I would say that picking a Small Batch or Single Barrel is going to be best regardless of brand. Depending on the liquor store you might get some good recommendations from the staff or even the store owner themselves. If they don't have any recommendations (maybe they don't like whiskey "only work here") then I'd say you can't go wrong with Four Roses, Old Forrester or Henry McKenna. Knob Creek, Wild Turkey and Buffalo Trace are also good. It's going to depend on what your local store carries.
Most commercial whiskey is blended whiskey to achieve a uniform flavor across all bottles. This is because different barrels can have a different flavor even when filled from the exact same distillation. Whiskey barrels are made from white oak, but the trees aren't uniform and the individual slats that makeup the barrel are going to impart different flavors. For example, let's say that an oak tree had some wild lavender growing at its base, the lavender roots could have come in contact with the tree roots along with rain water runoff from the flowers seeping into the soil and picked up by the tree roots. Even if the lavender is later removed the period of time it was there is going to still affect the tree. If sections of lavender infused wood are made into a whiskey barrel then that particular barrel can have lavender in its flavor profile while the next barrel may not.
Beyond this the aging process also affects flavor. The barrels are stored in warehouses for years, which means they experience all 4 seasons a few times each, which also has an impact if there happens to be an exceptionally warm/cold dry/wet year or season. Finally the layout of how the barrels are stored and where they are in relation to the doors and windows is going to affect the whiskey due to temperature, airflow, humidity and other local environmental influences. If you go to a distillery and ask one of the old timers there, they can tell you which barrels are going to be the best because they are stored in just the right spot within the warehouse.
So each individual barrel of whiskey is unique, no two barrels are ever going to be exactly the same. Big whiskey companies try to mitigate this by mixing lots of barrels together before bottling. Smaller craft distilleries lean into this by either only mixing barrels that were made from the same mash and aged next to each other in the same part of the warehouse (Small Batch) or simply not mixing barrels at all (Single Barrel). This means that you could buy two or three Single Barrel bottles of the exact same brand and the flavor can be different from one bottle to the next.
So any decent Small Batch/Single Barrel, it doesn't need to be a mainstream popular mega brand (and in fact might actually be better if it isn't) is going to give you a unique flavor that only a handful of people on the entire planet are going to experience.
Then before you take that first sip hold the open bottle by your chin, close your eyes and think about how it smells. Get a bit of whiskey on your index and middle finger or in your palm and rub it with your thumb until it dries and the alcohol is evaporated and smell what's left, see if the smells are the same or if you pick up new aromas. You may smell bread, various fruits, honey, caramel, vanilla or any kind of flower. Now take a sip, hold it a bit and see if you can taste what you smelled before.