⚡ Top 12 Bourbons Under $50

Old Dominick Cask Strength Bourbon

The Story: We featured Old Dominick's Straight Tennessee Whiskey a few months ago and had to dive deeper into their portfolio. The backstory alone earned a second look. In 1866, Italian immigrant Domenico Canale started selling whiskey out of his Memphis produce warehouse. He died three days before Prohibition and the brand went dark for nearly a century. In 2017, his fifth-generation descendants opened Old Dominick Distillery in downtown Memphis, bringing the family name back to whiskey. Their Master Distiller, Alex Castle, is the first woman to hold that title in Tennessee.

The Pour: Rich and dessert-forward. Baking spice, toasted caramel, and dark fruit on the nose with a hint of tobacco. The palate is bold with chocolate, warm oak, and a rye-driven spice that reminds you this is 118 proof. Aged six years with a 44% rye mashbill, it has more backbone than most bourbons at this price. A few drops of water open it up and smooth out the heat.

The Move: Over a big ice cube. Let the proof settle and the sweetness come forward. If you pour it neat, add a splash of water. It rewards patience. If you like cigars, this is a great one to sip and smoke.

The Mettle Take: $60 for a 6-year cask strength bourbon with this much character. Memphis made. Family reclaimed. Worth every penny.

Not the bottle they expect. The one they remember.

Your Polo Probably Doesn’t Fit

The polo is one of the most versatile pieces a man can own. It works for a casual dinner, a weekend errand, or a round of golf. But most guys wear them wrong because they buy them too big.

The sleeves
They should hit mid-bicep, not your elbow. If the sleeve is loose and flapping, it’s too big. A slightly tapered sleeve makes most builds look sharper instantly.

The body
It should follow your torso without clinging. If it billows at the waist or looks boxy when untucked, size down or find a slim fit. Extra fabric around the midsection usually makes you look heavier.

The collar
It should lay flat and hold its shape. A floppy collar makes a polo look cheap no matter what you paid. Look for structured collars or brands that reinforce them.

The length
It should cover your belt but not look like a nightgown. You want it to stay tucked if you tuck it, but look clean untucked without hanging past your pockets.

The Mettle Take
A polo that fits right is one of the sharpest things a man can wear. A polo that doesn’t is just a t-shirt with a collar.

Because basics are never basic when done right.

Is Breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?

You’ve heard it your whole life. Your mom said it. Your doctor said it. Every cereal commercial since the 1950s said it.

B.S. (mostly)

The idea was heavily popularized by cereal companies in the early 1900s to sell breakfast foods. It was marketing long before it became conventional wisdom.

Modern research backs this up. Studies show that skipping breakfast doesn’t tank your metabolism or automatically cause you to overeat later in the day. The “breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism” claim is largely a myth. Any meal temporarily increases metabolic rate. It doesn’t matter which one comes first.

That doesn’t mean breakfast is bad. If you eat it, make it count. Protein and healthy fats over sugary cereal or a muffin. But if you’re not hungry in the morning, coffee and a later meal is a perfectly reasonable approach.

The Mettle Take
Eat when it works for you. Not when a cereal company told your grandmother it was important.