This Is What Makes The World's Best Bourbon So Good

If you've ever been lost in a sea of options in the whiskey aisle, wondering what bourbon to buy for your backyard gathering, we're with you. Luckily, results from this year's 16th annual International Whisky Competition were released on June 25, 2025, making the decision a whole lot easier. Each year since 2010, whiskey connoisseurs convene at the competition to judge the category's best spirits and rank them based on factors such as palate, aroma, balance, and the alcohol's finish. 

Named among a list of several whiskey categories, including scotches and American blends, was the world's best bourbon: a bottle of A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength (Batch #4), which retails at $99 a pop. Worth the price tag, the bourbon, which received 97.01 points out of 100 in this year's global evaluation in Kentucky, is barrel-aged a minimum of 10 years and hails from a distillery owned by the same company that runs Buffalo Trace — the same Virginia distillery (and the state's oldest, at that) which helped put bourbon on the map as an American variety of whiskey. 

But what, exactly, makes this year's rendition of Bowman's bourbon worthy of its high designation? According to the judges, it was an alchemy of the high 139.7 proof (69.85% ABV), and the bourbon's powerful heat, balanced with its smooth flavors of dried cherry, vanilla, leather, and stone fruit. Finding that equilibrium of strength and subtle nuanced taste is a challenge for the best whiskey artisans. But what makes A. Smith Bowman's the world's best bourbon is a particularly unique blend of full-bodied flavor and strength.

The 12 best bourbons we tried in 2024 can move on over, thanks to the results of the recent whiskey competition. A taste of the world's best bourbon, as designated by this year's judges, will bring to your palate the best of many sensory worlds all in one sip. A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength (Batch #4) bourbon is undeniably pure in taste, as it's uncut, meaning it's bottled without dilution (read: full-strength). 

The distillery also boasts the spirit as "non-chill filtered" on its website, which could contribute to its full body and retention of natural flavor compounds. Past the bourbon's rugged strength and notes of earthy leather lies a balanced, smooth, and complex sweetness that sings through with fruit flavors such as apple, plum, and raspberry.  Even with notes of chocolate, the bourbon is not overpoweringly sweet, however, and is made subtly piquant with its full-bodied heat and spiced notes of cinnamon. 

If you're looking to choose the best bourbon for your cocktail – whether you're making a stiff old-fashioned or a smoother Boulevardier with bourbon, Campari, and vermouth – you know that the selection is a fine balance of flavor pairing and strength. Like many of the best culinary deliveries, Batch #4 is versatile enough to fare well in a variety of cocktail applications, but certainly strong-yet-delicate enough to stand well on its own served in a glass over ice.