The Bourbon Brown Book
Anyone can list a price. This book gives you the call — buy at retail, worth the hunt, wait, skip, or never pay secondary — in one line, in the same voice as the reviews, with the price as the evidence. The benchmark below is the 32 bottles people actually check, free to read and refreshed monthly. The full book, all 146 bottles, is for members, and member price reports keep it current between editions.
The five calls
Every bottle in the benchmark gets exactly one. The call follows from three things: the taste verdict where a review exists, the retail-to-secondary gap, and the trend. Retail below was checked in November 2026; each bottle’s secondary carries its own Updated date. The market story since the edition published: prices fell hard through 2024—25, and the hottest bottles kept sliding into 2026. Across the full book, Tier 1 averages 4.7x retail on secondary, Tier 2 averages 2.9x, Tier 3 averages 1.7x — and 15 bottles now carry a Buy at retail call.
Secondary is at or below sticker. Buy the bottle, skip the hunt.
markup ≤ 1.0x
Worth chasing — at retail only. Never a dollar above it.
Van Winkle · King of Kentucky · Michter’s 20
The ask is above retail and falling. Patience is the discount.
1x–5x and trending down
No real secondary market, or asks nobody is paying. Leave it.
no secondary / no takers
The markup is the story, not the whiskey. Retail or walk away.
markup ≥ 5x
The benchmark index
Refreshes monthly
The bottles people actually check — all 32 of them, in full. These get the full treatment every month: fresh price check, trend, and a re-read of the call. Everything else in the book carries a verdict and a dated price, refreshed when real data comes in. Last updated: November 2026.
How we price this: secondary figures are ranges, anchored on this book’s own November 2025 prices and cross-checked against public auction results. Auction hammer is a ceiling, not a street price — buyers pay hammer plus roughly 15% on top, and auctions run above private sales. Where no reliable fresh figure exists for a bottle, it keeps its November 2025 price and date rather than a guess. The Updated date on a row is when its secondary price was last verified. Three benchmark bottles were updated this month to levels a second public source corroborated, rather than their November 2025 figures: George T. Stagg at $700, William Larue Weller at $900–$1,000, and Eagle Rare 17 Year at $1,500–$2,000.
Buffalo Trace Antique Collection
The corroborated level is $700, not $800 — 4.7x retail, down from November and falling. That flips it from Never to Wait. The hazmat hype is still the story, but the price is moving your way.
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $700.00 · 4.7x · Down · Updated Nov 2026
The corroborated level is $900–$1,000, not $1,275 — 6.0–6.7x retail, and still a Never. A price that is coming down to meet you is not a price you chase.
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $900–$1,000 · 6.0x–6.7x · Down · Updated Nov 2026
8.3x and trending down, with the price expected to settle near $1,100. Even the settled price is not a buy. Retail or walk away.
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $1,250.00 · 8.3x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
The corroborated level is $1,500–$2,000, not $1,350 — 10.0–13.3x retail. It is the better bottle of the two big BTAC asks — and still not a secondary buy.
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $1,500–$2,000 · 10.0x–13.3x · Up · Updated Nov 2026
The steepest markup in the book, for a bottle younger than the ER17 sitting next to it. The book’s own math: “Have $1500 and want a better bottle? Go with the ER17 and pocket the rest.”
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $1,500.00 · 10.0x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Van Winkle
At true retail, Van Winkles are almost always worth grabbing — and they stay the easiest bottles in bourbon to move if you change your mind. 4.0x secondary is not the way in.
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $600.00 · 4.0x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Same rule as the whole line: retail prices rose, secondary fell, and at true retail it is still worth grabbing without thinking. At $650, let someone else think about it.
Retail $169.99 · Secondary $650.00 · 3.8x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
6.0x and falling in the year the whole line got worse as a value. At $240 retail, grab it. At $1,450, you are paying peak money for a falling bottle.
Retail $239.99 · Secondary $1,450.00 · 6.0x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
The one Van Winkle holding its price — which still leaves it at 5.7x. The hunt at retail is worth it. The secondary ask is not, and flat is not falling in your favor.
Retail $359.99 · Secondary $2,050.00 · 5.7x · Stayed the Same · Updated Nov 2025
The clearest case in the book. A great bottle at $450 retail and a bad decision at $3,000 — and the $3,000 is trending down.
Retail $449.99 · Secondary $3,000.00 · 6.7x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
The rye is the quiet one in the line and the hunt is worth it at $230 retail. At 4.6x secondary, quiet is all it is. Retail or nothing.
Retail $229.99 · Secondary $1,050.00 · 4.6x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Weller
A $24 shelf bottle trading at $54, up from $40 in November. Do not chase this on secondary. Wait for the shelf.
Retail $24.00 · Secondary $54.00 · 2.3x · Up · Updated Nov 2026
These were $125 shipped last year. Down again, and the whole Weller line is sliding with it. 2.2x today buys less patience than it did a year ago — wait.
Retail $50.00 · Secondary $110 shipped or $100 for local pickup · 2.2x · Down · Updated Nov 2026
3.5x and down. The 1L bottle at $160 is worse math, not a bigger prize. Wait for retail, or for the ask to keep coming to you.
Retail $40.00 · Secondary $140.00 · 3.5x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Our review’s verdict stands: this is a product that doesn’t need to exist. The secondary fell from $420 in November to $150–200 now, and the call flips from Never to Wait. At 3–4x retail, wait for it to come the rest of the way.
