The 50 Best Spirits of 2025

This year’s 50 Best Spirits list comes at a most interesting, if not scary time in the beverage alcohol world.

U.S. whiskey volumes declined 4.1 percent last year, the first meaningful drop in the category since its current renaissance. There’s a glut of Scotch. Japanese whisky has supposedly peaked.

Tequila is still mired in additive-free litigation, with even the general public getting involved. Cognac has become a casualty of international trade wars. Even always-reliable vodka is apparently in trouble.

Nonsense we say!

After tasting through — and ranking — all the major spirits categories this year, we can attest that, despite all this turmoil, all these ugly stories in the press, some of the best whiskeys, tequilas, Cognacs, and even vodkas are being made at this very time. Not to mention rums, mezcals, and plenty of oddball liqueurs.

Since 2020, VinePair has released our annual ranking of the 50 best spirits of the year. We’ll explain in more depth how we arrived at this year’s final ranking below. But first, here’s what you can expect from this list: 50 of the finest spirits available in the U.S. right now, ranging in price from $18 to $729. About half the bottles retail for less than $100, meaning one doesn’t need to shell out to have a little taste of greatness. Of course, a good bulk of the list is, no surprise, made up of whiskeys, running the gamut from bourbons, ryes, and American single malt to Scotch and Irish whiskey onto Japan craft, “world” whiskey, and everything in between — don’t worry, most of it isn’t of the allocated variety.

But there are also plenty of agave spirits, rums out of unexpected places, Cognacs from mom ‘n’ pop houses, gins found around the globe, and even a world-class vodka courtesy of a celebrity.

Last year was the first year, since we began these rankings, that a whiskey did not nab the No. 1 spot, when a 35-year-old Cognac from Vallein Tercinier ascended the mountaintop. What category will claim the throne this year? Read on to find out as we unveil the 50 best spirits tasted by VinePair in 2025.

Why You Should Trust VinePair

VinePair conducts dozens of tastings throughout the year for our Buy This Booze product guides, highlighting the best bottles and expressions across the world’s most popular wine and spirits categories. As part of this work, VinePair’s tasting and editorial staff samples thousands of bottles, allowing us to gauge what’s new and exciting, while also providing us with the crucial context needed to distinguish the simply good from the 50-best-list-worthy.

Learn more about VinePair’s tastings and reviews department here.

How We Taste

We believe in tasting all products as our readers typically would, which means we sample with full knowledge of the producer and — more importantly — price. Our tastings are therefore not conducted blind. VinePair’s tasting panel evaluates spirits based on their aromas, flavors, texture, balance, and finish. We also consider factors such as relative value for money (in their respective categories) and whether or not a sample is a good and honest representation of its category.

How We Compiled This List

For the 50 best spirits of the year roundup, our editorial tastings panel gathered for a group tasting at the VinePair HQ. That tasting included an initial long list of our favorite bottles from 2025. Over the course of the session, and following much deliberation, we distilled the selection down to the 50 best.
Though each spirit received a score when first tasted throughout the year, the bottles are not ranked on this list in order from lowest to highest score. The ranking was instead compiled by assessing what each spirit offers in terms of quality, value, and availability in the U.S.

The 50 Best Spirits of 2025

50. Widow Jane Black Opal

Even if you immediately balk at the idea of paying $500 for sourced bourbon from a Brooklyn-based distillery, Widow Jane’s 20-year-old Black Opal is a compelling candidate for reconsidering. This is “undisclosed” liquid from Tennessee (thought to be George Dickel) and Kentucky (surely portfolio brethren Heaven Hill), finished in Mizunara casks, and bottled at 49.5 percent ABV. Despite the two decades of aging, oak in no way dominates its profile. In fact, the Japanese oak finishing vessels add pleasant wisps of sandalwood and spice to the nose. The palate is lithe yet flavorful, delivering fruity, savory, sweet, and spicy sips, all with great depth and concentration.

Average price: $500
Rating: 94

49. Kota Pandan Liqueur

Over the last decade, globetrotting bartender Nico de Soto (Mace; Danico Paris) became famous for using pandan — a fragrant, vanilla-like plant from Southeast Asia — in his avant-garde cocktails. With his release this year of Kota pandan liqueur, it’s become easier to bartend like de Soto. Created in partnership with Gabriel Boudier, a family liquorist from Dijon, France, you’ve never quite experienced a liqueur like this. The aroma is overwhelmingly vanilla but there’s a certain grassy-like quality as well. On the palate, it’s unmistakably cereal milk, Fruity Pebbles perhaps, with an underlying nuttiness. While fun to drink on its own, this one soars in cocktails.

