The Ultimate Bourbon Showdown – Which One Should You Use for Cocktails?

Hi, Friends of Cocktails! How much should you really spend on a bottle of whiskey, especially if you’re using it for cocktails? Today we’re putting that to the test. And whiskey snobs might want to look away, because we’ll also be mixing cocktails using a $170 bourbon!

Our expensive option will go against a $15 and a $40 whiskey in two classic cocktails: the Old Fashioned and the Whiskey Sour. The Cocktail Time crew will judge, and honestly, I have no idea how this will turn out. But let’s start by officially meeting today’s contestants.

At a little under $15 we have Clarke’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon from Aldi, sitting at the law-required 40% ABV or 80 proof. Representing a solid mid-range option at $40 is the well-known Maker’s Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon, already up to 45% ABV or 90 proof.

Finally, at $170 we’ve got the premium Blanton’s Single Barrel, proudly calling themselves “The Original Single Barrel Bourbon”, coming in at 46.5% ABV or 93 proof. We bought each of these bottles ourselves. None were gifted or sponsored, this is strictly about finding the truth and to have some fun.

I’ll make 3 versions of the Old Fashioned and the Whiskey Sour, so one with each bottle, and then we’ll score them using a makeshift “Bourbon Challenge Scoring Sheet”. We’ll be looking at aroma, taste, texture, aftertaste and the chance of ordering the exact same cocktail again, all on a scale from 1-10, no decimals allowed–and we of course won’t know which cocktail contains which bourbon.

Now meet today’s judges. You already know Sašo and Robi, but today we finally have the 4th member of the crew joining us in front of the camera as well: Ellyam! He was one of Cocktail Time’s very first fans, but has been a part of our crew for three and a half years now.

You’ve seen his copywriting work in the descriptions of episodes, newsletters, ebooks and more–and he’s currently on a trip around Europe, so he of course stopped by to visit us here in Maribor. We’ve shown him around the beautiful Slovenia, but now it’s his first day in the office. We’re in for a different kind of post, but one thing’s for sure: It’s Cocktail Time!

Old Fashioned

● 60mL · 2oz Bourbon

● 7.5mL · 0.25oz Liber & Co. Old Fashioned Syrup

● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution

● Orange Peel Coin

I’ll make all 3 Old Fashioneds with the same specs, building them straight in the glass to make them faster–making sure we don’t miss out on any quality because of dilution. To keep everything perfectly fair and consistent we’ll use Liber & Co’s Old Fashioned syrup, which already includes aromatic bitters and cold-pressed orange oil–so making these couldn’t be easier.

I’ll then label each glass to know which one has each bourbon, before the team tastes and grades them. I’ll grade them too, and to make sure I don’t know which Old Fashioned I’m trying, I’ll be blindfolded and handed the driks at random. If you want to see how the judging process looks, you can check out the episode in full at the bottom of the page. But let's first make the Whiskey Sours before we tell you the results!

Whiskey Sour

● 60mL · 2oz Bourbon

● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Lemon Juice

● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Egg White

● 15mL · 0.5oz Liber & Co. Gum Syrup

● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution

● Drop of Bitters as Garnish

This time we’ll need 3 shakers into which we’ll pour in the ingredients. As seen in the first cocktail hacks episode, we’ll then whisk the ingredients together with a milk frother to emulsify them without the need for a dry shake.

Now add ice and give them all a good, hard shake. Double strain into stemmed glasses, and garnish with a drop of Angostura bitters. or you could serve it over ice as well. For garnish, I’ll add a single drop of Angostura bitters.

We’ll use the same judging process as last time, writing down our results on the grading sheets. If you want to see how we graded each cocktail in each category, we have uploaded our results to our Patreon page, including the empty grading sheet so that you can do this experiment alongside us.

But after careful judging, we have run the numbers and the results are now in. When it comes to the Old Fashioned, the 3rd place goes to Clarke’s, the cheapest option. Most of us gave quite a higher score to Maker’s Mark which came in second, and that means the winner for this round was Blanton’s.

But when you’re making the Whiskey Sour things change. Even though the scores were all pretty similar, Blanton’s came in last, the runner up once again was Maker’s Mark, but only a single point behind the winner, Clarke’s!

Finally, looking at the overall scores the winner was Blanton’s, the runner-up was Maker’s Mark and the last place goes to Clarke’s, thanks to the high scoring first round with the Old Fashioned. All in all, today’s test showed me more than just the importance of price–it showed that for a truly great cocktail experience, it’s also about the occasion and the company.

We had a blast creating this special episode, and I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see us try this with other spirits and cocktails as well. Until next time, cheers, Friends of Cocktails!