I'm looking for some recommendations for a good whiskey in the 125-175 dollar range. A coworker needed my help getting a bottle for her husbands anniversary gift since I head into the Houston area often and there's little to no options where we live.

Some that she was interested in trying to find include:

Peerless Straight Rye
EHT four grain
Rock Hill Farms
Or any similar that are recommended

Having trouble finding any of these in the woodlands area which is where I'll be this weekend. And I realize there is an extensive thread here in bourbon but I don't have a ton of time to sift through the 300 pages to find options in that price range.

If you see EHT four grain on the shelf it'll be closer to 300 dollars, that's the only way it would be sitting.

Should be able to do the peerless rye for that, but if that's actually worth it is debatable.

How about one of the orphaned barrel series like Rhetoric?

I second orphan barrell, it is solid and easy to find. You can do better, but you'd have to get lucky to find something better off the shelf.

I will say the challenge comes from the price point. The problem getting something "worth" the money in that range. Heck - a balvenie is $60 and amazing and there's plenty of scotches and whiskeys in that $60-80 range that are great.

Once you make that jump in price for a "special gift" - I'd defer to age statement on a single malt scotch being the wow factor.

Let us know what she went with and what the reaction was!

If he's a peat fan, I'd recommend one of Longrow single casks. The Sauternes and Chardonnay are both good and also unique.

The hard part isn't the $$$ it's availability of many of the Bourbons listed.

RHF may only be $60 but you will not be able to find it.

There is a RHF on BSM now for $115.

Op was looking to buy it local. If BSM is an option that opens a lot more possibilities.

Missed that part. The only thing I know for sure that can be found around Houston is Peerless. The other option would be to post a list of asks on HWE. There is a good chance he could land a Blanton's Gold or SFTB with that budget.

yeah, don't risk getting the guy a nice bottle of Scotch...fine Brandy is a much safer pick!

What if the guy doesn't like brandy?!?

Go get a $50 bottle and save the rest of your money. Odds are, it won't be discernibly better, but you can convince yourself it is if you want too.

stranahan's colorado whiskey diamond peak is a really good whiskey. They sell it at Twin Liquors for 75-85 a bottle.

Take it to the Hate Scotch thread

If you're in The Woodlands, hit Ryan's Liquor in Spring off of 45. Great selection and they had Peerless on the shelf last week.

Stopped at Total Wine yesterday. There is plenty of bourbon in that price range. Ask for some advice or google reviews while you are at the store. On the rare occasion they may have a bottle open and let you try it.

strohag said:

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Stopped at Total Wine yesterday. There is plenty of bourbon in that price range. Ask for some advice or google reviews while you are at the store. On the rare occasion they may have a bottle open and let you try it.

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Don't buy anything they try to sell you that has a direct spirits tag under it though.

They market Hancock's Reserve under Spirits Direct, and that's some taterific BT MB2 juice.

https://www.totalwine.com/spirits/bourbon/small-batch-bourbon/hancocks-reserve-single-barrel-bourbon-whiskey/p/5350750?mobile-hit=true&userLat=29.6591998357602&userLon=-95.49561920584691

Fair enough but that definitely fits under exception that proves the rule.

Most of it is garbage.