Average price: $35 (700 mL)
Rating: 93

48. Bomberger’s PFG (Precision Fine Grain)

New this year from Michter’s Legacy Series, PFG refers to an in-house production technique that even necessitates a trademark. It starts out as Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, aged in new toasted and charred American oak barrels, before going into second customized, proprietary-toasted PFG™ barrels made out of a blend of air-dried and seasoned woods from various origins. Whether that’s marketing mumbo jumbo or not, the proof is in the pudding. This is an insanely complex whiskey, fruity and spicy, floral and charred, chocolaty and creamy.

Average price: $140
Rating: 94

47. Transcontinental Rum Line High Seas

As tiki godfather Don the Beachcomber always noted, “What one rum can’t do, three rums can,” and that’s exactly the proposition with this blend of Panamanian, Jamaican, and Martinique distillates. Bottled at 45 percent ABV, High Seas delivers savory, vegetal, and lightly sweet notes, alongside bursts of tropical fruit, spice, and coffee. Expressive but never overwhelming, it offers plenty of personality without threatening to steal the show — making it equally at home in a Daiquiri, Mai Tai, or more modern creations.

Average price: $35
Rating: 93

46. The Glen Grant 21 Year Old

Sometimes great whisky is just great whisky. That’s the case here as this classic Speyside single malt is matured in ex-oloroso and ex-bourbon barrels for a little over two decades in the distillery’s traditional dunnage warehouses. There’s unmistakable peaches and cream on the nose, while the palate is more dark, dried fruits with crème brûlée. If there’s anything to write home about, it’s the solid value you get for such age.

Average price: $360
Rating: 93

45. Atanasio Orígenes ‘Espíritu Fuerte’

In a world of still strength, 46 percent ABV does not necessarily read as “Espíritu Fuerte” (Strong Spirit) — but perhaps it’s a reference to the tequila’s aroma and flavor profile, which is certainly potent. Clean, intense, and inviting on the nose, pineapple and habaneros meet a subtle floral accent. A bright and intense palate offers pronounced notes of pepper, while cooked agave and fruit occupy the middle of the tongue. It’s certainly on the pricier side for a blanco, but well worth it, especially if you treat it as a sipping spirit.

Average price: $84 (700 mL)
Rating: 94

44. Thatcher’s Organic Artisan Spirits Small Batch Vodka

Produced from organic Midwest corn, this Michigan-born vodka is mostly neutral on the nose, before delivering a subtle sweetness on the palate. While the term “Small Batch” carries none of the official, verifiable weight of “organic,” the packaging certainly feels more at home in a craft liquor store than a nightclub.

Average price: $18
Rating: 90

43. Laphroaig Càirdeas 2025 Lore Cask Strength

Every year Laphroaig releases a special Càirdeas bottling for “friends” of the Islay-based distillery. (That’s you!) This year’s edition is a cask-strength version of the distillery’s popular Cask Lore offering, which it bills as its “richest and most complex expression.” A blend of single malts that have aged from seven to 21 years in various casks, including ex-bourbon, European oak, oloroso sherry, and quarter casks, this is bottled at a whopping 59.6 percent ABV. For drinkers scared of peat, this is not a whisky to test drive. There is smoke present from the second you uncork the bottle. Yet, there’s also an assortment of baked fruits and notes of citrus, vanilla, caramel, and seawater to get lost in, giving it a balance and complexity that is quite remarkable.

Average price: $110 (700 mL)
Rating: 93

42. Privateer Rum The Queen’s Share

America used to be a rum country, and this Massachusetts distillery keeps the tradition going strong. With this bottling, they revive the old Cognac technique of collecting the “seconds” — the transitional cut between hearts and tails — and distilling everything a second time for added depth. Aged at least four years in a mix of new and used American oak, the barrels are then blended and re-casked for additional maturation. Bottled at cask strength, it delivers burnt sugar, coconut, and vanilla with remarkable balance. Approachable yet simultaneously complex, it stands as a benchmark American rum.

Average price: $70
Rating: 93

41. New Riff Kentucky Single Malt Whiskey (Spring 2025)

If American single malt is a category that has struggled to catch on with connoisseurs, New Riff shows here that they are not to be taken lightly. Composed of six different mash bills (including ones used more typically for barleywines and Belgian Trappist ales), fermented and distilled with Kentucky techniques, matured in a multitude of casks for at least seven years, and bottled at cask strength (115.2 proof in this case), this is one complex beast. There are tons of barrel notes on the nose with just a hint of peat smoke and citrus. The palate leans more fruity, alongside hints of chocolate, leather, and oxidized sherry. Even if you ignore the rest of the burgeoning category, do not ignore this — easily the best American single malt out there.

