Move Over Buffalo Trace: This Brand Is The World's Best Bourbon Of 2025
Every year since 1969, the International Wine and Spirits Competition celebrates the very best bottles in spirit and winemaking with awards for excellence. This obviously includes bourbon, a $9 billion industry (per KY Bourbon) and popular pick at almost any full bar in the country. And this year, one of the world's best bourbons brings sophisticated flavors in meticulously crafted small batches.
Frank August Small Batch is somewhat of a mystery. Its mash bill is undisclosed and its age is unspecified beyond being at least 4 years old. But from that mystery comes a well-balanced, rye-heavy blend of vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon notes, finishing on malt and brown sugars. Each batch of the 100-proof bourbon is blended from 10 to 15 barrels, and while the distilleries responsible are also unknown, the brand selects and blends each barrel itself.
Frank August Small Batch is one of five bourbons that the IWSC named as the best of 2025. But even among these greats, it presents a uniquely good balance between artful crafting and affordable prices. Each release is one-of-a-kind, limited in number, and tightly controlled for excellence — and it's rare to get this level of artisanship for about $65.
How Frank August stacks up against other bourbons
Americans' taste in bourbon varies wildly. For all the praise heaped upon Frank August and the IWSC's other bourbon honorees, America's best-selling whiskey brand is Jim Beam, a budget bottle sometimes available as a bar's well whiskey. Beam is successful enough to own several other whiskeys, like Knob Creek and Booker's, but Beam itself is a subsidiary of the beverage giant Suntory Global Spirits.
On the other hand, Frank August is a relatively new brand that's still owned by its founders. It focuses less on the trappings of typical bourbon storytelling like family recipes and on-site distilling to instead craft fine blends with sleek, modern marketing. There are a ton of great bourbons you can get for under $50, including Michter's and the Beam-owned Basil Hayden's. But Frank August brings a lot more flavor to the table at the cost of a few more dollars and no humble, generations-old origin story.
But no matter how fancy your drink is, be sure to avoid one of the biggest mistakes people make when drinking bourbon, and let a pour breathe before having a sip.