Costco’s whiskey aisle has spent the past five years becoming one of the more interesting shelves in American retail, and the people buying from it have never been asked what they think. We put the full nine-bottle Kirkland Signature lineup to Whiskey Wash readers and asked them to rank their top three. A total of 2,724 readers completed the survey and gave us a full ranking.
The results diverge sharply from the consensus of the review sites. Bourbon takes four of the top five places, and the 12-year-old blended Scotch, sold in a plastic-handled jug, beat both of Costco’s single malts. The Islay malt that enthusiasts treat as the smartest buy in the range finished seventh.
The countdown starts at ninth, with the only bottle in the range that finished last on every measure we recorded.
9. Kirkland Signature Tennessee Whiskey, $22 to $37 (1.75L)
The Tennessee whiskey finished last on every measure recorded in the survey, which no other bottle managed. It took 875 points, 109 first-place votes at 4 percent, and appeared on 517 ballots, or 19 percent.
One detail in the voting complicates the picture of outright rejection. Readers gave it 268 third-place votes, more than its first and second places combined. They know the bottle and they own the bottle, and they place it below everything else in the cart.
Tennessee Distilling Ltd. produces it in Columbia, ages it for four years and puts it through the Lincoln County Process, the sugar maple charcoal filtration that legally separates the category from Kentucky bourbon. The difficulty is the strength, because at 80 proof it disappears into anything more assertive than cola and lacks the weight to reward drinking neat.
8. Kirkland Signature Speyside/Highland Single Malt, $45 to $90 (750ml)
The oldest and most expensive whisky in the range finished second from bottom, on 1,255 points and 645 ballots, or 23.7 percent.
The placing deserves a caveat before anyone reads it as a judgment on quality. These are the rotational releases bottled by Alexander Murray & Co. from undisclosed distilleries, ranging over the years from 15 to 24 years old, usually at 46 percent ABV and often finished in sherry casks. A large share of the readers voting have never seen one in their local warehouse, because the allocation arrives, sells through and does not return for months. You cannot rank a bottle you have never had the chance to buy.
The shape of its vote tells the rest of the story. It collected more third-place votes, at 231, than first-place votes, at 196. This is a whisky readers respect at $80 without building a habit around it, and at that price it stops being an own-brand bargain and starts competing directly with named distilleries.
7. Kirkland Signature Islay Single Malt, $35 to $56 (750ml)
The seventh place will irritate the review circuit more than any other result in the survey. The bottle is widely believed to be Caol Ila, is bottled by Alexander Murray at 50 percent ABV, and is routinely written up as the smartest purchase in the Kirkland range. It finished behind the Small Batch bourbon on 1,313 points and 614 ballots, or 22.5 percent.
A closer look makes the result less of a rejection than it first appears. It took 241 first-place votes against the Speyside’s 196, despite being named on fewer ballots overall. Fewer readers voted for it, and the ones who did put it near the top of their list.
Heavy peat tends to do exactly this in a points system. A whisky this assertive, all ashy smoke over stewed fruit and creme brulee, either becomes someone’s favorite bottle or never enters the conversation at all. It does not accumulate the polite second and third places that decide a Borda count.
6. Kirkland Signature Irish Whiskey, $28 to $30 (1.75L)
The Irish whiskey took 1,482 points and appeared on 763 ballots, or 28 percent of the total. Its votes were spread almost perfectly evenly, with 217 firsts, 285 seconds and 261 thirds. The absence of any real shape in the numbers is itself a kind of verdict.
Terra Spirits & Liqueurs produces it in Bailieborough, County Cavan, aged for four years and bottled at 40 percent. At roughly $12 per 750ml equivalent, it is close to unbeatable for legitimate Irish whiskey, and it is the bottle you empty into forty Irish coffees without checking the price again. Very few readers were willing to plant a flag for it.
5. Kirkland Signature Kentucky Straight Bourbon, $27 (1.75L)
Fifth place on 1,957 points and 996 ballots, at 36.6 percent, is a real achievement for a bottle that first appeared in warehouses on May 11, 2026. It has had a few months on shelf and has already outscored both single malts and the Irish whiskey. It also sits in the tightest gap in the table, 55 points behind the Small Batch bourbon. Another few weeks of distribution might have produced a different order at this end of the ranking.
The specifications explain a good deal of the enthusiasm behind it. The whiskey is 92 proof and non-chill filtered, and a 1.75 liter bottle carries a tracked average price of $27.30, which works out at roughly $11.70 per 750ml. Tastings.com awarded it 92 points and a gold medal in April, finding caramelized cherry, nut brittle and toasted coconut running into cinnamon pastry and chocolate-orange.
One point of caution belongs with the question of sourcing. The label states the whiskey was distilled, barreled and aged in Bardstown, then bottled by DC Flynt MW Domaines & Estates in Columbia, Tennessee. Bardstown makes Barton 1792 a plausible candidate, and several databases have already made the attribution. Costco’s other three bourbons carry the Barton name openly and this one does not, so the attribution should be treated as unconfirmed.
4. Kirkland Signature Small Batch Bourbon, $30 (1L)
The Small Batch bourbon took 2,012 points, and its ballot data is more interesting than its placing. Readers named it on 1,134 ballots, or 41.6 percent, making it the third most widely recognized bottle in the survey and ahead of the blended Scotch that finished above it.
What held it back was where readers chose to put it. It took 506 third-place votes, the second highest count recorded in any position by any bottle, against 250 firsts.