Average price: $70
Rating: 93

40. Cumbrita de la Sierra Lechuguilla & Chawi Ensamble

This ensamble — a combination of two or more agave species distilled together in a single batch — combines the rare Lechuguilla and Chawi agaves, the latter of which is a small, ornamental species that’s more at home in garden pots than wooden vats and copper stills. The result is a wild and thrilling ride, enjoyably synthetic and fruity on the nose, with a palate jumping between ripe fruit, dark chocolate, and a savory depth, finishing with a clean minerality. A truly distinctive bottling from Chihuahua and maestro mezcalero Dolores González.

Average price: $135
Rating: 95

39. Abraham Bowman Oak Series: Hungarian Oak

Abraham Bowman comes from Sazerac’s “other” distillery, in Virginia no less, but they are producing American whiskeys every bit as good as what’s coming out of the more-lauded Buffalo Trace. This experimental bottling takes 12-year-old bourbon and ages it exclusively in charred Hungarian oak barrels. It’s a lot less woody than you might expect, with a nose leaning toward vanilla soft serve and butterscotch and a palate unveiling those sweet, desserty notes often generated by Hungarian oak — apple turnover, orange marmalade, cinnamon sugar. While the price may seem like a steal, bottles were only available via lottery, with an in-person distillery pickup mandated.

Average price: $80
Rating: 96

38. Scarlet Fernet Amaro

What can’t the Japanese do in the spirit world? If the country’s producers famously seem to take all categories and make them more nuanced, more flavorful, more sophisticated, here they do the same with fernet. (Yes, fernet is a category, not a brand name.) Half of the 30 botanicals in this amaro — think: chicory, palo santo, elderflower, rooibos, and aloe — are grown onsite at Iseya Distillery’s Kanagawa farm, before being macerated in a combination of aged and unaged sugar cane spirit, then matured for a year in ex-Chichibu whisky casks. This is lighter-bodied and less bracing than the more famous Fernet Branca, but it’s more flavorful, too, with savory herbal notes and a pleasant hit of crème de menthe on the finish.

Average price: $70 (700 mL)
Rating: 93

37. Matchbook Distilling Co. Late Embers Smoked Sunchokes + Honey Spirit

From our 2025 Next Wave Awards Distiller of the Year Leslie Merinoff Kwasnieski comes this truly sui generis offering. Merinoff Kwasnieski takes locally grown North Fork sunchokes and cooks them in an earthen oven in a method similar to the agaves used in mezcal. They are then fermented with koji and local honey prior to distillation, creating a spirit that feels uniquely of the land, with notes of campfire, soil, dewy grass, green peppers, and an underlying hint of fresh pears. How do you even judge something that has no other comparison in the world? We judge it: delicious.

Average price: $55
Rating: 95

36. The Glendronach ‘Ode to the Dark’

The highest-ABV expression in The Glendronach’s three-bottle “The Master’s Anthology” collection features the signature, sherry cask aging notes one expects from the brand. There are dark berries, fragrant herbs, black coffee, and bitter chocolate. But if most Glendronach is a little more desserty, at 50.8 percent ABV this release is bold and unabashed, the Highland Scotch on steroids, with a savory and spiced crescendo.

Average price: $150 (700 mL)
Rating: 94

35. Farmer’s Botanical Small Batch Organic Gin

From the same makers as Michter’s whiskey comes this gin produced in partnership with a distillery and family farm in Idaho. This certified organic gin uses a few unique botanicals like hemp seed, leading to a nutty aroma backed by some lemongrass and a reserved hit of juniper and lemongrass. The palate comes to life with bursts of elderflower and lime zest. The fairly formidable 93.4 bottling proof makes this ideal for a Gin & Tonic.

Average price: $35
Rating: 92

34. High N’ Wicked ‘Rose Tattoo’ Single Malt Irish Whiskey

The oddball cask finishes have even come for Irish whiskey, and nowhere more so than from this importer and bottler started by two former Brown-Forman execs. The 10th expression in High N’ Wicked’s Limited Singular Series, this non-age-statement release employs ex-Amarone casks. If you’re concerned that such a rich red wine could overwhelm the base, don’t be. The malt still comes through strongly, perhaps due to a 59.9 percent ABV that is never bruising. Sure, there is a lot of dried fruit and wine tannins on the palate and finish, but the complexity and balance somehow remain in check. It shouldn’t work, and yet it does.

