Best Single-Barrel Bourbon

Updated March 2026.

Single barrel is a bottling story, not a TTB grade. One barrel is dumped and bottled; proof and age are whatever that cask produced. Bourbon still has to meet and the 80-proof floor. Bottled-in-bond is the actual legal class (100 proof, one season, ≥4 years). A 1.5-ounce 40% pour is one NIAAA drink; many single barrels sit higher. This is not a 2022 top-15 tasting.

Blanton’s is the famous single-barrel Age International / Buffalo Trace-campus label — not the only one. Related: Blanton’s, who makes Blanton’s, bottled-in-bond, barrel proof.

Single barrel vs the words next to it

Term What it means Drink math
Single barrel One cask; not a TTB class Read that neck
Small batch Also not TTB; house definition Use labeled proof
Bottled-in-bond 100 proof; one distillery/season; ≥4 years 1.25 / 1.5 oz
Barrel proof Bottled at cask strength Do the math

A 750 mL at 46.5% (a common single-barrel neighborhood) is about 19.7 drinks — confirm the label. Four 93-proof pours are about 4.65 drinks. NIAAA binge pattern is a health line, not a target. Allocation stickers are not MSRP. Pour math: whiskey drinks.

Sources

  • TTB 27 CFR 5.143 (bourbon); 5.88 (bonded). No single-barrel identity standard.
  • Blanton’s / Buffalo Trace campus: prior who-makes-blantons page. Proof is bottle-specific.
  • NIAAA (December 2025). No invented ranking or MSRP. 46.5% is an example neighborhood, not a brand spec.
  • — 27 CFR 5.88

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