2026 ASCOT Awards Best Bourbons: The Top Bourbons in Every Category

2026 ASCOT Awards Best Bourbon Finalists

The 2026 ASCOT Awards recognized hundreds of bourbon entries, but only a small group advanced beyond medal judging to become the competition’s Best in Category finalists. Rather than listing nearly 300 medal-winning bourbons, we’ve focused on the 17 expressions the ASCOT Awards identified as the top-scoring bourbons in their respective categories, advancing them to the Best in Category finals. If you’re looking for the bourbons that stood out most in this year’s competition, this is where to start.

How the 2026 ASCOT Awards Bourbon Competition Works

Unlike many spirits competitions, the ASCOT Awards do not award Silver or Bronze medals. Instead, publicly announced awards are presented at three medal levels: Gold, Platinum, and Double Platinum. ASCOT also recognizes an Honorable Mention award level, although those recipients are not publicly listed. As a result, Gold represents the lowest publicly announced medal rather than a mid-tier finish.

After medal judging is complete, the highest-scoring bourbons in each category advance to the Best in Category Finals. In some categories, there is only a single finalist, which is therefore declared the category winner. However, in other categories there are multiple finalists, which then compete in Taste-Offs. The category winners then compete for Bourbon of the Year, with that winner advancing to compete for Best in Show “Whiskey of the Year” against the top spirits from every major category. 

Editor’s Note

While hundreds of bourbons earned medals, this article focuses on the bourbons that advanced to the Best in Category finals. These are the expressions ASCOT identified as the top-scoring bourbons within their respective categories, making them far more useful to readers than a list of every medal winner. To put this in perspective, ASCOT awarded public medals to 291 bourbons in its 2026 Taste Competition, but only 17 advanced to the Best in Category finals or were declared automatic category winners. That is around 5.8% of all medal-winning bourbons. Those are the bourbons you’ll find below.

Entry Requirements and Costs

Entering a major spirits competition represents a significant investment for producers.

For the 2026 ASCOT Taste Competition:

• Entry fee: $475 per spirit
• Samples required: Two 750 mL bottles

ASCOT also conducts a separate Single Barrel Pick Competition, which is judged independently from the Taste Competition.

For the Single Barrel Pick Competition:

• Entry fee: $250
• Samples required: One 750 mL bottle
• All entry fees are donated to charity. 

Winning producers may also purchase an official ASCOT crystal statuette for $220.

2026 ASCOT Awards Bourbon Medal Statistics

Using the official ASCOT winners database, we counted every bourbon medal winner in the main Taste Competition.

Total public bourbon medal winners in the Taste Competition: 291

ASCOT has not released the total number of bourbon entries or the number of Honorable Mention recipients. As a result, it is impossible to determine the overall odds of winning a medal or what percentage of entrants received an award.

Note: ASCOT also awarded five Double Platinum medals in its separate High Proof Straight Bourbon Single Barrel Pick Competition. Those awards are not included in the statistics above because they are judged in a separate charitable competition.

2026 ASCOT Awards Best Bourbon Category Finalists

Best Small Batch Bourbon

The following bourbons advanced to the Best Small Batch Bourbon Taste-Off:

• Rue Bourbon (Fugitives Spirits)
• Barrel King The G Spot #118 – Warehouse G Barrels – Single Rickhouse Blend – By Jarrod Record

Best Wheated Bourbon

The finalists for Best Wheated Bourbon are:

• Holladay Soft Red Wheat Rickhouse Proof Bourbon
• Southern Star Cask Strength Paragon Wheated Bourbon
• W. L. Weller Antique 107

Best Straight Bourbon

Three bourbons remain in contention for Best Straight Bourbon:

• Wheel Horse Barrel Master Bourbon
• Old Dominick 8 Years Old Reserve Bourbon
• Elijah Craig Barrel Proof C925

Best Craft Bourbon (Winner)

Only one bourbon advanced in this category, making it the automatic winner.

• Kentucky Peerless Henry Kraver Old Reserve 10 Year Old Bourbon

Best Extra Age Bourbon (11+ Years) (Winner)

Only one bourbon advanced in this category.

Winner:

• George T. Stagg 2025 (142.8 proof)

Best Blend of Straight Bourbon

The finalists are:

• Dark Arts Barely Legal Bourbon – Small Batch, Cask Strength
• Sergeants Valor Anniversary Small Batch Bourbon (Brad Halling American Whiskey Kompany (BHAWK))

Best Special Barrel-Finished Bourbon

Three bourbons remain in contention:

• Dark Arts The Empyrean – Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Red Port and White Port Wine Casks
• Dark Arts Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished with Toasted Mizunara Oak Staves
• Barrell Bourbon Cigar Blend

Best Single Barrel Bourbon

The winner of this category is not eligible to compete for Bourbon of the Year.

Finalists:

• Starlight Distillery Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey
• Crittenden’s Cut Above Eight Year Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey

Final Thoughts on the 2026 ASCOT Awards Best Bourbons

While medal lists can include hundreds of bourbons, the Best in Category finalists provide a much more focused look at the bottles that stood out during judging. Of the 291 publicly announced medal-winning bourbons in ASCOT’s main Taste Competition, just 17 reached this stage of the competition. Those are the bourbons that now remain in contention for the ASCOT Awards’ highest bourbon honors.

We’ll update this article once ASCOT announces the remaining Best in Category Taste-Off winners, Bourbon of the Year, and Best in Show. Source for all ASOCT Awards competition information and winners: ascotawards.com.

Are you interested in the best bourbon from other major spirits competitions? Then check out some of our other articles: 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold Bourbon Winners and Best of Class Finalists and 2026 IWSC Best Bourbons: Gold Outstanding and Gold Medal Winners.

Would you like to learn more about distilleries and bourbon? Are you planning a trip to Kentucky Distilleries? Maybe you would like to live the bourbon life vicariously through us? If any of these are true, then check out BourbonObsessed.com today!