The World’s Best Bourbon—According To The 2024 International Whisky Competition

It’s déjà vu all over again. The results of the 2024 International Whisky Competition have just landed and we’ve got your exclusive first look at the big winners. When it comes to the best bottle of bourbon on shelves right now, the annual judging offers up a sturdy, barrel-strength pour of liquid we’ve seen here before—from a distillery that continues to dominate the competition circuit.

For the second straight year, the top prize in the category was awarded to George T. Stagg Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The cask strength behemoth arrives on shelves each autumn as part of Buffalo Trace’s beloved Antique Collection (or BTAC, for those who are into the whole brevity thing). Amongst connoisseurs it is often the most prized parcel in that five bottle family.

Always uncut and unfiltered, its exact proof point and age will fluctuate slightly from year to year. And so the expression that won in 2023 is actually ever-so-distinct from the repeat champion we’re talking about today. Nevertheless, they are evidently equal in their exceptionality.

The most recent BTAC introduced aficionados to a 135-proof George T. Stagg release that spent just over 15 years in heavily charred virgin American oak. It lands in the bottle a rich shade of burnt amber and relinquishes all manner of molasses when nosed. The palate is an ode to s’mores by the campfire: burnt marshmallow, graham crackers, milk chocolate and even a touch of smoke all ride a full-body down each heated sip.

This is a whiskey that effortlessly invites the famed “Kentucky Chew.” Letting it slowly simmer affords an enhanced interaction with the worn leather and tobacco which characterize its firm finish. For those hoping to coax those notes out further still, a drop or two of room temperature water—in an otherwise neat dram—will surely do the trick.

Now if only there were some trick for acquiring George T. Stagg anywhere near its suggested retail price of $125. The best we can currently find online is $850 per bottle, which is actually not terrible in relation to the four-figure sums we’ve seen it secure in recent years. The expression was omitted from Buffalo Trace’s 2021 Antique Collection and that certainly didn’t help quell the fervor when it triumphantly returned in 2022.

And if demand for preciously-allocated whiskies is showing signs of plateauing in the current market (it is), Buffalo Trace offerings sure seem immune to the effects. The distillery just can’t help hauling in award after award. It’s already added dozens of coveted industry prizes to its trophy shelf so far this year.

They must be putting something special in the water over there in Frankfort, Kentucky. Namely: limestone. But that’s just the start. The talented producers and maturation specialists at Buffalo Trace also know the ways in which specific grain formulations (they call them “mashbills” in the business) work best in certain parts of their outsized rickhouses. And how to alchemize well-aged stock into batches that are far greater than the sum of their constituent barrels.

Whether its a low-rye mash bill such as the one we’re enjoying here with George T. Stagg (and the award-winning Eagle Rare lineup), or a wheated variant—responsible for Weller and all things Pappy—this is a distillery that just doesn’t know how to lose.

Follow along for more winners from the 2024 International Whisky Competition in the days ahead.