The Best Mid-Priced Bourbons Available Today

Wild Turkey Rare Breed: The Heavy Hitter

If you’re not a fan of Wild Turkey, you might just be a fan of marketing. Rare Breed is the standard that proves the pedigree. It’s barrel proof, which means they didn’t insult the whiskey by adding excess water to save a dime. A blend of 6, 8, and 12-year-old bourbons, this one hits exactly as hard as it should. For an everyday pour from the same Campari Group distillery, the Wild Turkey 101 is the quintessential daily sipper at half the price.

• The Pros
  • It is consistently excellent. It sits around 116 proof, which means it has actual flavor.
  • You get massive notes of citrus, caramel, and pepper.
  • It’s available almost everywhere, so you don’t have to sleep in a lawn chair outside the liquor store to get it.
• The Cons
  • It’s hot. If you are used to drinking 80-proof water, this might hurt your feelings.
  • The packaging is also underwhelming; it doesn’t look “fancy” on a shelf next to the overpriced stuff in velvet bags.
• The Verdict
  • This is arguably the best mid priced bourbon for people who actually like tasting their whiskey.

Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style: The Flavor Bomb

Old Forester tells us this is what their whiskey tasted like during Prohibition. Since none of us were there, we’ll take their word for it. What we do know is that this 115 proof expression is consistently the best bottle in their entire Whiskey Row series.

• The Pros
  • It is incredibly rich. We are talking dark chocolate, cherry, and burnt sugar.
  • It feels thick in your mouth, which is exactly what you want from a whiskey in this price range.
  • It makes a killer Old Fashioned if you are brave enough to mix a $60 bottle.
• The Cons
  • It can drink hotter than its proof suggests.
  • The finish is long, but it can turn slightly medicinal if your palate is sensitive.
  • Also, the price has crept up recently, pushing the upper limit of “mid-priced.”
• The Verdict
  • If you like dessert bourbons that punch you in the face, this is your guy.

Knob Creek 12 Year: The Oak Monster

Finding a double-digit age statement is a dying art. The market is obsessed with ‘Non-Age Stated’ labels, so Knob Creek throwing a big ’12’ on this bottle is a defiant flex. It guarantees the youngest whiskey in the blend has been aging long enough to get its driver’s license.

• The Pros
  • It is an oak lover’s dream. Because it spent over a decade in the barrel, the wood influence is heavy.
  • You get leather, tobacco, and deep vanilla.
  • It is 100 proof, which is the perfect sweet spot for sipping neat.
• The Cons
  • If you don’t like oak, you will hate this. It can be slightly dry and tannic on the finish.
  • It is also becoming allocated in some areas, meaning store owners are starting to hide it in the back for their “special” friends.
• The Verdict
  • For the price, getting a 12-year age statement is a steal. Buy it when you see it.

Four Roses Single Barrel: The Wild Card

This is the 100-proof calling card from Four Roses. It’s built on their high-rye mashbill and a proprietary yeast strain that delivers a floral, spicy profile, which is a welcome detour from the usual caramel bomb. Their Four Roses Small Batch is the more affordable entry point from the same distillery—equally excellent but blended for approachability.

• The Pros
  • It is distinct. While other bourbons chase caramel and vanilla, this brings fruit and flowers to the party.
  • It is incredibly complex for the price point, usually sitting around $45-$50.
• The Cons
  • It’s a single barrel. That means every bottle comes from a different barrel, and barrels taste different. One bottle might be the nectar of the gods; the next might be just “okay.”

Flavor is subjective, but data isn’t. This is where OAKR comes in.

OAKR is the best bourbon sommelier app on the market because it doesn’t try to sell you with brand story or label design; it cares about data. OAKR aggregates tasting data from blind tasting panelists. They do the leg work so you don’t have to guess if a bottle is going to taste like a campfire or a candy bar.

You show up to the liquor store, find the name of the spirit you’re interested in or search by any other data in OAKR (mashbill, age, flavor categories, detailed flavor notes, price, distilleries you name it) and OAKR tells you exactly what the flavor profile is based on consensus, not marketing fluff.

Mid-priced Is Subjective, Just Like Your Palate

The search for the best mid priced bourbon doesn’t have to be a blindfolded guess. You can grab a Rare Breed for the proof, a Knob Creek 12 for the oak, or a Four Roses for the spice. Any of them will run circles around the overpriced ‘tater-bait’ collecting dust on the top shelf. If you’re ready to step up, check out our guide to the best bourbons under $100.

But before you drop your cash, stop guessing. Download OAKR. Use the OAKR recommendation engine to explore in-depth flavor profiles and get personalized recommendations that actually match what you like to drink, not what a self-proclaimed ‘expert’ on a forum told you to buy.

Drink better. Spend smarter. And for the love of bourbon, stop buying bottles just because they have a horse on the cork.