Coming in at number 5 on the Best Bourbons under $25 is Buffalo Trace's Benchmark Bonded.  This is part of the line expansion Buffalo Trace did with the Benchmark brand in 2022 that includes Full Proof, Single Barrel, Top Floor, Small Batch, and Bonded versions.  Per Buffalo Trace, the brand gets its name from "the McAfee brothers who surveyed a site just north of Frankfort in the late 1700s. The rye recipe bourbon is yet another label that honors the storied history of the Distillery and the land it sits on.” 

Stats: NAS (min. 4 yrs old); Buffalo Trace mashbill #1 (10% rye or less); 100 proof; $20

Verdict: At first, I thought this whole line extension was a bit gimmicky to do with a bottom-shelf type brand but this Bonded version turned out to be fantastic!  The others are actually decent as well but this is the best one to me, so much so, that it landed a spot in the rankings from the blind.  Overall this is an initially oak forward pour lending to a seemingly older-aged bourbon than it is with hints of leather playing in the background to continue this perception. That is followed by sweet vanilla bread and cinnamon notes that make a delightful balance. Add in the pops of cherry and, periodically, other fruits and you’ve got a great under $25 bottle.  Pull this out to surprise your friends as they'll think you're serving them a cheap bottom-shelf mixer bourbon but in reality, it'll blow them away with not being that at all!  For even more fun, blind this against some other bottles your friends may really love and see how close this comes to it.  

Now we're having some fun!  A real budget banger cracks the rankings at number 3 - Heaven Hill's J.W. Dant Bottled In Bond.   A legacy brand distilled at Heaven Hill's Bernheim Distillery, this Bottled-in-bond bourbon is only $15. You’re not going to find much of a media presence for this brand but you shouldn’t ignore it!  This bottle certainly looks as though the marketing team has ignored it, well, forever.  It's got a very old-timey feel to it which adds character and intrigue.  Heaven Hill does an amazing job developing value-based bourbons (Dant, JTS Bown, Fighting Cock, Heaven Hill Bourbon, Evan Williams 1783, etc.) that are actually very good and this is my favorite of the bunch.  

Stats:⠀NAS (Minimum 4 yrs Old); 78% Corn, 12% Malted Barley 10% Rye; 100 proof $15

Verdict: For the longest time I thought I preferred JTS Brown (another sub-$20 Heaven Hill BiB bourbon) to this but after a blind tasting, realized that was just perception. This is certainly not a complex bourbon.  But what it does, it does very well! It’s a fairly basic profile of heavy oak, sweet fruit, hints of nuttiness, and caramel. You will find some spice notes to poke their head in every once in a while with even some honey notes that I occasionally found.  It had one of the longer warming finishes in the tasting which I enjoyed.  Don't sleep on this because of the price, the bottle design, or the lack of marketing presence.  It's one that will definitely surprise you and be a hidden gem for you to have available at all times!  It's a true bourbon drinkers bourbon.  

If you've followed me for any amount of time, you most likely know my love for this bottle.  While I anticipated this would win the blind battle, you can never be too sure what your palate is going to reveal to you when you remove brand perception and bias.  In the end, it honestly wasn't that close.  This is such a superior bottle to the rest on this list and in this price range, it's not even fair.   

Stats:  Minimum 4 Yrs Old; 78% Corn 12% Malted Barley 10% Rye; 100 proof; $18

Verdict: I know several prolific bourbon reviewers who use this as their "baseline" bourbon.  That's to say they use this to warm up their palate for a review because 1) They've drank this so much they know exactly what it should taste like.  If it doesn't, then their palate is off and they know not to review that day.  2) It's so good that it will hit many different areas of your palate making it a perfect warmup.  During the blind, the note I made about this one is “Holy %+*! this is good.” I have to say, it won pretty handedly. Overall notes of a much older bourbon with oak, caramel, cherries, vanilla, & baking spices. The nose is thick oak & leather, again hinting at a much older bourbon. A long warming finish with a viscous mouthfeel…unreal. After multiple blinds, I’m ready to claim it - EASILY the best value in bourbon today! I’m confident it could beat bottles 3,4,5 times its price! If you don’t have this on your bar and you’re not surprising all your friends with how good it is, you need to step your game up.