The Best Whiskey Under $30 To Buy And 5 Bottles To Skip

It's no secret that a trip to the grocery store is getting expensive, and picking up a nice bottle of whiskey or bourbon to enjoy can be pretty pricey, too. One whiskey NFT sold for over $2 million back in 2021, and you'll even find the expensive stuff on the shelves at stores renowned for affordability. Shoppers have spotted Costco carrying whiskey that costs more than some cars, and it's at that point where we start to think that everyone and everything really just needs to settle down.

We understand you might look at a whiskey with a price tag under $30 and already be able to feel the burn, and there certainly are good and bad choices to be made here. We've made those bad choices, so we wanted to share some thoughts on what to buy and what to skip.

First, a disclaimer: Prices may vary based on your location, but for the sake of discussion, we're going with a national average of less than $30 at the time of this writing. We also included variety in our picks, from affordable bourbons to rye, Irish, and Scotch whiskeys. Choices are based on personal experience, advice we've picked up from conversations with industry experts, and recommendations made by others here at Mashed. Whether you're looking for an affordable bottle that's perfect for a variety of cocktails or something you can enjoy on the rocks, we've got suggestions on what to reach for ... and past.

There's no denying that Jack Daniel's is incredibly popular. Estimates suggest that the brand sells around 14 million cases a year — you know, give or take — and we get it. Because it's so popular, it might be easy to reach past it, thinking that it's just ordinary. 

We'd argue that there's nothing wrong with ordinary, and there's a reason that so much of it is sold. Jack Daniel's prides itself on putting out a chill, easy-drinking whiskey more than 150 years in the making. Not only has the brand had a lot of time to figure things out, but the sheer scale of the operation means that the distillery can create a shocking amount of quality product that goes through a long process of distilling, charcoal mellowing (with charcoal the distillery is making itself), and aging. Jack Daniel's averages somewhere around 2,000 barrels a day, which equates to about 570,000 bottles. 

Wild, right? The scale of production is why consumers can pick up a bottle for less than $30, and still count on a whiskey that's as versatile as it is affordable. Jack is one of the best whiskeys to use in a Whiskey Sour — or any number of cocktails, for that matter. It's also smooth enough to enjoy on the rocks, and we'll never be disappointed by it.

Flavored whiskey is pretty polarizing, and people definitely have a ton of opinions on it. We're huge proponents of drinking what you enjoy and paying no mind to the critics, especially because there are some very tasty flavored whiskeys out there — including Crown Royal's Peach.

Canadian whiskey might not have the reputation that Irish or American whiskey has, but we absolutely recommend checking it out. With fewer guidelines around its manufacture, there's more room for it to get super creative — and you can find some downright delightful stuff coming out of the north. Crown Royal is smooth, and so is the peach version. Best of all, there's none of that overwhelming, syrupy sweetness that's the downfall of many flavored whiskeys.

You're not going to go wrong with Crown Royal's other flavors, either. Apple is also very nice, so why did we choose to give peach a shout-out? It makes outstanding cocktails. Use it in a wonderfully fruity version of something like a Mojito or Whiskey Sour, or try it simply mixed with lemonade, ginger beer, or iced tea. Some nights just call for a straightforward, no-fuss cocktail, and Crown Royal Peach is a versatile and affordable option.

Dear Fireball: We want to love you. We do. There are a lot of great fall flavored whiskeys that you'll wish you tried sooner, including Bird Dog's Hot Cinnamon. If you're thinking that Fireball is going to be the budget version of that, well ... to be fair, that's exactly what it is — and not in a good way. You'll probably be able to pick up a bottle of Fireball for around $15, but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Fireball is precisely what turns people away from flavored whiskey: It's got a texture that's got more in common with cough syrup than whiskey, and the cinnamon is way too sweet. It's not really cinnamon in the way most people would hope for. Sure, it had some time in the spotlight, but was it well-earned? Eh.

Hilariously, Fireball has attempted to get a little fancy by offering box sets with a champagne-style bottle, glasses, and caviar. Is that a sentence we never expected to be confronted with? Yes. Is it a strange world we live in? Again, yes. The bottom line is that cinnamon is a tricky flavor, and although you might pay a little more, it's worth it not to settle for Fireball's less-than-stellar entry into the flavored whiskey world.

George Dickel has a long and complicated history that goes back to the late 19th century, involving repeated changes in ownership, a possible beef with Jack Daniel's, and a 1980s-era disappearance. It's back today, though, and as we knew we wanted to recommend an affordable rye whiskey, there was no question that it was going to be George Dickel. You can likely pick up a bottle for just under our $30 price point, and not only is is a legitimately well-respected option, but it's one of the best ryes that every whiskey lover needs to try.

