The $13 Whiskey That Drinks Like $40
Evan Williams Black Label is not a secret. It is not a discovery. It is a decision — and most people are making the wrong one.
By Cameron Hickey · June 1, 2026
Coffee: strong. Miles: 0. Current bet: pending.
Evan Williams Black Label. Shelf price: $13 in most Florida liquor stores. You have walked past it a hundred times on the way to something with a nicer label.
That is the whole story, actually. You kept walking.
I am not here to tell you it is the greatest whiskey ever made. It is not. What it is: a genuinely good, genuinely drinkable bourbon that costs thirteen dollars and will not embarrass you at your own kitchen table.
The MVP rating: ★★★★☆ — Would buy at full price.
Which is to say: I do buy it at full price, repeatedly, when bottles that cost four times as much sit within arm’s reach.
The instinct to spend more because more must mean better is the same instinct that makes you a bad bettor, a bad shopper, and a bad judge of anything that matters. Price is a signal. It is not the answer.
A $13 whiskey that drinks like $40 is not a compromise. It is a win.
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”