16 Essential Bottles of Bourbon [Timeline]

It started with European farmers distilling corn whiskey in late-1700s Kentucky. Today, bourbon is beloved worldwide and anchors a multi-billion-dollar industry — though its rise was a slow burn. From the spirit’s beginnings through much of the 20th century, bourbon saw important innovations and huge leaps forward, yet the category largely retained a modest, everyman image.

That changed after the category rebounded from the bourbon glut of the late 1900s. The landscape has shifted dramatically, for better and for worse. On one hand, the rise of “tater” culture has made many classic bottles nearly impossible to find — or afford. On the other, heightened competition and a spirit of experimentation have created a market with more outstanding bourbons available than ever before.

To trace bourbon’s evolution from the late 1700s to today, we’ve assembled a timeline of defining moments paired with bottles tied to each milestone. From Evan Williams and Elijah Craig to Pappy Van Winkle and toasted barrel finishes, here are 16 bourbons that have shaped the industry over the years.

1780s: Commercial Distilling Begins in Kentucky
Bottles: Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon

By the 1780s, Kentucky’s spirits trade was starting to take shape. Farmers distilled surplus corn into whiskey, though the term “bourbon” wouldn’t enter common use until decades later. One oft-cited early distiller was Evan Williams, a Welsh immigrant who is said to have set up a commercial still in Louisville in 1783. While there’s no direct link between his operation and today’s brands, Heaven Hill introduced Evan Williams Bourbon in 1957 to honor that heritage — positioning it as a nod to Kentucky’s earliest whiskey-making days.

1790s: Charred Oak Changes Everything
Bottle: Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon

By the late 18th century, whiskey makers had begun storing spirits in charred oak barrels — a practice that would eventually define bourbon. The exact origins remain murky. Some accounts suggest producers burned out old barrels, possibly to sanitize containers that once held fish or brine, before filling them with whiskey bound for New Orleans on boats down the Ohio River. Weeks or months in transit deepened the spirit’s color and flavor. Heaven Hill credits Baptist minister and distiller Elijah Craig with pioneering this process, but most historians regard that claim as more legend than fact.

1818: Catherine Carpenter Documents the Sour Mash Process
Bottle: Old Crow Bourbon

One of the most important innovations in bourbon production is the sour mash method, a process in which backset — or spent stillage from the previous distillation — helps kickstart and regulate the next. The earliest known written recipe comes from Kentucky farmer Catherine Carpenter, who recorded the technique in 1818. Two decades later, Scottish-born chemist Dr. James C. Crow refined the process, applying scientific techniques that brought consistency to bourbon-making. His reputation gave rise to the famed Old Crow brand, which would become one of Kentucky’s most celebrated whiskeys of the 19th century.

1849: W.L. Weller Markets First Commercial Wheated Bourbon
Bottle: W.L. Weller Special Reserve

In 1849, Louisville’s William Larue Weller founded W.L. Weller & Brothers, a wholesale liquor business that became known for selling and marketing bourbon made with wheat rather than rye as the secondary grain. The result was a smoother, sweeter profile that stood apart from spicier rye-based mash bills. While Weller himself operated primarily as a dealer rather than running a distillery, his family had long ties to Kentucky whiskey-making. Nearly a century later, W.L. Weller & Sons merged with the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery to form Stitzel–Weller, the legendary post-Prohibition distillery that cemented wheated bourbon’s legacy through labels like Weller, Old Fitzgerald, and eventually Pappy Van Winkle.

1870: Old Forester Starts Bottling Bourbon
Bottle: Old Forester 86 Proof

In 1870, pharmaceutical salesman George Garvin Brown launched the Old Forester brand in 1870 under J.T.S. Brown & Brother, becoming the first bourbon sold exclusively in sealed glass bottles rather than barrels. This innovation gave consumers confidence in the whiskey’s quality and helped raise standards across the industry. Old Forester is also one of the few bourbons with truly unbroken production since its founding: During Prohibition, it was among the select brands granted a license to sell “medicinal whiskey.” Brown went on to co-found the Brown-Forman Corporation in 1890, which continues to own Old Forester today.