This is the Barton 1792 entry point at 92 proof, soft and sweet, with vanilla taffy and oatmeal raisin running through it. Almost everyone has a bottle and almost nobody defends it as a favorite. It is the whiskey readers place third because it is the one always in the cart.
3. Kirkland Signature 12-Year-Old Blended Scotch, $40 (1.75L)
A blended Scotch sold in a handled jug beat both of Costco’s single malts by a wide margin. It took 2,107 points against 1,313 for the Islay and 1,255 for the Speyside, roughly 800 points clear of each.
One number explains the result better than any other in the table. The blend collected 486 first-place votes, only 15 fewer than the bottle leading the entire survey on firsts, from a whisky named on just 34 percent of ballots. Nothing else in the range shows that ratio of passion to reach. A third of readers put it in their top three, and more than half of those put it first.
The reasons behind the loyalty are not especially mysterious ones. It carries a 12-year age statement, comes in a 1.75 liter bottle for $40, and sits on the shelf every week of the year instead of arriving in an allocation drop. It will not reward a Glencairn, but in a highball it does the work of Dewar’s at half the money, and readers have clearly noticed.
2. Kirkland Signature Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon, $25 (1L)
The Bottled-in-Bond bourbon won the popular vote and lost the election. It took 501 first-place votes, more than any other bottle in the survey, and still finished 387 points adrift of the winner.
The explanation for the gap comes down to reach across the readership. It appeared on 1,137 ballots, or 41.7 percent, against the winner’s 52.9 percent, and a points system punishes an eleven-point difference hard. Readers who know the bottle love it, and fewer of them know it.
The loyalty is earned by the guarantee on the label. Bottled-in-Bond is the strictest standard in American whiskey, requiring one distillery, one distilling season, one distiller, a minimum of four years in a federally supervised warehouse and bottling at exactly 100 proof. Barton 1792 puts its name on this one, and it lands at around $18.75 per 750ml equivalent. Brown sugar and vanilla cream run against cinnamon red hots and rye spice, with enough finish to hold the sip together. At the price it is arguably the best value bourbon on any American shelf, own-brand or otherwise.
1. Kirkland Signature Single Barrel Bourbon, $30 to $40 (1L)
The Single Barrel bourbon finished on 2,865 points and was the only bottle in the survey named by more than half of all readers, at 52.9 percent. It won on the strength of its reach more than on fervor. It took 601 second-place votes, the highest count recorded in any position by any bottle, along with 412 firsts and 427 thirds. Readers placed it near the top of their lists from every direction, and very few left it off through dislike.
The specifications are the reason it keeps appearing in the voting. The bourbon is 120 proof, non-chill filtered and drawn from a single barrel by Barton 1792, at around $30 to $40 a liter. Nothing else on the market offers the combination anywhere near the price. Neat it comes out dry and forceful, with heavy oak and barrel char over a rye punch, and a splash of water pulls the caramel and vanilla back out.
Because it is a single barrel release, no two bottles are quite the same. This is also, quietly, the reason it collects so many second places. It is rarely anyone’s one perfect bottle and it is almost always in the argument.
How We Ranked Every Kirkland Signature Whiskey
The survey ran on The Whiskey Wash across July and August 2026 and drew 2,724 responses from readers in the United States. Each respondent saw all nine Kirkland Signature whiskies and named a first, second and third choice, producing 8,172 individual rankings.
The overall order is a Borda count, awarding three points for a first-place vote, two for a second and one for a third. It is the same method used by sports MVP ballots and the Eurovision jury vote, and it rewards broad consistent support over a narrow block of passionate first choices, which is precisely why the top two finished where they did.
“Named on ballot” is the percentage of all 2,724 respondents who placed a bottle anywhere in their top three. The full data appears below, and other publications are welcome to cite these figures with a link back to this article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who distills Kirkland Signature bourbon?
Barton 1792 in Bardstown, Kentucky, distills the Small Batch, Bottled-in-Bond and Single Barrel bourbons, and the distillery is named openly on all three labels. The newer Kentucky Straight Bourbon states only that it was distilled, barreled and aged in Bardstown, and its producer has not been confirmed.
Who makes Kirkland Signature Scotch whisky?
Alexander Murray & Co., an independent bottler based in Calabasas, California, sources and bottles the Kirkland Scotch range. Independent bottlers buy mature casks directly from Scottish distilleries and are usually bound by non-disclosure agreements, which is why the distillery name does not appear on the label.
Is Kirkland Signature Islay Single Malt really Caol Ila?
The label does not identify the distillery, and Alexander Murray has never confirmed the source. Industry consensus and the flavor profile both point strongly toward Caol Ila, which supplies large volumes of peated malt to independent bottlers, but the attribution remains unofficial.
Is Kirkland 12-Year-Old Blended Scotch any good?
Readers ranked it third overall and gave it 486 first-place votes, more than any bottle other than the Bottled-in-Bond bourbon. It carries a 12-year age statement and costs around $40 for 1.75 liters, which makes it one of the strongest value propositions in blended Scotch.
Which Kirkland whiskey should you buy first?
The Single Barrel bourbon won the survey and the Bottled-in-Bond bourbon took the most first-place votes, so either is a reasonable starting point. The Bottled-in-Bond is the safer introduction at 100 proof, while the Single Barrel is 120 proof and varies from barrel to barrel.
Can you buy Kirkland whiskey without a Costco membership?
State law overrides warehouse membership rules in several states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan and Alaska, where alcohol retailers must sell to the general public. Some warehouses in those states operate a separate liquor entrance, and elsewhere you should check with the membership desk.
Read the full article at Every Kirkland Signature Whiskey Ranked by 2,700 Fans
