The World’s Best Bourbon—According To The 2025 TAG Global Spirits Awards

The TAG Spirit Awards convened in Las Vegas in early September and we’re already getting a taste of what the annual competition is calling the best on the shelf for 2025. A relative newcomer in just its fourth iteration, TAG has wasted little time making a splash across the industry with some of its biggest winners reporting an immediate sales bump upon receiving “Best In Show” honors.

The event boasts some serious pedigree to help bolster its prowess. It’s named after founder Tony Abou-Ganim, who spent two decades as judge for the granddaddy of them all – the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. From 2010 until 2020 he served as its Director of Judging. In Vegas, he’s joined in hosting duties by David Grapshi, a legend from the tequila world, and Julio Bermejo – beverage manager for Tommy’s Mexican restaurant in San Francisco.

Together they enlist the help of top talent, from bartenders to distributors to acclaimed authors, populating prestigious panels where thousands of labels are evaluated from no less than 100 distinct categories of spirit. Bourbon remains one of the most competitive – and has been since the start. So “Best in Show” here is bound to be an especially notable accolade.

Even more so this year, because it was awarded to an extremely allocated expression from a craft upstart out of Vermont. One which remains relatively obscure to the general public. We’re talking about the 2011 Vintage Bourbon from Bhakta Spirits. Here’s everything you need to know about the top-rated liquid, including where to find it…

Bhakta 2011 is a 111-proof Tennessee whiskey finished in Armagnac casks. It’s legitimately a small batch offering; a marriage of just 11 barrels worth of liquid in total. The whiskey comes from an undisclosed distillery brandishing an atypically high 84% corn mashbill – to go along with 8% rye and 8% malted barley (this happens to be the exact recipe used at Dickel distillery). It spent its final year of aging in a battery of oak which had most recently held French brandy dating as far back as 1973. This makes sense as the Bhakta brand began its life dealing exclusively with brandy releases. Its eponymous founder Raj Bhakta holds one of the largest vintage libraries of the liquid to be found anywhere outside of France.

The judges at TAG praised the 2011 vintage for its “world-class craftsmanship and refined elegance.” For us, it’s a winner because of its delectably creamy mouthfeel as well as its compelling evolution from nose to palate. More specifically, the juice leads with aromas of dark fruit – sugar plums and dried dates – but on the tongue this sweetness gives way to rancio, worn leather, and savory spice. A coda of confection returns in a medium-long finish, this time, yielding tropical fruit notes.

Though it isn’t usually employed as a finishing component for bourbon, the way the accent of Armagnac is applied here makes us hopeful we’ll be seeing it show up more often in the American whiskey category. We’re certainly not mad at the results in this rendering. It probably even justifies the bottle’s hefty three-figure price tag. You can currently purchase it directly from Bhakta Spirits for $150. At any rate, it’s a bold statement both inside and out, sitting in the brand’s signature Art Deco-inspired packaging.

The release – and its performance at TAG – mark the latest achievement for Raj Bhakta. In 2007, the entrepreneur (and former Apprentice star) launched WhistlePig Rye. A dozen years later he sold his stake in the company for an undisclosed windfall and promptly set up a new operation just a few miles up the road at another rural Vermont farm. WhistlePig, for its part, went on to become one of the country’s best-selling craft whiskey labels. With his eponymous offering, Bhakta has remained hopeful that lightning might strike twice. After bottling a “Best in Show” bourbon, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that storm clouds are forming overhead.