Average price: $146
Rating: 94

33. ABK6 X.O. Family Cellar

This single-estate Cognac is produced entirely at Domaine de Chez Maillard in Fins Bois, whose vineyards are located on a chalky hilltop. This special X.O. bursts with just-baked croissants on the nose. The palate leans toward dried fruits and nuts, black licorice, and a hint of baking spices. The finish offers leather and a hint of wood.

Average price: $120 (700 mL)
Rating: 93

32. Eagle Rare 12 Bourbon

A new middle-tier addition to the popular Eagle Rare lineup, coming in at two years older and five proof points higher than the core release — though much better overall. There are notes of chocolate-covered cherries on the nose alongside baking spices. The palate is woodier and toffee-like, with hints of red fruit and Sichuan peppers, leading into a long, pleasing finish. As a permanent addition to Buffalo Trace’s portfolio, this will hopefully be found by anyone interested in it, and even more hopefully at MSRP.

Average price: $50
Rating: 93

31. Gusto Histórico Madrecuixe Victor Ramos

This tahona-crushed, copper-pot-distilled bottling arrives at 52 percent ABV, higher than you’ll often see mezcals, and we point that out only because the alcohol is so seamlessly woven into the spirit from nose to finish. Still, it creates a high-octane drinking experience, with notes of tobacco, sage, underripe berries, and a medley of garden vegetables balanced with crystal clarity and enhanced intensity.

Average price: $118
Rating: 94

30. Edinburgh Gin The Classic

This is an archetypal London dry gin coming from a modern Scottish distillery. Produced in the heart of Scotland’s capital in a carbon-neutral facility, this gin lives up to the “classic” billing in its name, with an overall juniper-forward, piney, citrusy, and floral profile. Its flavors are clean and defined, arriving at an approachable 43 percent ABV that in no way lessens its intensity.

Average price: $35 (700 mL)
Rating: 93

29. WhistlePig The Boss Hog XII: Feather & Flame Straight Rye Whiskey

How does WhistlePig keep doing it? Here, using sourced 95/5 MGP rye from Indiana, this liquid spends its secondary maturation in barrels seasoned with pulque curado crafted from agave, cacao, and Mexican chiltepín, guajillo, and pasilla peppers. It may sound like a gimmick, but they pull it off! The nose has the classic 95/5 rye herbal notes, while the palate is spicy and sharp, with hints of citrus zest, nicely balanced with sweeter notes of Werther’s Original and Mexican hot chocolate. The finish is pleasant and lingering, with the chili peppers tickling the back of your throat. You really won’t taste anything else like Feather & Flame this year — maybe ever again.

Average price: $600
Rating: 95

28. The Botanist Distiller’s Strength

Launched late last year, The Botanist Distiller’s Strength utilizes the same 22-botanical mix of hand-foraged ingredients as the brand’s Islay Dry Gin, but delivers them at 4 percent more ABV. That increased alcohol, while not adding any burn, instead intensifies the aromas and bolsters the palate, while upping the mouthfeel and adding weight to the texture. All of which means it can punch through the mixers in a highball or 50/50 Martini.

Average price: $45
Rating: 94

27. Don Fulano Imperial Extra Añejo

The top aged tequila on this year’s list offers something we typically don’t celebrate in the category — serious barrel character. Aged for five years in French Limousin and oloroso sherry casks, both are readily present on the palate. And yet, the agave still shines through — a nearly impossible achievement! There’s a vegetal quality, some fruitiness, and plenty of spice, but there’s also maple syrup, dark chocolate, and some pipe smoke. It’s truly a decadent, complex, world-class sipper.

Average price: $220
Rating: 94

26. FUJI Single Malt Japanese Whisky

A new core product from the Gotemba-based FUJI distillery, the brand’s first single malt released to the U.S. was worth the wait. It’s made from 100 percent Japanese malt, distilled on a copper pot still, and aged in American oak barrels and French oak red wine barrels. There’s a lot going on here: fresh-cut flowers, peaches, tropical fruits, citrus zest, honey, and caramel. A brand to watch in the category for sure.

Average price: $100
Rating: 93

25. Appleton Estate Hearts Collection 1998

Appleton’s Hearts Collection — a series of rare rums created by master blender Joy Spence and rum expert Luca Gargano — might be the best line in spirits these days. 1998, their latest release and the eighth expression in the series, is no exception. It is built from a single proprietary marque distilled in a copper pot still, aged for 25 years, bottled in 2023, and released last year. It offers a hint of Jamaican funk on the nose, while the palate is more butterscotch-covered vanilla ice cream, with a hint of candied ginger and a little oak.

