Style: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Age: No age statement
Proof: 117.6 (58.8% ABV)
Region: Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Last year, Russell’s Reserve surprised the bourbon world by releasing its first whiskey blended from barrels from one single rickhouse. Wild Turkey and Russell’s Reserve age their bourbon on three different campuses in Kentucky, Tyrone, McBrayer, and Camp Nelson. Each location is subject to slightly different environmental factors, which affect the barrel maturation process. Fans of the Russell’s Reserve single barrel program noticed a while back that each campus has a unique flavor profile. The inaugural 2022 Single Rickhouse bottling was pulled from Warehouse C in the Camp Nelson campus, which was slated for demolition. This year’s release pulls barrels from floors 4 and 5 from Camp Nelson’s Rickhouse F. Let’s see how it stacks up.
Tasting notes
On the nose, I get honey and brown sugar with a hint of orange zest and clove. The palate is rich and sweet with underlying notes of apple, raisin, and cola. There’s also a unique effervescent prickle on the top palate, which is similar to sipping a soda. Overall, it reminds me a bit of vanilla coke. The finish begins with notes of sweet orange, that gradually evolve into sweet, dark cherry and more brown sugar.
Final thoughts
This is an undeniably well-crafted bourbon that is packed full of pleasing flavors and exciting to sip on. The cola-like effervescence on the palate is one of the primary tasting notes that Wild Turkey fanatics have noticed from the Camp Nelson campus, and it’s on full display here. Russell’s Reserve has said that the Single Rickhouse bottling will be an annual release moving forward. It would be fascinating for them to highlight some of the other campuses going forward, but so far Camp Nelson keeps churning out the hits.
