Whiskey is the gift that keeps on giving… at least for 25 ounces. After that, you’ve done your job and people can buy their own whiskey. But with so many options on the shelf, it’s tough to know what’s worth buying. We’re here to help.
Unfortunately, we’re flying blind in terms of what the fortunate recipient of your gift likes to drink. You might be too. The list below isn’t meant to be the best whiskeys or the toughest to find bottles, although we do have a solution for the latter. It’s meant to cross all palates and give people options they may not have tried before. Best-case scenario, your friend/boss/lover cracks the bottle open on the spot and shares it with you.
Baker’s Exclusive Selection
Baker’s is the red-headed stepchild of the Jim Beam small batch collection. It doesn’t get the notoriety of Knob Creek or Basil Hayden let alone Bookers. It just sits there on the shelf, quietly being delicious. Now it’s looking to step into the spotlight with the Baker’s Exclusive Selection, a limited-time offering of extra-aged bourbon. Baker’s has been a single barrel offering since 2019 at a minimum of 7 years old, but this Exclusive Selection boasts nearly 12 years. You can taste the difference, too. Extra time led to more complexity without heading into over-oaked territory.
Not available online – $100
Muckety Muck
Quick – name a pig. There’s a 99% chance you just thought of Wilbur or Babe. That might change be about to change. Muckety Muck is a 25-year-old single-grain scotch, the latest from Diegeo’s orphan barrel series, and it’s allegedly named after a particularly virile pig at the Port Dundas Distillery. The distillery has been closed for over a decade, but the barrels that remained when it was shuttered are still making their way to market. Muckety Muck is a follow-up – and improvement on – the 24-year-old version released under the same name last year.
Kentucky Owl Wiseman
Forget the phrase, “addition by subtraction.” Wiseman proves that sometimes addition by addition is the way to go. This unique whiskey blends Kentucky Owl’s 4-year-old wheat and high-rye bourbons — this is the first of their products to use whiskey they distilled — with 5.5-year and 8.5-year-old Kentucky-sourced bourbons. The result is a very approachable bourbon that’s unique enough for the sophisticated palate but easy enough for the novice. It’s also the only way to get a bottle from Kentucky Owl without spending $120+.
Lagavulin 16
Come for Nick Offerman. Stay for great whisky. If you like peated whiskey but prefer the edge of the campfire instead of standing on the logs, Lagavulin might be just the right lane. Lagavulin 16 is the flagship product and for good reason. It’s the sort of whisky you can sit around and ponder. Which sounds pretentious as hell, until you find yourself actually just sitting around sipping it for 30 minutes, trying to figure out exactly what all those bold, sweet, and spicy flavors are. It’s an exercise in pairing patience with excitement as you anxiously away each new sip.
A Trip to Justins’ House of Bourbon
This one is cheating because it’s a store rather than a bottle. Justins’ House of Bourbon isn’t any old place though – it’s THE place. I met Justin Sloane and Justin Thompson during the Bourbon Classic way back in 2016. Sloane was a co-founder of BottleBlueBook and Thompson a co-founder of The Bourbon Review. Let’s just say that these guys know their stuff.
The Justins put their knowledge to use to create a store that not only sells rare and vintage spirits but offers a concierge service to help you track down just about any bottle. They even have their own mixers and bitters, making it a one-stop shop for your next classic cocktail. If you really want to give an amazing gift, give someone a ticket to Lousiville or Lexington and a map marked with Justin’s House of Bourbon.