Average price: $650
Rating: 95

24. Oban 15 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky

This ain’t your grandma’s Oban! A new U.S.-only, limited-edition release, this arrives with a little more age and a lot more booze than the distillery’s flagship offering. It likewise spends its final years maturing in Oloroso and Palo Cortado sherry casks. Thus, the nose is a mix of dried orchard and stone fruits alongside savory sherry notes. The proof is intense throughout, meaning everything present on the nose is amplified on the palate, with some added salinity and smoke.

Average price: $150
Rating: 94

23. Alambique Serrano ‘Cartier 30’ Single Origin Oaxacan Rum

Made exclusively from naturally grown java sugar cane from the steep slopes in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, the cane is fresh-pressed and wild fermented, before distillation on a custom still that produces no heads or tails. This is an odd duck that will surely be beloved by rum geeks. There are overripe banana notes on the nose, and the palate is creamy, with touches of vanilla frosting, leading into a smoky finish. Bottled at a still strength of 70.3 percent ABV, it’s drinkable neat, but would be fun to use in a Daiquiri or Ti’ Punch. It’s also a vivid reminder that Oaxacan spirits extend well beyond mezcal.

Average price: $65
Rating: 93

22. Stonestreet Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey ‘Founder’s Edition’

The first spirits brand from Jackson Family Wines, this is sourced bourbon reportedly produced at Green River Distillery in Kentucky. Aged only five years and bottled at 47 percent ABV, we didn’t expect much, but ended up being wowed. The nose is soft and approachable; the palate likewise, with notes of vanilla, berry compote, and Graham crackers. Barrel tannins bolster the finish and cement its credentials as a bona fide sipper and a new brand to keep an eye on.

Average price: $60
Rating: 92

21. ArteNOM 1579 Blanco Clásico

ArteNOM bottles small-batch tequilas to highlight the distinct characteristics of top distilleries. This release is from the tequila nerd-beloved El Pandillo distillery in Jesús María, Los Altos, Jalisco which famously also makes G4 Tequila. Created by industry legend Felipe Camarena, the mash is fermented with rainwater, then distilled in copper pot stills with a 50/50 blend of rainwater and filtered on-property well water. Tons of baked agave comes through, more sweet than vegetal, backed by plenty of earthiness and minerality. A beautiful blanco.

Average price: $55
Rating: 95

20. Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Our top BTAC offering of the year is this annually released, uncut, unfiltered rye of over six years old. Despite its youth, it was by far the most well rounded in this year’s series. The nose offers spicy oak balanced by some citrus and orchard fruit. The palate is an explosion of flavor; baking spices, dried fruit, and nuts, with a warm and lingering finish, though certainly some burn. Bottled at 129.8 proof, it drank a ton hotter than most all the higher-ranking whiskeys on this year’s list, which is its one demerit.

Average price: $150
Rating: 97

19. Ichiro’s Malt & Grain 111 Proof World Whisky

“Japanese whisky” isn’t always Japanese whisky and here the Chichibu Distillery owns it right from the get-go. This is a blend of 4- to 17-year-old malt and grain Scotch, Canadian rye, American whiskey, Irish whiskey, and Ichiro’s own Japanese single malt — there’s even a map of liquid sourcing locations on the back label — vatted and then matured in Japan. You’ll get a subtle peatiness on the nose, with hints of amaro and buttered cookies. The palate is tropical fruit, Skittles, and sea salt, with a long, easy-drinking finish despite the three-digit proof.

Average price: $90 (700 mL)
Rating: 93

18. Mexa Tequila Tahona Blanco

“Tahona” is one of those sexy buzzwords serious tequila fans eat up. To put it in the bottle name implies a hand-crafted spirit of old-fashioned quality. Indeed, this blanco is an amazing ambassador for slowing things down, being more hands on, and basking in the pronounced juicy berry aromas and flavors of slow-roasted agave. Violet aromas make their presence quickly known, along with a hint of minerality. Bright, energetic, with a subtle core of sweet agave, it surely owes some of its intensity and definition to its 48-percent-ABV bottling strength.

Average price: $69
Rating: 96

17. The Balvenie Single Barrel 12 Year Old

The Balvenie is one of those many single malt distilleries that is well known, and certainly respected, but rarely geeked out about. Maybe more attention should be paid to the Speyside producer if they’re rolling out Scotches like this release, which has been offered off and on since 2013. Each numbered barrel (this was cask 9704) yields a maximum of 300 bottles. And while batches will vary, the sample we tried was bright and energetic, with clean and defined notes of fruit and honey. Bottled at a thoughtful 47.8 percent ABV, this should be a mainstay in your liquor cabinet or on your bar cart as it lands perfectly in terms of age, ABV, and price.

