top drawer

Of or having the highest quality, skill, value, importance, or rank. Hyphenated if used before a noun. That performance from Bueler in the last round really was top drawer. Ever since he got that promotion, Tom's taken to drinking only top-drawer liquor when we go out.

Of the highest quality, importance, or rank, as in The musicians in this pick-up orchestra were top drawer. It probably alludes to the uppermost drawer in a bureau or chest, where the most valuable objects (such as jewelry) are usually kept. [c. 1900]

Of the highest quality or rank. The term alludes to the uppermost drawer of a bureau or dresser, where jewelry and other valuables often are kept. It was transferred to mean high social standing or first quality about 1900. It is the former that Ngaio Marsh referred to in Colour Scheme (1943): “He’s not out of the top drawer, of course.”The cliché may now be obsolescent.

Highest quality. The 19th-century practice of keeping jewelry and other valuables in the highest drawer of a bedroom dresser gave rise to this phrase, which was applied both to people and to things. “First rate” is a similar phrase, as is “varsity,” meaning a person figuratively sufficiently admirable to qualify for the starting team.