The Cheap Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon You Shouldn't Look Down On

The term "Bottled-in-Bond" carries great prestige in the bourbon-tasting and collecting circles. Enthusiasts have always been obsessed over finding bottlings like the Colonel E.H. Taylor Small Batch, not only for its quality, but also value — you can routinely flip it for more than its $40 retail price on secondary markets. Simply put, this designation carries weight because it represents federal standards established way back in 1897, back when whiskey merchants were literally poisoning customers with adulterated spirits cut with everything from turpentine to tobacco spit. To be "bottled-in-bond" basically means the government has enforced rules that the bourbon is made properly — a process that can add to the final price.

Now here's Benchmark Bonded. It goes for $25, give or take. And yet, true to its name, it meets every single requirement that the expensive bonded bottles do: the same master distiller controls the entire run at one distillery during one season, federal authorities oversee at least four years of barrel aging in bonded warehouses, and the final product hits your glass at exactly 100 proof. Benchmark Bonded is made at the legendary Buffalo Trace distillery using their Mash Bill #1 — the same recipe powering popular and more expensive bottles, like Eagle Rare and E.H. Taylor.

Will it blow your mind like a limited-edition release? Probably not. But it delivers genuine quality that, for enthusiasts tired of secondary market gouging, makes it a great, affordable workhorse bourbon for sipping.

Fans of Buffalo Trace's lineup will recognize the distillery's fingerprints all over Benchmark Bonded. The nose delivers vanilla and caramel after years in charred oak, with oak tannins and baking spices rounding things out. On the palate, Buffalo Trace's characteristic fruit-meets-chocolate profile takes center stage. The rough patch comes at the finish, where some reviewers have found the alcohol heat to be a tad aggressive — it's the clearest reminder you're drinking a $20 bottle, though not enough to be a deal-breaker.

The 100-proof bottling gives it enough backbone for cocktails while staying approachable when you pour it neat or drop in some ice, and sure enough, plenty of bourbon drinkers appreciate its mixing potential. It works well in Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, where quality matters, but top-shelf pricing just doesn't make sense.

For all these reasons, enthusiasts have ranked it among their favorite budget bottles — for $20, the value that Benchmark Bonded brings is just unbeatable. But its real virtue might be simpler: you can actually find it. In today's bourbon landscape, where even mediocre releases vanish from shelves within hours, Benchmark Bonded is easy to find and typically at a price not too far above its MSRP, either. If you're on the market for a bonded "daily driver" whiskey, this bottle's seriously worth taking into consideration.