Average price: $80
Rating: 93

16. Oka Japanese Gin

Produced by Tsutsumi Distillery in Kyushu, Japan, our highest-ranking gin is uniquely crafted with a base that is 100 percent rice, and features Macedonian and Himalayan juniper, young ginger, and rotating varieties of seasonal citrus. It’s extremely floral, like a bowl of potpourri, piney with a kiss of spice like peppercorn and especially ginger. At this price and bottle size, this is an ideal cocktail gin (the brand aptly calls it a “workhorse”).

Average price: $28 (900 mL)
Rating: 93

15. Lost Lantern Far-Flung Rye II

Lost Lantern is the most exciting independent bottler in the country, gleefully promoting the source of its barrels on the front label. This is the Vermont-based company’s second blend of multiple ryes, aged 5 to 9 years old, from multiple distilleries in multiple states — in this case, Kentucky’s New Riff, Kansas’s Union Horse, Maryland’s Baltimore Spirits Co., Ohio’s Middle West, and Wisconsin’s Wollersheim Distillery. No surprise, this is an incredibly complex rye whiskey — grassy, minty, a bit citrusy, and, yes, very spicy, though maybe that’s not a surprise, either, considering the cask-strength 124 proof.

Average price: $100
Rating: 93

14. Palenqueros Madrecuishe Valente Garcia

The best mezcals these days are hands-on, small-batch expressions made by passionate mezcaleros and such is the case here. For this 933-bottle release, the roasted Madrecuishe agave was crushed by mallet before being double-distilled in copper pots. Bottled at 48.9 percent ABV, it offers a bright, minerally-wet rock nose, with hints of citrus and savory smoke. The palate that follows is layered with sweetness and roasted nut notes.

Average price: $104
Rating: 94

13. Hampden Estate Pagos Jamaican Rum Batch 3

If the concept seems to make little sense — a funky Jamaican rum aged entirely in former oloroso sherry casks from Bodegas Fundador — this third batch of Pagos completely sticks the landing. Bottled at 52 percent ABV, it delivers Hampden’s signature high-ester nose with notes of lime, honey, and even rubber tire. The palate is nuanced, with a savory depth meeting flashes of fruity freshness, a plate of Belgian waffles smothered in whipped cream and berries.

Average price: $113
Rating: 94

12. Planat Organic Founder’s Blend X.O. Cognac

Independently produced by Norwegian and French families, Planat — the third-largest Cognac brand in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century — has recently recommitted to organic agriculture in partnership with winegrowers. Now claiming the largest organic Cognac stock in the region, this blend — the youngest Cognac being 10 years of age — is distilled from organic grapes originating from the Grande and Petite Champagne, Fins Bois, and Bons Bois regions. It’s vibrant on the nose, floral, and fruity, but the palate tastes more mature, bursting with notes of gingerbread, wood, and a touch of rancio.

Average price: $100 (700 mL)
Rating: 94

11. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Heritage Barrel Tennessee Whiskey

A new permanent installation in the legendary brand’s Single Barrel Collection, this Jack Daniel’s uses a unique high-toast, low-char barrel toasting technique. That leads to an oaky nose, with a palate that is brown sugar, candied orange peel, and with a rich, honeyed finish. It’s dessert-y but not cloying, and one of the most elegant products ever released by Mr. Jack.

Average price: $70
Rating: 94

10. Tequila Arette Artesanal Suave Blanco

The highest-ranking tequila on our list is well rounded and soft, but peppery in all the right places, before unfolding into a wonderful intensity of aromas and flavors. Thanks to the brick oven cooking, roller mill extraction, and open-air fermentation, this is an extremely expressive and characterful blanco — one you could easily sip neat or use to elevate classic tequila cocktails.

Average price: $54
Rating: 93

9. Larceny Barrel Proof (Batch B525)

While taters scour shelves and pay elevated, secondary-market rates for many of the country’s top wheated bourbons — your Pappy Van Winkles, your Wellers — there’s quietly been a regularly released “wheater” that’s much easier to find and at a fair price to boot. Coming from the same Heaven Hill mash bill that produces the more ballyhooed Old Fitzgerald decanter series, this is a tad more youthful but every bit as good. One of three Larceny Barrel Proof releases in 2025, Batch B525 was the best of the bunch. There’s cherry soda on the nose with an underlying floral hit, roses perhaps, leading into a s’mores-like palate with a hint of roasted nuts and little burn despite the 117.4 proof.