George Dickel's rye definitely comes with that hot edge unique to rye whiskey. However, it's also smooth, a little fruity, and a little less burn-y than some ryes can be — which is wildly impressive when you take into account its affordability.

One of the things we love about this rye is that it's great in cocktails. It's got enough of a kick to stand out in something like a classic Sazerac or your favorite Manhattan, but it's not going to take over and dominate the entire drink. Plus, since it's so affordable, you're not going to feel like you're wasting an expensive whiskey by burying it in a cocktail, making it an all-around good choice.

If you had Jim Beam's Red Stag years ago and remember it as being pretty tasty — particularly with Coke or Pepsi — you're definitely not alone. Full disclosure: This writer is right there with you. However, the Red Stag of yesteryear isn't the Red Stag of today, and that's a major bummer.

When Red Stag was first released, it was 40% ABV. Check out the label today, and you'll see it's now 32.5%. Clearly, something's up here, and we're not the only ones to notice it. When we headed to Reddit to get some other opinions, we found plenty of people who remember Red Stag as being a sort of mid, acceptable flavored bourbon, while recent reviews of the obviously revamped product are less than appreciative.

Today, you'll find this bottle delivers an overwhelming, cloying sweetness that tastes not only artificial, but much more like cough syrup than any liquor should. It is — in theory, at least — supposed to be black cherry flavored, but there's really not much of any kind of flavor that can cut through all the sweetness. The syrupy texture certainly doesn't help either. Yes, you can probably find a bottle for less than $20, but you'll learn firsthand why Mashed readers answered our poll with big thoughts that named Jim Beam the worst bourbon on the market.

When we here at Mashed asked whiskey experts to recommend the best bottles for under $50, one of those recommendations was for Old Forester 100 Proof Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It came from Chris Walster over at The Cask Connoisseur, who had high praise for this as a whiskey that works really well in an assortment of cocktails but can also be enjoyed on its own.

We love that kind of versatility, and here's the thing: Not only is it under $50, but you're likely to be able to pick up a bottle for right around the $25 mark. We love that, too, because finding a widely-available, affordable, highly recommended new favorite is exactly what we're here for.

We also respect the fact that this is a 100 proof bourbon, which means it's going to pack a serious punch. It's surprisingly complex, with a vanilla and butterscotch sweetness against a backdrop of oaky richness and a little bite imparted by the barrel aging process. Try it once and you might find yourself wondering if someone has mispriced the bottle, but nope! It's legitimately and surprisingly much more than you might bargain for in the very best way.

When this writer ranked Buffalo Trace bourbons from worst to best, it was Old Charter that took the bottom spot. And I stand by that. The average price of a bottle is still sitting at just around $15, and yes, it's decent enough in some cocktails. But the sad fact is there's a lot of competition out there, and this one just doesn't stand up to many of the others around its price point.

Take a sip and you'll get sweetness. That's ... pretty much it, and regular readers know we're all about versatility. Sometimes you want a cocktail, sometimes you want a drink to sip neat, and sometimes? On the rocks. Old Charter can't carry much of anything besides a sweet cocktail. Shelf space in our liquor cabinet is at a premium, and there's no real room for this one.

We're not the only ones to think so. When we headed out to Reddit to get other opinions, we found some bourbon drinkers who were not only unimpressed with the contents — and had, in fact, forgotten they'd actually tried the bottle they had on hand — but were also unimpressed by unclear labeling and age statements. Thoughts were summed up by one Reddit user who wrote, "This stuff is awful. A friend 'gifted' me a bottle of this. I was afraid to ruin my plumbing by pouring it down the drain, so I buried it in a vacant field."

If the only Irish whiskey you've ever had is Jameson, we're here to say there are a lot of others that you need to try. When it comes time to talk about whiskey on a budget, Paddy Blended Irish Whiskey is a perfectly acceptable option, hovering right around the $20 price point, while still promising to deliver on the smooth, delicious goodness you can expect out of Ireland. 

Paddy's is very middle-of-the-road, and we actually mean that in a good way. Sure, other whiskeys might be more complex, bolder, and more flavorful, but Paddy's delivers on a simple, straightforward, gentle sort of whiskey flavor that's perfect for an everyday sort of bottle. It's a little citrusy, a little fruity, and it's brilliant on the rocks but also not going to get lost in a cocktail.

