex beyond anything else in its price range. Highly recommended!

Buffalo Trace

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $22
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

I don’t know exactly why Ancient Age distillery had to be renamed The Buffalo Trace Trading Company or whatever it’s called now but the new moniker has always sounded a bit gimmicky to me--the kind group-think “brainstorming” that's given the world silly names like Bearing Point and Ambien. Okay, so buffaloes once used the distillery’s back yard as a thoroughfare, great. The name Ancient Age had tradition, gravitas, and an indisputably keen sense of alliteration. Buffalo Trace just sounds like a McMansion-studded subdivision outside of Charlotte, NC. As far as the bourbon itself goes, they are obviously serious about it since they’ve given it their flagship name, but I find it merely a solid and quite unspectacular sipper.

Kentucky Vintage

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $20
Place of Purchase: Warehouse- New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

This bourbon has a very low profile but the label has a distinctive "charred" edge that puts me in mind of that monumental June evening in 1985 when a bunch of teenage roustabouts I called friends backed up a station wagon to the remains of a local restaurant that had burned down and proceeded to load this innocuous suburban vehicle with about 100 slightly smoke-damaged bottles of various liquors. I’m not sure what it says about our drinking habits back then, but this treasure trove of purloined booze managed to last all of four months. Kentucky Vintage is a decent if somewhat undistinguished small batch bourbon. But at least you won’t get your hands sullied with black soot when you pick it up to pour it!

Elmer T. Lee

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $26
Place of Purchase: Bevmo - Somewhere between San Diego and Palm Springs, CA
Rating: 8.4

This is one excellent bourbon--it goes down like one of those endless multi-colored silk scarves magicians sometimes pull out of their mouth but possesses a bit more moisture and spicy-sweet taste. I remember watching a documentary about pumpkins on television that showed where certain talented pumpkin breeders had perfected the art of growing and harvesting square pumpkins. Elmer T. Lee is sold and distributed in a bottle that is a dead ringer for this farming phenomenon. Spookley the Square Pumpkin says, “Elmer T. Lee is the perfect drink to cap off a long day of raking leaves and wandering through the pumpkin patch.” I can think of no higher praise.

Woodford Reserve

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $28
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

Woodford's bottle is shaped like something you'd paddle a naughty schoolgirl with. Now is that really an object you want to have laying around the house where small children can see? I remember being told by a shopkeeper in Cirencester in the UK how good this bourbon is, but what else was he going to say--it was the only bourbon he carried!! Unless you want to count the Jack Daniel's he stocked, but that isn’t bourbon, so why are you bothering me about it? Woodford is an above-average bourbon with an above-average price tag and it is certainly worthy of your time, but it’s never really worked its way onto my favorites list. However, its unique shape does make it easy to hide a bottle in the toaster!

Ezra Brooks

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $9
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.6


Ezra Brooks has long haunted the lower shelves of liquor stores across the country, flashing faux-Jack Daniels plumage and an eye-catching single-digit price tag. Considering how laughably little it costs to leave the store with a bottle of this tucked under your arm, I’m happy to report that this is not quite the caramel-colored turpentine one would expect. A bottle of this and a two-liter bottle of store-brand cola could make a Monday night disappear right quick, I reckon. And for a completely coordinated evening you could even wear an old paint-spattered Brooks Brothers sweatshirt and some Brooks tennis shoes gone green from mowing the lawn while you’re drinking it!

Mark Twain

Bourbon
Purchase Price: $9 (1L)
Place of Purchase: Chalet Premier Wines - North Lima, OH
Rating: 7.1

Mark Twain is one of those weird brands you see pop up every once in awhile that makes you pause for a moment. No marketing, no advertising, no "word on the street." It's just there, sitting on the bottom shelf saying "I'm 9 bucks for a liter!! Try me!! If you don't like me you can turn me upside down over the kitchen sink!! Try me!!" Standing half a mile away from the world-famous trucks stops on Route 7 in North Lima, Ohio, it was a siren call I couldn't resist. I lugged it back to NY and, well, not very surprisingly, Mark Twain dances across the tongue like a fistful of Red Hots—those cinnamon candies beloved by masochistic children except that Mark Twain doesn’t taste the least bit like cinnamon. More like ethanol. It's a one-dimensional "cheap licker" that can easily be used as a mixer or if you need something to clean the bottom of your shoes.