THESE are the ABSOLUTE BEST $20 Bourbons

Hey y'all, welcome back to SLB, Basement Bourbon Bar. My name is Kurt. I got a fresh haircut, a brand new SLB drink shirt, and I'm ready to rock and roll. We've got a show today that I've been looking forward to for a long, long time. I'm going to roll out my favorite five bourbons between $20 and $25. Keep in mind, that's here in my territory. I understand there's, you know, you folks that have pricing in New Jersey, I read about in Pennsylvania. I apologize for that. I truly feel bad about that, but all I can do is go by what I pay for them here. So Northwest Indiana. So what I'm going to do is give you my five favorite. From there, what I would want to ask you to do, I think is going to be downright fun because this is going to be a hotly contested topic. Let's face it. There's a ton of different great bourbons in this price range that are excellent. Let's face it, right? So what I want you to do, I want to get a little bit of a contest going on. So if you all can give me in the comments one that you feel missed my list, what I want to do and what Trent and I are going to do is tally those as votes. And then on Monday, when we put out our next video on this very next Monday, we're going to do a blind tasting of my five of my favorite $20 bourbons and the one bourbon that's in that price range that tallies the most votes in the comments is going to be added to that group of five to give us six. So we're going to taste test, blind taste test six. So if you can help me with that, if we can get the cooperation, I think it's going to be a ton of fun. Remember, just one. Give me one that did not make the list that you feel should have been on this list. Whichever one gets the most votes, we're going to put in. Moving along real quick here. Sorry, Trent. It's taking a while. Don't forget, we got our next live show. It's just our second one, but it's our next live show coming up this Friday evening at eight o'clock central time. We're going to be blind tasting old Forrester releases. That's what we're going to be doing. We're going to have a great time. We're going to have people down at the bar again, like we did last time. And we're going to have a few giveaways, just a couple, but we're going to have some giveaways as well. It's going to be a good time. All right. Let's move on because time is under the essence now to get through my list. Now I'm going to get through my five. I want to let you know, I have no order here. From one to five isn't my worst to best. All these are my favorites. I'm just going to be honest with you. The last one's not my favorite. They're all good. The order doesn't matter whatsoever. What I want to start with, man, I'm going to start with a heavy hitter. I'm going to start with a heavy hitter. Wild Turkey 101. This bottle of Wild Turkey 101 cost me about 22 bucks. It's aged between six and eight years, and of course it comes in at 101 proof. Wild Turkey 101 bourbon is Wild Turkey's flagship brand. Wild Turkey is distilled at a very low proof, and according to the company, helps embody all the barrel flavors during aging. It comes out of the barrel at close to 109 proof, so when bottled at 101 proof, it is very close to barrel proof. All right. Let's face it. There's not a whole lot of people that dislike Wild Turkey 101. Thousands of comments concerning Wild Turkey 101. It's just an outstanding bourbon. It just is. For 20-something dollars, it's just amazing. The company uses American oak barrels that have been charred to the deepest process there, the charring process, so they've got a deeply charred barrel, so you get a really nice toasted oak there, but it also follows suit with a really nice vanilla and caramel notes with just a touch of rice spice. I mean, it's just an outstanding, versatile bourbon. Mix it in cocktails, but I can drink this neat every day and be happy. Wild Turkey 101. Very next in line, Old Granddad 114. This Old Granddad 114, I bought for about $24. It is a no-age statement bourbon and comes in at 114 proof. Old Granddad 114 comes out of the Jim Beam distillery and is the highest proof expression in the Old Granddad line. The Old Granddad lineup utilizes a high rye mash bill, ensuring its beloved spicy profile. What can I say about this Old Granddad 114? If you guys have watched many of my videos, I mean, I've just really had this in the bar last winter, and I don't know, it's not been a long time, really, six months maybe. I fell in love with it. Mixing up some bourbon cocktails that I had, and from there, you know, I was able to dig into it, and I really love it neat too. This is not your grandma's bourbon right here. I'm just telling you, this is like an in-your-face, it's bold, it's spicy, it's not a sweet bourbon. It's not a sissy bourbon. It's not a sweet bourbon. It's bold. It's in-your-face. It's got some, with that high rye mash bill, it's got some nice rye spice right out of the gate, follows in there with some cinnamon and some leather, a little bit of tobacco. It's just a really beautiful, bold bourbon, and I love that about Old Granddad 114. Moving on. Next in line, Buffalo Trace. I paid about $23 for this Buffalo Trace bottle. It is a no-age statement bourbon, and it comes in at 90 proof. Master distiller Elmer T. Lee came out of retirement for the creation of the Buffalo Trace bourbon, which came out in 1999. This is the flagship bourbon from the distillery, and is comprised of a low rye traditional mash bill. What's so great is just the difference. Of the bourbons out here, so what everything that Old Granddad 114 is, Buffalo Trace is like the exact opposite. Of course, albeit from the proof, you got 90 proof compared to 114 proof, but Buffalo Trace is sweet, sweet and soft on the palate, caramel, toffee. I mean, it's just a beautiful, more of a luxurious pour. It's not bold like the Old Granddad was, but the best I can say, everything that Old Granddad 114 is, Buffalo Trace is not, but all in a good way. Very sweet, very nice, very luxurious, soft on the palate. It's the best way I can describe it with some beautiful flavors. All right, next in line, Old Forrester Signature 100. I bought this bottle of Old Forrester for $21, and it is a no age statement bourbon, comes in at 100 proof. Old Forrester is a product of the Brown Form and Distilling Company, and is the longest running bourbon brand on the market. Old Forrester was the first bourbon to be sold in sealed bottles. The brand is also noted as one of the few whiskeys that was allowed to be sold during prohibition for medicinal purposes. Now, as you can see, I use this quite extensively. I've become quite fond of it also in certain bourbon cocktails as well, and it's just a superb bourbon for 20 bucks. I mean, come on, it's just so good. It's got some toasted pecan in there, a little maple syrup, maybe some brown sugar in there too, maybe a little bit of a nock. It's a little bit thin and has just a tiny bit of bitterness in there. Just a touch, but the other beautiful flavors by far make up for it, and it's really a solid choice for the money. Excellent Old Forrester 100. Last but not least, makes it to my top five for $20, Maker's Mark. I paid about $24 for this Maker's Mark, and it comes in at 90 proof. Maker's Mark is aged in Char No. 3 New American Oak barrels for six to seven years. This weeded bourbon was created by Bill Samuels Sr., and his wife Margie Samuels is responsible for the unique bottle design and signature hand-dipped red wax topper. Maker's Mark is just, it's a weeded bourbon. I know some of you out here like the weeded bourbons a bit, and some of them don't like it at all, and that's all good. Everything out here is a personal choice, and we know that, and you have to make up your mind what you prefer. I just like to give you some good quality choices. But for me, the Maker's Mark is solid in this price category. It works well in mixing a million cocktails. You can mix all kinds of different stuff. Solid in old fashions, and just you go on and on down the line. But you have a little bit of vanilla, a little bit of caramel in there. On the back end, you got just a little bit of a tannic oak, just a tiny bit. So it has a very, very nice flavor profile for the money, and that's why I included it in our list today. Hey, that's all I got for you today. Please work with me on this. Give me your comments of the one bottle. Just give me one that you think should have made this list. That way on Monday, for the show on Monday, we can blind taste six, and from there we can see which our favorite is. I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks so much for watching. Boy, we love each and every one of you. We really do. Thank you so much. Appreciate y'all. As always, we ask you to please drink responsibly, and we'll see you next time right down here with me in the good old basement bourbon bar. See you later.