Castle & Cairn

Hand selected by legendary father-son master distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell, Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon is renowned for its quality and can still be found more widely than some of the high age stated special releases. Russell's Reserve barrels are pulled from the center cut, the middle 3-5 floors of Wild Turkey's 7-story rickhouses, which get a good balance of fluctuations in temperature and humidity. They don't give much more info beyond that, but if you're interested in Wild Turkey's laser codes you can sus out a few more details. These codes etched into the back of the bottle just a smidge above the base.  LA NA20E1339 - LA codes started in 2024, A20 is January 20th bottling, N is 2025 (M was 2024 - sequential alphabetical), E bottling machine and time of day 1:39PM. This shelf destined bottle doesn't note the location or barrel number, but we know they were pulling from Tyrone F&G (high spice and leather) and Camp Nelson B (sweet w...

The big brother of a 101 proof champion, Wild Turkey Rare Breed can be consistently found on must-try lists and is known for its quality while being readily available. It is crafted in small batches as a unique marriage of Wild Turkey 6, 8, and 12-year-old stocks to hit a specified flavor profile and 116.8 proof point. No water necessary! To create this balanced flavor profile, different ages of whiskey are taken from each level of the rick house: 6 year from the top floors, 8 year from the middle floors, and 12 year from the bottom levels. This is because whiskey at the higher levels sees more temperature change which increases flavor extraction and proof while the lower floors will age more slowly and see a decrease in proof. The extent of various flavoring compounds within the barrels will also change with these differences in temperature, and blending them allows for the curation of a more consistent flavor profile over time.   🛒 Sourced:  $56.99 -World of Beverage ...

  📚 Background: A timeless classic from Campari owned Wild Turkey distillery, WT101 is a highly successful mass market offering crafted under the watchful eyes of Master Distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russel (of Russel's Reserve fame). Jimmy incidentally just clocked his 70th year of employment with the company where he started sweeping floors before working his way up to Master Distiller. The Wild Turkey product family includes an 81 proof budget edition, 101 bourbon, 101 rye, and Wild Turkey American Honey Liquor, in addition to more premium offerings like Wild Turkey Rare Breed and Kentucky Spirit. There are also 8-year and 12-year iterations of Wild Turkey 101 produced primarily for Asian markets (read: Japan). All editions are lovingly aged from one of two mash bills, the bourbon bill discussed below and a rye recipe, likely with the same yeast being used for both. Wild Turkey products are distilled to a barrel entry proof of 115, somewhat lower than many other producers. This m...

📚 Background:  Named after legendary father-son duo of Wild Turkey Fame,  Jimmy and Eddie Russell , this bottle is one of the more affordable 10 year bourbons on the market and has long been a staple of brown water enjoyers everywhere. To celebrate Jimmy’s 45th anniversary with the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Eddie crafted a special small-batch bourbon that he named Russell’s Reserve. With a mash bill of 75% Corn, 13% Rye, and 12% Malted Barley, RR10 is very close to the elusive and more expensive Eagle Rare with a bit of extra spice due to the slightly higher rye content. RR10 is a blend of whiskeys aged for AT LEAST 10 years, bottled without chill filtering in batches of about 200 barrels. The Russell's Reserve lineup also features a rye recipe, single-barrels, private barrels, single rickhouse, and 13/15 year aged iterations.  🛒 Sourced : $35.99 Trout's North GA 750ml. Markets seem to be catching on to the fact that this is an outstanding deal for a 10-ye...