The Best Splurge-Worthy Bourbons for New Year’s Eve

In my freebooting youth, I treated New Year’s Eve as carte blanche to any and all bacchanalian impulses. Like a congenial housewife turned bloodthirsty maniac in The Purge, I shunned any pretense of self-restraint or civility on the night of December 31—the one evening when partying like Mike Tyson after a title fight in Las Vegas felt almost socially acceptable. Fortunately, I have mellowed with age. As an aspiring functional adult, I now permit myself only one worthy indulgence on New Year’s Eve: fine bourbon. 

These New Year’s Eve bourbons comprise the crème de la crème of my collection. None are cheap, and I only pour these on special occasions—a reunion with an old friend, a wedding, or a Tinder date gone better than expected. As Michael Scott says, I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. I like to believe that toasting the new year with a glass of liquid poetry bodes well for luck and love in the upcoming months. 

Below, you’ll find a few of my favorite splurge bourbons for ringing in 2025 in high style.

I have been known to blow dough recklessly on fine bourbon, but my Bhakta 2005 Bourbon, the piece-de-resistance of my bar cart, was worth every penny—even if it meant falling behind on rent the month I acquired it. A rolling stone of a whiskey, Bhakta 2005 Bourbon matured in casks in Tennessee, Vermont, Indiana, and Scotland. As the poet Lord Tennyson said of Ulysses, each sojourn of the long journey marked and enriched its soul. 

Deep golden hues hint at a rich nuttiness on the nose. The initial aromas bring to mind peanut brittle—or my  favorite childhood confection, Abba Zabba. As the whiskey evolves in the glass, an elegant parade of fresh apples, gardenia flowers, and apricot jam marches forth. If I could create a perfume that smelled like Bhakta 2005 Bourbon, I would give it to my bride on my wedding night. 

Buy at Bhakta Spirits 

Chicken Cock’s flagship whiskey, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, was the first bourbon to convince me that some kind of beautiful magic permeates the hills of Kentucky. While phenomenal bourbons are crafted from sea to shining sea, the old-school Kentucky legends—Pappy Van Winkle, Basil Hayden, and Chicken Cock—are coveted the world over for a reason.

Chicken Cock Mizunara Japanese Oak Finish ages in casks of Mizunara, a gnarled wood from Japanese swamps that grows at glacially slow rates. Mizunara ranks among the most expensive woods in whiskey production, and the wizened oak imparts heady notes like sandalwood, incense, and oud. The flavors of classic Chicken Cock shine as brightly as a sunlit spot on a bluegrass picker’s porch, but the Mizunara-finished expression is as dark and haunting as an Appalachian murder ballad. A virtuosic duet of Kentucky and Japan—imagine Tyler Childers performing alongside Yoko Ono. 

Buy at Uncrate

Many know Fort Collins as a craft beer mecca, but the eastern Colorado city sits on many whiskey lovers’ bucket lists too, thanks to Old Elk Distillery. Most distillers cut their whiskeys with large amounts of water in a single step, but master distiller Greg Metze incrementally cuts Old Elk over a period of weeks—a painstaking process that better preserves delicate flavors. Bourbon dominates Old Elk’s Infinity Blend 2024, with smaller admixtures of rye and wheated whiskey for an exceptionally complex flavor profile. This Rocky Mountain gem is an archetypal American whiskey—caramel for miles, a rush of vanilla, and just enough spice to tickle the taste buds.  

Buy at Total Wine

In the parched heart of Nevada, Frey Ranch dates back to 1854, an era when northern Nevada was one of the wildest outposts of the Old West. Frey Ranch grows every grain in its mash bills on its farm, located about an hour east of Reno, and they’re one of the few distilleries working with heirloom grains like winter rye and winter wheat. The rugged desert grains and aging in the mercurial temperatures of Nevada lend strident flavors of flamed orange peel, wild honey, and fresh cut hay. Savor this desert beauty on New Year’s Eve, after a big win at the Blackjack table, or while binge-watching Reno 911. 

Buy at Flaviar

When I first started learning about bourbon and building my collection, I focused on affordable bottles from Kentucky heavyweights like Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and Woodford Reserve. As I plunged deeper down the rabbit hole, I saved up for the premium line-ups from these same distilleries. This special release from Knob Creek ages in new American oak barrels for almost two decades. The long barreling period and the impeccable instincts of Fred Noe, a seventh-generation master distiller, make for a magisterial bourbon—golden ambrosia rippling with waves of vanilla, red apple, cinnamon, and caramel flavors. If there were a Platonic ideal of Kentucky bourbon, Knob Creek 18 Year Old might just be it.

