Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Sure, Russell’s Reserve’s Single Barrel is made from the same mash bill and aged right alongside the regular Wild Turkey. But master distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell specially select the barrels that emerge baring their family name and with a collection 95 years of experience, this father and son duo knows a thing or two about bourbon. The whiskey that makes the grade spends around eight years in “alligator charred’ American white oak barrels that give it flavors of vanilla, spice, fruit, and toffee. It’s love at first sip. Buy Now $53 Maker’s Mark 46 To create their 46 expression the folks at Maker’s Mark start with their classic bourbon and then add ten seared French oak staves to the barrel for nine more weeks. That short spell with the extra wood ratchets up the complexity and flavor of classic Maker’s. Deep notes of wood, cherry and vanilla should move this one to the top of your shopping list. Buy Now $39 High West American Prairie Bourbon Peppery and rich, High West’s American Prairie Bourbon is a bottle that should have a permanent spot on your bar. Notes of nougat (yeah, nougat,) fruit, and a buttery corn make it a magical mouthful. At less than $35, don’t just buy it by the bottle — consider picking up a case. Buy Now $32 Four Roses Single Barrel Four Roses is a brand that flies well beneath most superficial whiskey snob’s radar. Which in some ways is a shame, but for the open-minded, the single barrel presents a hard to find value in whiskey world. You can still pick up a bottle for less $40 and you’ll be glad you did since it boasts notes of cocoa, cherry, toffee and caramel. Buy Now $39 Woodford Reserve Double Oak The wood is the thing. Thats’s how whiskey gets much of its flavor and as you can deduce from the name, Woodford Reserve Double Oak gets a lumber-y sequel during the aging process. After aging for a spell in traditional charred oak barrels this brown booze does a little graduate degree in a toasted and lightly charred variant giving it full, rich flavors of oak (obviously,) fruit, nuts and spice with a long lovely finish that leaves your palate begging for a redux. Buy Now $53