1935: ‘Old Tub’ Becomes ‘Jim Beam’ — the World’s Best-Selling Bourbon
Bottle: Jim Beam White Label

Jacob Beam sold his first barrels of corn whiskey in 1795 under the name Old Jake Beam Sour Mash, beginning a family dynasty in bourbon. His son David M. Beam later moved the distillery to Kentucky’s Nelson County in the 1850s to capitalize on the growing railroad network, marketing the whiskey under the Old Tub brand — a nod to the wooden mash tubs used in production. Prohibition forced the Beams to shutter operations, but in late 1933 James Beauregard “Jim” Beam began rebuilding the distillery in Clermont, Ky. and then reintroduced the whiskey under his own name. Today, Jim Beam is the best-selling bourbon in the world, with a legacy spanning more than seven generations of the Beam family.

1954: World’s Longest-Tenured Master Distiller Begins His Career
Bottle: Wild Turkey 101

On Sep. 10, 1954, a young Jimmy Russell reported for his first day at the Ripy Bros. Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ky. The Ripy family had been making whiskey there since the 19th century, and the “Wild Turkey” name — coined in 1940 after a hunting trip — had recently become the house brand. Russell worked his way through the ranks and became the master distiller in 1967. The site was renamed as the Wild Turkey Distillery in 1971, acquired by Pernod Ricard in 1980, and later sold to Gruppo Campari in 2009, but Russell has remained a constant presence. Now at 90 years old, he shares the title of master distiller with his son Eddie.

1958: Maker’s Mark Pioneers Premium Bourbon
Bottle: Maker’s Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon

In 1953, Bill Samuels Sr. purchased the Burks’ Distillery in Loretto, Ky., with the goal of creating a softer, more approachable bourbon. While he worked on the whiskey, his wife Margie designed every element of the brand — from the “Maker’s Mark” name and square-shaped bottle to its signature red wax seal. When Maker’s Mark officially launched in 1958, it stood out as a premium product in a category still largely sold as a commodity. Even as bourbon sales slumped in the latter half of the 20th century, Maker’s Mark maintained its upscale status, helping pave the way for the luxury bourbon boom decades later.

1984: Blanton’s Becomes the First Commercial Single Barrel Bourbon
Bottle: Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon

In 1984, master distiller Elmer T. Lee introduced Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon at what is now the Buffalo Trace Distillery. The idea was inspired by his former mentor, Colonel Albert B. Blanton, who would handpick choice barrels from the distillery’s Warehouse H and bottle their contents for important distillery guests. Bottling whiskey one barrel at a time was unprecedented as a commercial product, but Lee decided to rekindle Blanton’s practice and name it “Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon.” The bourbon became an early hit in Japan, before eventually finding a following at home, establishing single barrel bourbon as a new benchmark for quality..

1988: Booker’s Brings ‘Small Batch,’ Cask-Strength Bourbons Into the Limelight
Bottle: Booker’s Bourbon (Any Expression)

Just like Blanton’s, the Booker’s brand was founded upon taking a time-honored tradition among industry insiders and making it resonate with the general public. In this case, that tradition was enjoying uncut, unfiltered bourbon pulled straight from the barrel. In 1987, Jim Beam’s then-master distiller Booker Noe bottled one such batch of bourbon, named it “Booker’s True Barrel Bourbon,” and gave the bottles to his friends as holiday gifts. The following year, he released his first commercial run of Booker’s Bourbon. Booker also promoted the idea of “small batch” production, a term without legal definition but one that struck a chord with drinkers and has since been embraced across the industry. Together, these innovations positioned Booker’s as a pioneer of bourbon’s modern premium era.

