1/Buffalo Trace and the entry Wild Turkey sit nearest fair on the Kentucky shelf. Forty-four bottles, every one priced live at Dan Murphy's. One cluster is plain bourbon tracking its true worth; the other is a pair of Van Winkles priced unlike anything beside them.
2/I measured the shelf again, and against the version from a fortnight ago 34 of 44 bottles carry a new price or have landed in a different 360° zone, roughly 77%. Better than three in four. A fresh read, then, not a repeat of what led on 1 October.
3/How the sorting works: each bottle is set beside the consensus of its own ten-member jury and scored as a margin above it. None here lands below that consensus. So "nearest" means the thinnest margin above fair, which reads as straight pricing, not a deal to chase.
4/The affordable end is everyday bourbon. Wild Turkey 81 proof at $51, a sliver above fair. Buffalo Trace at $58, the litre at $90. Basil Hayden's at $80, inside 2%. Ezra Brooks at $70. Every fairly-priced Kentucky name lands beneath a hundred dollars.
5/Gather all the shelf's reviews and the same words keep surfacing: rye and proof, mint, cornbread, dried leather and oak, a spicy, tobacco edge. That is Kentucky as a whole, the shelf's shared signature. None of it attaches to a specific bottle named above.
6/The dear end is the Van Winkle wall. Old Rip Van Winkle 10yo $900, close to 44% above its consensus, the 12yo Special Reserve a flat $1000. Then Blanton's Straight From The Barrel $304 and Michter's US 1 Rye $121. Best-priced Kentucky now: $51 Wild Turkey or $58 Buffalo Trace?
| End | Item | Price | Gap % | Priced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot 1 | Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 81p 700mL | $51 | +0.45% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| Hot 2 | Buffalo Trace Bourbon 700mL | $58 | +0.56% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| Hot 3 | Buffalo Trace Bourbon 1L | $90 | +0.65% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| (hot) | Basil Hayden's Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 700mL | $80 | +1.87% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| (hot) | Ezra Brooks Kentucky Straight Bourbon 700mL | $70 | +2.40% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| Cold 1 | Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year Old 107 Proof Bourbon Whiskey 700mL | $900 | +43.67% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| Cold 2 | Old Rip Van Winkle 12 Year Old Special Reserve 750mL | $1000 | +42.74% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| Cold 3 | Blanton's Straight From The Barrel Bourbon 700mL | $304 | +34.90% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| (cold) | Michter's US 1 Straight Rye Whiskey 700mL | $121 | +27.89% | observed 2026-10-15 |
| (cold) | Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey 700mL | $75 | +24.80% | observed 2026-10-15 |
None recorded.
Whole Shelf, scope Kentucky (region), vintage 2026-10-15.1, pack region-kentucky-aggregate.json. Gap basis PERCENTAGE; ce_gap_pct=(price−CE 360° mean)/price×100, each bottle's premium over its own CE 360° consensus; 'hot'=smallest premium (least over fair value), 'cold'=largest. No bottle sits below its own mean, so 'hot' is not a bargain or a discount. 'Hot'/'cold' are value labels only, never velocity or trend. Coverage 44 of 44 priced live in the 2026-10-15 harvest (100%). Repeat scope: last led 2026-10-01-whole-shelf-kentucky.md 14 days earlier — CHANGED (34 of 44 bottles moved price or 360° zone, 77%, bar 10%), so it may lead again and the post states what changed. Sources holds the stored top/bottom notable-mover cut, not the full 44-bottle ranking.
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