Last year's list also had five scores of 92 or 93, which is very different this year. Last year's list had three whiskeys with 96-point scores, so it might appear at first look that the quality is slipping, but it isn't. There's quite a bit to pick out of this list, so let's start with scores. Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 20 Year Old Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 11 Year Old Fitzgerald Very Special Reserve 20 Year Old Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 15 Year Old The World's Best Bourbons on Wine-Searcher: So let's see how this year's top Bourbons fare. That said, whiskey reviewers tend to be more level-headed about scores anyway, with scores in the 80s considered pretty impressive. For whiskey, quality is much less vintage-dependent, so sharp rises or falls in scores are rarer. As we consider the scores of more and more critics, our aggregated scores become more robust and a more accurate reflection of quality, as perceived by the critics.Īt the wine end of things, this has meant an inflation in scores, as better vintages (and more excitable critics) have ensured an uptick in quality. Well, the simplest way is via our aggregated critic scores. So which ones are the best, and how do we measure their greatness. That boom has never really deflated and three decades later we find ourselves awash with quality Bourbons, often at very affordable prices. The success of those releases (Booker's, Baker's, Knob Creek and Basil Hayden) inspired other distilleries to follow suit and soon a boom was underway. The launch of Beam's small-batch collection in the early 1990s changed a lot of that, as it showcased exactly how good artisanal Bourbon could be. Dominated by a couple of brands ( well, one really), it wasn't exactly a touchstone of innovation or progress. Until the late 1980s, Bourbon as a sector was treading water at best. We live in a time when Bourbon has literally never been so good. Related stories:Īnd these better-quality products, combined with a renewal in consumer appreciation for the inherent quality of Bourbon generally, have not just pushed top-end Bourbons up the price scale, but they have also seen overall scores for Bourbon increase. It is also immensely popular among consumers and collectors, who have helped drive producers to turn out increasingly higher-quality bottlings. It has cachet, it has prestige, and it can command often quite ridiculous prices these days ( as we may have mentioned already). Scotch might suck up a lot of the oxygen when talking about spirits, but Bourbon is really the one to beat.īourbon really does have it all. © PublicDomainPictures/Pixabay | Bourbon's magic continues to entrance consumers across the world.
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