1994: First Bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Hit Store Shelves
Bottle: Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Old

Two years after the Stitzel-Weller Distillery ceased production in 1992, Julian Van Winkle III released a 20-year-old bourbon drawn from its remaining stocks, naming the label Pappy Van Winkle in honor of his grandfather. Over time, the bourbon gained a cult following, and its reputation exploded after Anthony Bourdain praised it on a 2012 episode of “The Layover.” Today, Pappy is one of bourbon’s most elusive bottles — rarely seen at retail and often commanding sky-high prices on the secondary market. In 2002, the Van Winkle family partnered with Buffalo Trace to distill and age future releases after the old Stitzel-Weller whiskey ran out.

2000: Buffalo Trace Launches the Antique Collection
Bottles: George T. Stagg, William Larue Weller, and Eagle Rare 17 Year-Old

At the turn of the millennium, Buffalo Trace unveiled what would become one of the most coveted series in its portfolio: The Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (BTAC). Since 2006, the lineup has consisted of three bourbons — George T. Stagg, William Larue Weller, and Eagle Rare 17 Year Old — along with two rye whiskeys, Sazerac 18 Year Old and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac. Designed to showcase the distillery’s legacy brands, the collection offers rare, high-age-stated expressions that fuel annual frenzy among bourbon hunters.

2006: Craft Spirits Movement Elevates Non-Kentucky Bourbons
Bottle: Hudson Baby Bourbon

Though Kentucky has historically been bourbon’s epicenter, the mid-2000s marked a turning point as craft distilleries across the country began releasing their own takes on the spirit. New York’s Hudson Baby Bourbon from Tuthilltown Spirits first launched in 2006 and was later discontinued after the brand was sold to William Grant & Sons. While not the very first bourbon made outside Kentucky, Hudson became an emblem of the growing craft whiskey movement. Nowadays, all 50 states have some stake in the bourbon business.

2011: Angel’s Envy Popularizes Cask-Finished Bourbon
Bottle: Angel’s Envy Kentucky Straight Bourbon Finished in Port Wine Barrels

By law, bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels — but nothing stops distillers from experimenting once that initial requirement is met. Secondary finishing periods in casks that once held wines or other spirits emerged in the late 90s, with releases like Jim Beam 1999 Distiller’s Masterpiece 18 Years Cognac Finish. In 2011, former Brown-Forman master distiller Lincoln Henderson and his son Wes introduced Angel’s Envy, a straight bourbon finished in port wine barrels that helped bring the concept to the mainstream. Since then, Angel’s Envy’s has made cask finishing central to its identity, with expressions aged in tequila, rum, and Japanese Mizunara oak casks.

2011: First ‘Disaster’ Bourbon Hits the Market
Bottle: E.H. Taylor, Jr. Warehouse C Tornado Surviving

After a tornado tore the roof off Buffalo Trace’s Warehouse C in 2006, barrels full of E.H. Taylor, Jr. bourbon were left exposed to the elements all summer long. In 2011, the brand released the whiskey as “Warehouse C Tornado Surviving,” which has since become one of the most sought-after and expensive bourbons on the market. Its success inspired other distilleries, including Heaven Hill and Woodford Reserve, to release their own one-off disaster-surviving expressions.

2014: Bourbon Gets the Toasted Barrel Treatment
Bottle: Michter’s US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon

A year before Michter’s established its Louisville distillery in 2015, the brand released its US*1 Toasted Barrel Straight Bourbon. To create it, fully matured batches of the US*1 Straight Bourbon undergo secondary aging periods in toasted barrels. The difference between charred and toasted barrels comes down to the intensity of the flame applied to the barrels and the duration of time they’re exposed to it. Toasting generally brings softer, sweeter flavors, while charring yields bolder, spicy ones. With toasted barrel finishing, Michter’s brought drinkers the best of both worlds.

*Image retrieved from Robert via stock.adobe.com

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