Officially, the Best Booze of the Year

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Go to any liquor store and you're sure to be overwhelmed by options. Where do the mediocre celebrity brands end and the best kept secrets begin? To help you make sense of the crazy world of booze, we enlisted the help of two expert drinks writers, Brad Japhe and Jonah Flicker. Between the two of them, they have decades of experience tasting hundreds of spirits per year and judging international spirits competitions. Together, we honed in on the essential bottles you need for your bar cart. From delightfully peaty Scotch to the most flavorful vodka on Earth, you're sure to find a new favorite. (And if you bring one as a gift to a holiday party, you're sure to be invited back next year.)

– Chris Hatler, deputy editor

Plus:

We Taste-Tested Hundreds of Spirits. These Are the Best Bottles of the Year

Delightfully peaty Scotch whisky, unbelievably flavorful vodka, and the finest rum we've ever tasted. These are the best bottles of booze released this year.

To live life to its most luxurious, you must enjoy the finest spirits, whether sipped neat, on the rocks, or in a cocktail. But with thousands of bottles on the market, choosing the right gin for a gimlet or bourbon for an old fashioned feels daunting. Don't wander the liquor store wondering whether that top-shelf tequila is actually worth every cent, or if that affordable Scotch is better than competitors twice the price. Simply follow the guidance of the 2025 Esquire Spirit Awards.

Our contributors taste hundreds of spirits every year and even judge international spirits competitions. We're passing that expert guidance onto you with plenty of time before holiday gifting season. With one of the bottles below under your arm when you walk in the door, you're sure to become everyone's favorite party guest.

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Decades later, it remains Hamilton's most recognizable silhouette—futuristic, rebellious and, as befits the brand's origins, distinctly American in spirit. That heritage runs straight through the new Ventura Edge Skeleton, which launches today and reimagines the icon for 2025 with a more outlandish architectural form and a high-tech mechanical heart.

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