Plus, for that price point? Paddy's has been around since the early 20th century, and yes, there really was a Paddy. That was Patrick J. O'Flaherty, the founder and whiskey salesman who was known for being the first in the pub to buy a round. Great story, good whiskey, and an outstanding price? Sign us up.

We're all about judging a product on its own merits and not fussing over marketing and celebrity endorsements, but this one is kind of impossible to separate. Proper No. Twelve was co-founded by Conor McGregor, the Irish MMA fighter who has been involved in so many lawsuits, assault cases, and controversies that Ireland as a whole kind of united to say, "Who? Him? Yea, we don't know him. Still. Sorry." The whiskey brand dropped him from advertising, but we'd feel we're being remiss if we didn't point out the connection.

As for the whiskey itself? A bottle in the U.S. will sell for around $24, and that's honestly $24 too much. We're not the only ones who think so, with customers posting to review sites widely panning this bottle, saying it tastes cheaper than it is and has little redeeming about it. And if the goal is just to get a buzz? You can do better.

Reddit users have lambasted it thoroughly, too. One Reddit user wrote, "It's Irish whiskey with metallic notes of 9V battery terminals," while others noted that you can get an idea of the flavor profile you're in for if you've ever licked pennies. Of course, some took aim at it for its connection to McGregor, while others were of the opinion that of all the whiskeys on the market, this one was the absolute worst. Food for thought.

Wild Turkey 101 has been collecting awards for years, and it's kind of mind-blowing you can still pick up a bottle for under $30. True, it's just barely coming in under our price point here, but it's still under and we're going to run with it. Wild Turkey traces its history back to a mid-19th-century grocer. It made a big splash at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and became widely known as one of the brands that helped make bourbon so popular.

The bourbon you get in a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 is the same bourbon customers were drinking more than 75 years ago, and there's something pretty neat about that. If it's not broken don't fix it after all, and it's safe to say plenty of people find something precisely right about the mix of vanilla, oak, sweetness, and spice.

It's outstanding in cocktails and straight, and with that price tag, there's another reason to keep this one on the shelf. Wild Turkey 101 is one of the best bourbons for cooking, and every home chef might want to consider keeping a bottle at hand, whether it's for bourbon cupcakes or use in a sweet-and-savory BBQ. It's so versatile, in fact, you might want to pick up a couple bottles — and at less than $30, you won't feel guilty using it on some sweet, sweet chicken wings.

You might want to rethink drinking Rebel Yell whiskey, and there are a few reasons for that. For starters — as we here at Mashed have pointed out previously — Rebel Yell isn't exactly transparent when it comes to things like labeling age statements. While there's nothing wrong with that, per se, we like knowing exactly what we're getting. That's even true of a bottle that hovers just around $20, and really, is that asking too much?

Rebel Yell is a whiskey that's perhaps best described as existing. There's nothing great about it, and it's widely known as being at the bottom of the lowest shelves. Oh, did we say "Rebel Yell" — because that kind of isn't the case anymore.

We did that on purpose, because context is important and yes, this is the same stuff. There's not a heck of a lot of news about it out there, but somewhere around 2020, the bourbon quietly got a makeover. The second part of the name was dropped, and if you drop down to that bottom shelf these days, you'll find it's simply called Rebel. Did it get better? Not really, with one of the only selling points being the fact that it's cheap. However, as we've shown, there are plenty of better options in this price range.

Look, we totally get it. Recommending a scotch you can pick up for right around $20 is a bit of a hot take, but bear with us. The Famous Grouse traces its history all the way back to 1896, but fast forward to the 21st century, and you'll find a blended whiskey that's designed to be incredibly approachable. Use it in any one of a number of cocktails — especially the brand-recommended Grouse & Ginger, which this writer can confirm is excellent — and honestly, that's enough to explain why around 43 million bottles are sold every year.

Simply put, it's nothing fancy — but that's fine, especially if you're looking for something to use in a cocktail. You'll find reviews citing this one as a perfectly respectable pick for its price, and yes, there are a ton of better options if you're looking for something to drink neat.

But we also say that budget whiskey has its place, and sometimes, that place is in a really good cocktail that isn't going to come with the least bit of hesitation. You might not want to disguise that $80 bottle in a Rusty Nail, but you will appreciate the simplicity this bottle brings to the table.

In order to determine pricing for bottles, we used the national averages available via Wine Searcher, and confirmed that at the time of this writing, that average was below $30. We then chose hits and misses based on personal opinions and experience, opinions of other writers here at Mashed, and industry experts we've consulted for various other pieces. The best offer versatility, can stand up in cocktails, and are respectable neat or on the rocks, while the misses are those that fall short in terms of precisely that same metric.