Last Day to Order for Memorial Day 2026: 6 In-Stock Crowd-Pleasers Under $60 (Order by May 20–21)

It's Wednesday, May 20. Memorial Day 2026 is Monday, May 25 — and if you want bottles in hand for the long-weekend cookout that kicks off Saturday, today and tomorrow are your last realistic order days for standard ground delivery. UPS doesn't run on Memorial Day, FedEx Home Delivery treats Sunday as transit-light, and most spirits ground transit needs 2–3 business days. Order by Thursday May 21 and you'll be shaking, stirring, and pouring by Saturday afternoon. Order Friday and you're rolling the dice.

This guide is built for one job: get a complete cookout bar — bourbon, tequila, vodka, rosé, and rum — to your door before the grill comes out, with every bottle in stock, ready to ship, and under $60. No allocated unicorns. No back-ordered limited releases. Just six crowd-pleasers that cover Old Fashioneds, margaritas, vodka-sodas, patio rosé pours, and frozen daiquiris in one combined order. Already deep into your Memorial Day prep? You'll find batch recipes and pairing matrices linked throughout — but if you're starting from zero today, start here.

How to read this list

Every bottle below is verified in stock as of this morning and ships from our best-selling spirits collection. Prices are current retail. The picks are deliberately mainstream — these are the bottles your guests will recognize, the brands that produce a confident "oh nice" when you set them down, and the workhorses that mix into every standard cookout cocktail without surprises. If you have time for deeper cuts, our Memorial Day Premium Bourbon Gift Guide and Rum & Tiki Batch Guide go further. If you're short on time? Just order the six below and you're done.

1. Bulleit Bourbon — $37.09

The everyman's Old Fashioned bourbon. Bulleit's high-rye mash bill (about 28% rye) gives it the spicy backbone that holds up against sugar, bitters, and a fat orange peel — exactly the kind of bourbon that turns a stirred cocktail into something assertive instead of cloying. At $37.09 it's the most cost-effective Old Fashioned bourbon we carry in volume, and inventory is healthy enough to handle batch orders. Pour it neat for the porch sippers, build it into the Memorial Day Old Fashioned batch recipe, or hand it to the guest who insists on making their own drinks. It does everything.

2. Knob Creek Bourbon 9 Year — $49.99

If Bulleit is the workhorse, Knob Creek 9 Year is the bottle you set on the counter for the guests who actually drink bourbon. Nine years of aging, 100 proof, and Booker Noe's small-batch backbone gives it caramel, toasted oak, and enough heat to feel grown-up without scorching anyone. It's a sipping bourbon you can also stir into Old Fashioneds without flinching at the price tag. Pairs naturally with anything off the grill — see our Memorial Day Grilling Pairing Matrix for which cuts call for bourbon vs. tequila. Browse more in the bourbon collection.

3. Espolon Tequila Reposado — $39.99

The single best margarita-to-dollar value on our tequila shelf. Espolon Reposado spends six months in American oak, which adds just enough vanilla and toasted-cereal warmth to round off the agave bite without turning the spirit into syrup. It works in shaken margaritas, frozen margaritas, palomas, and ranch waters with equal confidence — meaning one bottle covers an entire tequila bar for a cookout of 8–10 guests. If you're building a full frozen-cocktail station, our Memorial Day Frozen Margarita & Paloma Batch Guide walks through ratios, salt rims, and how much ice you actually need. Explore the wider tequila collection for additional reposados, blancos, and añejos.

4. Tito's Handmade Vodka — $24.99

You don't need a vodka opinion to hand someone a vodka-soda. Tito's exists because every cookout has at least one guest who orders "just a vodka with lime" and expects it to taste clean, neutral, and reliably the same as it did last summer. At $24.99 for the 750ml it is the bar-spend insurance policy of the entire list — buy two if your party is bigger than 10. It's also the right vodka for an espresso martini bar (the dessert-course move) or a simple cucumber-vodka cooler. The vodka collection has bigger formats and flavored expressions if you need them.

5. Whispering Angel Rosé — $25.99

The default patio pour for Memorial Day, and the bottle nobody complains about. Whispering Angel from Château d'Esclans (Provence) is pale, dry, and bone-light — the kind of rosé that disappears in 20 minutes when the grill is hot and the sun is sharp. At $25.99 it lands in the sweet spot between "bring-a-bottle thoughtful" and "buy three without thinking." For a deeper wine setup with reds, whites, and sparkling, our Memorial Day Wine & Rosé Pairing Guide maps 12 bottles to specific cookout foods. Browse the full wine collection if you want to round out the picnic table.

6. Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum — $32.99

The dark-and-stormy / spiced daiquiri pick for the rum slot. Black Spiced is the heavier, more cocoa-forward expression in the Captain Morgan lineup — bottled at 94.6 proof, it stands up to ginger beer, lime, and crushed ice without going thin. If your cookout slides into evening tiki territory, this is the gateway. For the full punch-bowl experience with aged sipping rums, our Rum & Tiki Batch Guide levels up the rum bar with eight bottles. The full rum collection has light, dark, aged, and overproof options if you want to go deeper.

The full $211.05 cookout bar — order by Thursday

The six bottles above come to $211.05 before shipping — under $36 a bottle on average, and a complete bourbon/tequila/vodka/wine/rum cookout setup that comfortably serves 10–12 guests across two days. Add a couple of cordials and liqueurs if you want to round out the cocktail bench (orange liqueur for margaritas, vermouth for Manhattans), and you're done.

Shipping reality check: we ship Tuesday through Friday. An order placed Wednesday May 20 or early Thursday May 21 routes to your door by Friday May 23 or Saturday May 24 in most ground zones. Friday afternoon orders likely arrive Tuesday May 26 — after the cookout. If you're already too late for ground, check our last-minute order playbook from World Whisky Day for the expedited-shipping options that still work, or pivot to a local pickup if your area allows it.

If you have one more hour to shop

Round the order out with one more bottle from a category you didn't cover. Hosting a brunch crowd? Add a bottle from our Memorial Day Porch Pour Guide for straight-pour sippers. Going Japanese-highball minimalist? Our Japanese Whisky Highball Bar Guide shows how a single bottle of Nikka or Hibiki and a case of soda water becomes an entire bar. Either way, place the order today — the long weekend is coming whether your shelf is ready or not.

The bottom line

Six bottles. Under $60 each. All in stock as of this morning. Order by end-of-day Thursday May 21, and your Memorial Day cookout is fully provisioned for Saturday afternoon. Browse the best-sellers collection for additional crowd-tested picks, or jump to the new arrivals if you want to throw one surprise bottle into the cart. Then close the laptop and start prepping the ice.