Average price: $65
Rating: 94

8. Hard Cut Vodka

A vodka in a slick bottle produced by a celebrity who hasn’t exactly been famous since the 1980s? That sounds like a hard pass for making our best spirits list. But Swedish action star Dolph Lundgren’s vodka stuns. Crafted from Idaho russet potatoes and filtered with Rocky Mountain water then bottled at a respectable 45 percent ABV, the nose is clean and inviting, while the palate offers a creamy mouthfeel and plenty of character. It’s floral in a way that tastes like there are botanicals present — there aren’t — almost like a gin without juniper. A sippable vodka that would star in an ice-cold Martini.

Average price: $30
Rating: 92

7. Booker’s ‘Jimmy’s Batch’

A reliable, mostly affordable stalwart in the small-batch bourbon category for nearly 40 years, it has become easy to take Jim Beam’s uncut and unfiltered product for granted. Sure it’s always good to great, but what else is there to say? Then along comes Jimmy’s Batch, a tribute to Wild Turkey’s longtime master distiller, and the late Booker Noe’s good friend, Jimmy Russell. It has the expected high proof (125.8) and youthful aggression (7 years, 9 months) of all Booker’s releases, but there’s something a little more going on here that makes you sit up. The cola-dark liquid bursts with vanilla, leather, and baking spices on the nose, but the palate is sweet and creamy, with tons of caramel, leading into a finish that just doesn’t quit. It’s the best Booker’s release in years.

Average price: $100
Rating: 96

6. Foursquare Rum Distillery Exceptional Cask Selection ‘Convocation’

Including Foursquare on any “best” list can often feel like cheating. Of course it’s great! It’s always great. Alas, each new Foursquare release, while being no-doubt-about-it Foursquare is a unique and rewarding bottling and deserving of your attention. This is the 28th release in the Barbados brand’s Exceptional Cask Selection series, which highlights unique experiments in blending and maturation. Here, two 14-year-old rums — one aged in ex-bourbon barrels, the other in ex-Madeira casks — are married and bottled on site. Bottled at 62 percent ABV, it’s a brooding, burly proposition. The influence of fortified wine is unmistakable, adding richness and oxidative complexity to the distillery’s familiar vanilla and coconut core before you encounter additional waves of cocoa, candied citrus, and toasted nuts, wrapped in a chewy toffee richness that extends deep onto the finish.

Average price: $173
Rating: 96

5. Cinco Sentidos Arroqueño Tío Pedro

Our highest-ranking mezcal and overall agave spirit, this is a stunning if not time-consuming labor of love from Tío Pedro Hernandez. The longtime mezcalero produced this batch in Santa Catarina Minas using traditional clay pots made in Santa María Atzompa. But first! He had to source the Arroqueño agave from over 50 miles away, in the verdant hills of Sola de Vega. After roasting it for more than five days, Hernandez and his team mashed the agave by hand using mazos (mallets). All this effort inherently leads to small batches of incredible aroma, flavor, and complexity.

The nose darts between ripe tropical fruit, yogurt, and root vegetables. The palate is at once sweet and minerally, the wet rock notes eventually leading to a pleasant, dialed-down smoke, and a sweeter finish that drinks well below its almost 50 percent ABV.

Average price: $136
Rating: 95

4. Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still Japanese Whisky

Our highest-ranking Japanese whisky is, perhaps surprisingly, not from the Suntory company, the longtime standard-bearers of the category.

Indeed, Japanese whisky has seen plenty of upstart arrivals in the U.S. over the last decade and Kanosuke is maybe the best. Founded in 2017 at a distillery along Fukiagehama Beach in Kagoshima Prefecture — a spin-off of a 140-year-old shochu distillery — this craft whisky is distilled in three Miyake copper pot stills of differing neck shapes, along with vacuum distillation, which the distillery believes creates varying, complex distillates. This whisky likewise comes from both unmalted and malted barley and is then matured in both new American white oak casks of a larger puncheon size (450 liters) so as to not get over-oaked by the region’s climate.

You’ve never quite tasted Japanese whisky like this. It’s lush on the palate, sweet with hints of peaches and plums, even a touch savory, though with a soft, pleasing finish.

Average price: $115 (700 mL)
Rating: 95

3. Ragnaud Sabourin Fontvieille No. 35 Cognac

Despite the category topping our list last year, Cognac continues to be a sleeper for most Americans and a remarkable economic proposition. In what other category can you find a 35-year-old spirit for under 2  bills? (In fact, see No. 2, which is seven years younger and nearly four times the price!)

This eau-de-vie is produced from grapes from the oldest vines at the Ragnaud-Sabourin estate in the south of Grande Champagne, which was founded in 1850. Sometimes the resulting Cognacs are sold to the large houses; often, they are kept for themselves to age, which is why the small house is well known for its aged stocks.

