2025年のトップ20ウイスキー

The Top 20 Whiskeys of 2025 - Drinkhacker Skip to content The Top 20 Whiskeys of 2025 December 19, 2025 / Christopher Null / No Comments American Whiskey | Bourbon | Buy It Now | Featured | Irish Whiskey | Rated A | Reviews | Scotch Whisky | Top Rated | Whiskey Well folks, it’s the moment that most of you seem to have been waiting for. Whiskey reviews were again the most popular segment of coverage here on Drinkhacker in 2025, and who are we to keep you hanging? What did we like best — the very best — of the hundreds of whiskeys we tasted over the course of the year? We’re about to tell you. As always, this list wasn’t easy to produce, as dozens of candidates were up for discussion, all worthy of praise and sipping by the discriminating drinker. As we did in 2024, we’ve expanded our coverage from the usual top 10 to a top 20. We’ve also made a concerted effort to feature as many reasonably priced products as possible. Yes, a couple of unicorns made the cut this year — they were too good not to include — but by and large we think you’ll find the selections here reasonably priced and generally available on the market. The fun starts now and we’ll reveal a few bottles each day until we hit our finally on Friday, December 19, revealing the number 1 whiskey of the year! Check back daily for updates, and happy holidays! Want more selections? Check out the new edition of our annual holiday shopping guide . And feel free to peruse our previous top 10 whiskey lists: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , and 2017 . Remember if we don’t have a direct purchase link, you can search multiple stores at wine-searcher to find the best prices on all these products and more. Agree, disagree? Love us? Hate us? Sound off here or on social and let us know what you think! And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter , too, which digests only the best stuff we taste each week. Cheers! 1. Russell’s Reserve Bourbon 13 Years Old (2025) The question in recent years hasn’t been whether Wild Turkey will make our Top 20 list but which of its many standout releases to choose. For 2025, the distillery returns to our top spot with the latest edition of Russell’s Reserve 13 Years Old. A noticeable increase in proof helped to deliver more of all the things we love about Russell’s Reserve bourbon from the peppery aroma chock full of rich toffee and toasted coconut to a decadent and expressive palate of sweet butterscotch, apple pie, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate-covered peanuts all wrapped in the quintessential Kentucky hug. It’s reminiscent of the exceptional past releases but somehow even better. There’s no shortage of bourbons to hunt in the New Year, but this one should be at the top of your list. 123.8 proof. $300 -DB [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 2. Bruichladdich Octomore 16.3 The “.3” volume of this, the 16th edition in the Octomore library, retains its formidable smoke and peat barrier, but also mutes itself a shade to allow for others to share the stage. Notes of dark chocolate and toasted sesame seeds interplay with a traditional profile of lemon zest, smoke and salinity, but do so in a surprisingly approachable way compared to other installments in this ongoing series. However, do not mistake this for being gentle: this is still a big, burly single malt, and one not for those starting to explore all that the category has to offer. This easily wins first prize in this year’s trio. Yes, it’s pricey, but the Islay lover in your life deserves some great reward for making it to the finish line of 2025. 123.2 proof. $244 -RT 3. Maker’s Mark The Keepers Release 2025 Limited Release Maker’s Mark’s “Release” series will ultimately comprise five different bottlings — all variations on its stave finishing program — each featuring staves selected by a different department within the distillery. The “keepers” are the rickhouse workers, so it makes sense that they’d lean into wood for this whiskey, which features 10 virgin toasted staves added to the barrel for finishing. It’s a hugely winning release that has been slept on by the masses and which remains widely available for just around its initial MSRP. Lovely fruit notes, silky vanilla, and milk chocolate all play against an amply wood-driven core. It’s got everything you want from a great wheated bourbon, all in a single glass. 109.2 proof. $77 -CN [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 4. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 11 Years Old VVS 2025 Had Old Fitzgerald’s latest VVS release been more accessible — and more widely available at its $170 MSRP — it would have been our #1 whiskey of the year. In fact, I was still pushing for as much as we got down to the wire on this year’s top 20. Alas, wiser heads prevailed, and, with VVS 2025 selling for upwards of $700 (if you can even find it), it’s probably destined to be tasted only by those who invest ample time and coin to track it down. Of course, if the whiskey was more readily available, it wouldn’t be Very Very Special, I suppose — and what a very very special release it is: buttery and undulating, drinking with loads of sweetness alongside the trimmings of orange peel and late-game tropical fruits. This is one of those rare whiskeys that, once it’s opened, is nearly impossible to put down, and a showcase of how Heaven Hill’s operation is absolutely firing on all cylinders. 