Retail $50.00 · Secondary $150–200 · — · Down · Updated Nov 2026
3.0x and down, in a line where every ask is sliding. This is the Weller worth owning — which is exactly why you can afford to wait for a fairer price.
Retail $49.99 · Secondary $150.00 · 3.0x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
7.0x — but Way Down, the steepest fall in the Weller line. That is the one time a markup over 5x gets a Wait instead of a Never: the price is coming to you. Let it.
Retail $49.99 · Secondary $350.00 · 7.0x · Way Down · Updated Nov 2025
Blanton’s
Production caught up. It has been seen sitting in Kentucky at $99.99 with nobody buying, and local deals are down to $90. Wait for the local deal — or the shelf.
Retail $65.00 · Secondary $90 (local deal) or $110 (shipped) · 1.4x · Slightly Down · Updated Nov 2026
No single retail price to judge it against, and the ask moved up, not down: $250–350 now, against $200–215 in November. If you cannot buy it near its home-market retail, there is no discount coming to rescue the ask. Wait.
Retail $80–$120, depending on country · Secondary $250–350 · — · Up · Updated Nov 2026
Slightly down, and the proof-over-130 premium is the trap: the same bottle with a bigger number on it. Buy the standard secondary price or wait for export retail. Do not pay the $350.
Retail $80–$150 (700ml export) · $150 (750ml US) · Secondary 700ml $210 · 750ml $250 (over 130 proof up to $350) · — · Slightly Down · Updated Nov 2025
The rest of the benchmark
Down from $200 in November to $100–150 now, against a $50 retail — the fall the book was waiting for is happening. The call is still retail: when it lands at $50, buy it then.
Retail $49.99 · Secondary $100–150 · — · Down · Updated Nov 2026
Down $10 to $15 on last year, like the rest of the Stagg line. 2.1x for a batch that keeps getting cheaper is a price you wait out, not one you meet.
Retail $65.00 · Secondary $135.00 · 2.1x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Worth the hunt at $1,200 retail — full stop. There is no secondary yet, and the first secondary prices are the worst prices a bottle ever has. Do not be the first buyer at $3,300.
Retail $1,200.00 · Secondary No secondary yet — expect around $3,300 to start · — · Down · Updated Nov 2025
One of the great retail hunts in bourbon, and the call is exactly that: the hunt, at $399. At $1,750 and trending down, the story costs more than the whiskey.
Retail $399.00 · Secondary $1,750.00 · 4.4x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
One of the most misunderstood bottles in American whiskey — the book admits, “I’ll even admit that I purchased one at full secondary this year.” You do not have to repeat it. 4.4x and falling: wait.
Retail $249.99 · Secondary $1,100.00 · 4.4x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
1.3x and down — close enough that patience likely closes the gap entirely. Buy it when it sits at $250. Skip the $325 ask.
Retail $249.00 · Secondary $325.00 · 1.3x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
1.7x and drifting down toward retail. The decanter is doing some of the pricing work here. Wait for the drift to finish.
Retail $130.00 · Secondary $225.00 · 1.7x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
3.2x and down. Gift Shop scarcity is the markup, and scarcity premiums are the first thing a falling market gives back. Wait.
Retail $169.99 · Secondary $550.00 · 3.2x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Reviewers called this batch average and the market listened: it was $240 a few weeks before the book published and has fallen since. At 1.1x it is close — close enough to wait for retail.
Retail $200.00 · Secondary $225.00 · 1.1x · Down · Updated Nov 2025
Our review scored it 8.9 — the whiskey is not the problem. 2.7x and holding steady is. Buy this bottle at $150 every time you see it. At $400, admire it and leave.
Retail $149.99 · Secondary $400.00 · 2.7x · About the Same · Updated Nov 2025
3.0x and holding steady — no drop is coming to save you, which cuts both ways: if $425 is your number, it is not getting worse. If it isn’t, the regular Bomberger’s Declaration sits at $150 on secondary.
Retail $140.00 · Secondary $425.00 · 3.0x · Holding Steady · Updated Nov 2025
It has lost a ton of value since release, and the book’s own line is the whole review: “You’re a fool to buy one at retail but an even bigger fool to buy one on secondary.”
Retail $2,000.00 · Secondary $3,100–3,400 · — · Way Down · Updated Nov 2025
The full book is for members
The benchmark above is the 32 bottles people actually check. The full Brown Book covers all 146 bottles, with the dated archive, member price reports, and early access to each new edition.
Included with Enthusiast membership — $7 a month or $70 a year.
Report a price you paid — or one you saw
This is the feed that keeps the book current. Saw a benchmark bottle on a shelf, paid a price in a group, watched one sell? Report it here. Reports are checked before they touch the book, and every verified report moves that bottle’s last-updated date. No single person has to track the whole market anymore — the membership is the market.
In the live members page, reports go into a review queue for verification before publishing. This form previews your report for confirmation and sends nothing yet.
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What the tiers actually mean
Tiers describe how coveted and findable a bottle is — not how good it is in the glass. In practice they also track what you’ll pay.
Expect ≈ 4.7x retail on the secondary. 19 bottles — the BTAC line, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare 25. Most coveted, hardest to find, strongest long-term value potential. If you find one at retail, that’s the story, not the bottle.
Expect ≈ 2.9x retail. 25 bottles — still highly desirable, slightly easier to obtain: Weller Single Barrel and CYPB, Jack Daniel’s 14 Year, Mister Sam. Deals exist; patience finds them.
Expect ≈ 1.7x retail. 102 bottles — allocated but realistically findable on shelves, and where every Buy at retail call in the book lives. This is where members should spend most of their money.