Buy at Flaviar

Crafted in the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, a historic distillery in Louisville known as the Cathedral of Bourbon,  Blade & Bow is a small-batch whiskey beloved by connoisseurs. Blade & Bow employs a meticulous blending technique called the solera method, originally pioneered in Sherry and brandy production. In the solera method, barrels containing younger vintages are stacked atop barrels with older vintages, with tiny openings allowing the younger whiskeys to slowly trickle down. This incremental, continuous blending yields a silky smooth mouthfeel and marries the best qualities of younger and older bourbon. Look for notes of apple streusel, dried apricots, and candied cherries in Blade & Bow Kentucky Straight Bourbon. 

​​Buy at Flaviar

Everything is bigger in Texas, and the bold flavor profiles of Texas whiskeys are no exception. In recent years, a friendly Southern rivalry has been brewing between the Lone Star State and Kentucky for bourbon preeminence. Still Austin has captured the attention of whiskey nerds for using rare grains, like red corn and Brasetto rye, but their Cask Strength Bourbon cleaves to a mash bill of classic grains. The Texas heat means the juice mingles deeply with the barrels, and Still Austin’s Cask Strength Bourbon scintillates with whiffs of ripe peaches, caramelized pecans, and cinnamon rolls—a picnic in the Texas Hill Country captured in a bottle.  

Buy at Flaviar

Woodford Reserve Batch Proof is like a liquid archive of the fabled Kentucky distillery’s greatest hits. Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall blends together more than 100 curated batches from her rickhouse into Batch Proof, and the final product is intricate and dazzling as a Chet Atkins’ guitar solo. Batch Proof is a Bluegrass State belle through and through, dancing with classic bourbon notes like vanilla, apple, and caramel. Look for whispers of berry compote, sorghum, and cloves as the bourbon develops in the glass. 

Buy at Flaviar

For my money, Basil Hayden’s flagship whiskey offers the best value-to-luxury ratio on the market. If you’re just getting into whiskey or looking to save a few bucks while still getting a primo bourbon, start here. The mash bill is heavy on rye, and the cold-weather grain’s signature spiciness and cinnamon nip define the bouquet. The honey-hued liquid is as light as a dream and as perfumed as an angel’s shawl. 

Buy at Flaviar

Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon is probably the whiskey I would request on my deathbed. Old Fo’s 117 Series, blended from barrels in the rickhouse’s hottest floors, is as dreamy as Birthday Bourbon and considerably easier to acquire. The nose evokes slices of fresh peaches and apricots dipped in dark Manuka honey. On the palate, an orgy of ripe stone fruit unfolds, with hints of coffee and chocolate in the long and velvety finish. 

Buy at Old Forester

In a rickhouse set against the windswept prairies and jagged peaks of Wyoming, master distiller Sam Mead meticulously selects honeypots, the most immaculate barrels in the facility, to bottle Wyoming Whiskey Single Barrel. Like all of Wyoming Whiskey’s offerings, Single Barrel does not drink to proof—it’s much smoother than you would expect at 44 percent ABV. In Wyoming’s dramatic climate—hot summer yielding to frigid winters—bourbon ages differently than it would in a temperate climate like Kentucky or Tennessee. In lieu of robust barrel flavors like vanilla and baking spice, expect soft floral notes and rumors of dried cherry and raspberry. As the whiskey opens up after a pour, my palate picks up hints of bitter cocoa and a subtle coca-cola tang. 

Buy at Flaviar

The Japanese philosopher D.T. Suzuki famously said that Westerners could never truly comprehend Zen Buddhism. Zen’s mysteries and nuances were too subtle for those without Japanese cultural DNA and language skills. Growing up in the South, I held a similar view about Northerners vis-a-vis bourbon: the poetic intricacies of fine whiskey were simply too refined for the frenzied Yankee mind to grasp.

I changed my mind when I tried Great Jones Distillery, the first legal distillery in Manhattan since Prohibition. In collaboration with renowned Long Island winery Wölffer Estate, Great Jones ages this whiskey in ex-Cabernet Franc barrels. The ghosts of the robust red wine lend a soft sweetness to the whiskey and embellish the flavor profile with notes of fig jam and marmalade. Distilled from grains grown in upstate New York, Great Jones is the whiskey I pour while watching the festivities in Times Square from the warm comfort of my home in Dixieland. 

Buy at Cask Cartel