100 proof. – $700 -CN [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 5. Bushmills Private Reserve 12 Years Old Bordeaux Cask Finish This one flew under everyone’s radar — and almost flew under our own. Bushmills quietly launched a limited edition series in 2023 and it continued in 2025 with a couple of new offerings, including this 12 year old finished on red Bordeaux wine casks. It’s a quiet delight of a whiskey, though it never much evokes wine, letting the malty Irish core do most of the talking. After a cereal-laden attack, notes of lemon, nougaty taffy, and herbal rosemary and thyme round out a complex and lengthy finish. At under $70, it’s the best deal in the top 10. $67 -CN [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 6. Booker’s Bourbon “By the Pond Batch” 2025-02 Few years pass without us praising Booker’s and this fastidiously assembled series created with input from some of his closest friends. This release stands out immediately at 126.5 proof, a bold expression benefitting from a little patience and a drop or two of water to fully reveal its full hand. Once it settles, the palate offers generous layers of fruit, followed by notes of roasted peanuts and cinnamon red hots, and the finish brings a lively dose of baking spice to the forefront. There’s much to admire here: It’s robust, layered, and fully committed to making an impression, much like Booker himself and his legacy. 126.5 proof. $100 -RT [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 7. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Batch A125 (January 2025) Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is one of the more consistently impressive, limited release bourbons on the market, so it’s no surprise that it has made our best whiskeys list not once but twice, landing spots in both 2020 and 2021. It returns for a third time with the January 2025 release which showcased an uncharacteristically low proof for what is almost always a bold, barrel strength whiskey. It may be tame on paper by comparison, but this one delivers in a big way. The aroma, burly and leathery at first, evolves to brown butter and citrus with time in the glass while the palate is perfectly sweetened and hits all the classic bourbon high notes from chocolate to chewy caramel to the whole menu of baking spice with a generous clove note that simmers on a long and enchanting finish. 126.5 proof. $85 -DB [ BUY IT NOW FROM RESERVEBAR ] [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 8. Penelope Bourbon Omega Penelope Bourbon’s Omega release stands as a high point for the brand and an interesting statement of direction. Debuting in 2025 (Batch #25-1801), it features a Kentucky-distilled mashbill of 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley, aged at least a decade in American oak before receiving a year-long finish in tight-grain French oak casks from Tonnellerie Radoux, selected via the OakScan process for consistency of character. The aroma offers toasted marshmallow, aged leather, dried cherry, and nutmeg while the palate shifts into chai spice, black-tea tannin, and toasted marshmallow marked by a firmer char, followed by dark brown sugar. Rather than simply adding another French oak whiskey to the market, Omega shows how well the approach can work when every stage — from stave selection to final blend — is purposefully executed. It’s an assured, top-tier release that earns its place among the year’s finest whiskeys. 109.8 proof. $292 -JK [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 9. Still Austin Bottled in Bond Red Corn Bourbon 6 Years Old We’ve been fans of Still Austin since the beginning, with its Red Corn edition earning a special place in our hearts. The 5 year old version of this whiskey just missed out on making the top 20 list last year, perhaps overshadowed by High Wire’s Jimmy Red Bourbon , which was a real delight. Now at a year older, Still’s red corn-driven release may be even better, a flavor-filled and wholly cohesive exploration of nut butter, banana bread, spice box, and some tart citrus bringing up the rear. When this inevitably hits 7 years old next year, we might have a stroke. 100 proof. $80 -CN [ BUY IT NOW FROM RESERVEBAR ] [ BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT ] 10. Compass Box Flaming Heart 25th Anniversary Edition 2025 To celebrate a quarter century of whiskymaking, boutique blender Compass Box gave its fans a very special edition of its much-loved Flaming Heart blended malt. Head whisky wizard James Saxon went heavy on the peat for this commemorative release, blending mostly Talisker with a few special Islay malts and a unique Benrinnes aged in heavily toasted French oak. The result is one the brand’s best offerings in recent memory, showcasing a unique melding of seaside bonfire, toasted marshmallow, and earthy funk on the nose and an elega