Most Traded Bourbon Bottles

What's the Highest Selling Bourbon?

When most people ask about the highest-selling bourbon, they could mean three different things: retail sales volume, bourbon trading volume, or which bottles command the highest prices. These don't always mean the same thing, especially in today's market

In the tables below, we rank the top bottles for bourbon trading volume and average price. Sign up today and get more detailed bourbon market trends.

Sales Volume vs Perceived Popularity

Buying the best selling bourbon bottles does not guarantee you quality. They're simply an indicator of what moves most quickly off the shelves - meaning many excellent bottles never appear on these lists. Usually, the biggest brands tend to dominate the market because they're available everywhere and well-priced.

When you're looking into which bourbon to invest in, it's important to know the difference, as slick advertising can get in the way of how good each one tastes.

How the Bourbon Boom Shaped the Market

Bourbon has absolutely exploded over the last twenty years. Cocktail culture helped. Craft distilling helped, too. And global demand? That pushed it even further.

Limited releases from the likes of Buffalo Trace and Blanton's threw fuel on the fire - prices shot up, and certain bottles became status symbols. All of that fed the secondary bourbon market trends we're still seeing today.

What Actually Sells the Most

When you look at the sales side of things, the story changes. The best selling bourbons tend to be staples like Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Wild Turkey and Buffalo Trace. That's why you'll see bottles from these brands featuring regularly amongst the most traded bourbon in the USA - not because they're rare, but because people drink and replace them.

Most Sold vs Most Traded Bourbon

Obviously, there's a difference between what sells and what gets traded between bourbon fans. Some of the best and most traded bourbon moves around constantly on secondary markets; however, they only represent a tiny fraction of what gets consumed overall.

But here's the thing: when you combine data on the most traded bourbon with sales data, it helps you to tell the difference between real demand and speculation.

What the Market Is Telling Us Now

Right now, we're seeing the furore around rare bottles tail off, and the high prices being paid coming back down. Meanwhile, the dependable brands (e.g. Jim Beam and Maker's Mark) keep selling in huge numbers - like they always have.

This tells us that the bourbons that really move aren't the flashy limited releases. They're the ones people trust enough to buy again and again, long after the hype has died down.