This mahogany-colored Cognac starts with a musty nose, with underlying notes of dried fruits and nuts, with a slight anise touch. The palate offers a rich mouthfeel, with hints of apricot, though it is mostly drying with a lingering rancio quality and a long, tannic finish. Enjoyable for both connoisseurs and neophytes alike, this is sipping Cognac par excellence.

Average price: $190 (700 mL)
Rating: 95

2. Artist Glenburgie 1995

At just over $700, this is the most expensive bottle on this list and one of the more limited, too, with just 186 bottles released. At that price, and that scarcity, you better deliver in spades, and, wow, does this. Any concern about putting something on our list that most people will never taste, perhaps never even see on a shelf, is alleviated by tasting this extraordinary Scotch whisky.

The Artist line was created in 2011 by La Maison du Whisky, Paris’s world-class spirits shop and distributor, with the goal of highlighting exceptional single casks. This bottle comes from the 13th series in the collection, distilled in 1995 at the former Glenburgie distillery, a Speyside single malt producer whose whisky was typically used as a blending component in Ballantine’s. It was pulled from the barrels at 28 years old and bottled at a cask strength of 58 percent ABV, though it drinks way easier than that.

It opens with stunning fall tones of pungent orchard fruits alongside cinnamon, cloves, and other baking spices. The palate is extremely vibrant, despite the maturity, with lots of fresh stone fruit balanced by chocolates and vibrant ginger zip. A rich decadence leads to a persistent finish you just don’t want to let go of.

When you taste a Scotch this good, pretty soon you find yourself opening your bank app, checking your credit line, and talking yourself into splurging. It’s just that good and easily one of our most memorable drinking experiences of the year.

Average price: $729 (700 mL)
Rating: 96

1. Old Potrero California Cellar Series #3: Gundlach Bundschu Gewürztraminer Finish

If whiskey has topped our 50 Best Spirits list for now five out of the last six years, this is the first time an American rye whiskey has held the title belt. And in this era, that kind of feels apt.

Bourbon has become as mainstream as possible, with even your teetotaling aunt knowing what Pappy Van Winkle is. This obsession with bourbon, however, has turned it more into a commodity, a flex, than a spirit to sip. Sure, people still love drinking their bourbon, but these days, most bourbon conversation starts with what that bottle is worth, how limited this bottle is, and whether you’ll ever find that other bottle.

Then there is rye whiskey. Long adored by bartenders and spirits connoisseurs alike, rye whiskey has never quite penetrated the home bar of mainstream drinkers (and, for the most part, taterdom) in the same way bourbon has. What rye whiskey is even a household name in the same way the pillars of bourbon are?

Surely that becomes an advantage for the category as nothing can be outright dismissed — or hyped up to the point it can never quite deliver. Look at Old Potrero, the oldest name in American craft whiskey since Prohibition, yet still completely unknown by the hoi polloi and mostly ignored by cognoscenti. It’s time to wake up and smell the rye, folks.

And why not start with this, easily the most fragrant whiskey we tried this year. Made from classic Old Potrero 100 percent Rye Whiskey that has been aged for five years and eight months in toasted oak barrels, it is then finished in Gewürztraminer barrels from Sonoma County’s Gundlach Bundschu Winery for an additional 14 months. If the absurdly long, umlaut-laden product name concerns you, don’t let it. (The incredible amount of production information on both the front and back label is also much appreciated in this day and age of lack of transparency.)

If you’re a bit leery of finished rye whiskey like we are — in so many cases the sweetness of the barrels can cover up the beautiful spice notes you want in a rye — here the secondary maturation doesn’t overwhelm the base, and instead elevates it.

There’s a white wine brightness on the nose, with classic Gewürztraminer lychee notes and a bit of citrus. It’s an aroma that will cause you to spend more time sniffing your dram than sipping it, although you obviously shouldn’t neglect the latter. The palate leans sweeter, but not cloying, with notes of crème brûlée and pineapple. The finish is herbal and spicy, but very drinkable at 57.3 percent ABV.

We tasted this limited release (just around 1,200 bottles) on at least three separate, additional occasions over the last several months after it stunned us by winning our rye whiskey tasting in September. And each time we went back thinking: Surely this can’t be as good as we recall? Surely this can’t be as fragrant, as complex, as bursting with flavor? Surely this little gem from a quiet craft distillery on the West Coast can’t be the best spirit we’ve tried this year?

Surely enough, it is.

Average price: $80 (700 mL)
Rating: 95

The article The 50 Best Spirits of 2025 appeared first on VinePair.