Russell's Reserve New barrel proof version

[wadewood]

Jimmy Russell was in Houston last night. I chatted with him and he told me a new version of Russell's Reserve will be out in Jan. It will be a 10 YO single barrel at barrel proof, 110 proof, and non chill filtered.

Searching the COLA labels yields this - https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=12034001000086

Also, the new batch of Rare Breed will be out about same time.

Edited November 15, 2012 by wadewood

[p_elliott]

How can it be Small batch and single barrel?

[sku]

A single barrel is about the smallest batch there is. Seriously though, "small batch" is not legally defined, so it can literally mean anything.

[T Comp]

How can it be Small batch and single barrel?

Looks like their killing 2 birds with 1 label . As it's been said "small batch" can mean anything. If the whiskey is anything close to the original RR 101 I'll be one happy bourbon drinker.

[HighInTheMtns]

Don't see an age statement anywhere on the labels in the COLA. Hope it really is going to be 10 years old. Either way, this is one I'll snatch up with high hopes as soon as I see it.

Edited November 15, 2012 by HighInTheMtns

[Brisko]

Don't see an age statement anywhere on the labels in the COLA. Hope it really is going to be 10 years old. Either way, this is one I'll snatch up with high hopes as soon as I see it.

You noticed that, too, eh?

Wade, any word on whether the new RB batch will have a new batch number?

[HighInTheMtns]

You noticed that, too, eh?

Wade, any word on whether the new RB batch will have a new batch number?

Someone has previously posted the Rare Breed COLA and the batch number is gone.

Edit: here it is, looks like I pilfered it from you, Brisko :-) https://www.ttbonline.gov/colasonline/viewColaDetails.do?action=publicFormDisplay&ttbid=12156001000324

Edited November 15, 2012 by HighInTheMtns

[wadewood]

No, but is at higher proof so it will be easy to tell which are the new bottles.

[TradingBoiler]

Looks like their killing 2 birds with 1 label . As it's been said "small batch" can mean anything. If the whiskey is anything close to the original RR 101 I'll be one happy bourbon drinker.

Thad I completely agree. I've been waiting for something like this from the Russell's for awhile now. Glad they talked corporate into it!

[Brisko]

Thanks, guys. I forgot about the new RB.

[callmeox]

Their NAS bottlings have been such a disappointment lately. I really hope they found some aged whiskey to put in these new expressions or it will be more flash with little substance.

[tarheel]

Picked up a couple bottles of this at WT this week. It is labelled as RR Single Barrel, and is 110 proof. It was $49.99. Can't wait to bust it open.

[MyOldKyDram]

Hrmmm...they have them in the gift shop? I sense a trip in my near future.

[cowdery]

I'm supposed to have a bottle in a few days. I'll let you know.

Tarheel, is it 10-years-old? There's no age statement on the COLA, but single barrels typically have handwritten info about when distilled and when bottled.

Edited November 28, 2012 by cowdery

[tarheel]

There's no age statement on the bottle. It is 110 proof. So far I have seen it nowhere except in the WT giftshop (including places in Bardstown like Toddy's, Liquor World, etc.). From the description of the tour guide (Big Al I think?) it sounded like it would be more widely available soon, but how soon I have no idea.

[cowdery]

I'm disappointed by the lack of an age statement. I have a bottle. It's good. Very much Wild Turkey, everything you like about Wild Turkey is there. Usually I would add some water to a 110, but I have enjoyed this without water. I don't know. Much like with the Knob Creek single barrel, I kind of wonder what the point is, in this case especially since it's NAS. I assume they're looking for honey barrels but beyond that, and the added proof (which is a good thing), what's the point of a single barrel as a line extension when single barrel and higher proof are the whole story?

[HighInTheMtns]

Seems strange to me too, considering that they already have a NAS single barrel and a NAS high proofer.

What does this mean for WTKS? What distinguishes that from the (presumably) cheaper, higher proof RR? Just the handwritten details about warehouse location and bottling date?

Has anyone confirmed whether the current age stated RR is going away or will continue to be available?

[ILLfarmboy]

Like others, I'm disapointed that there's no age statement but i'm looking forward to trying it, nonetheless.

Bunkered bottlles of RR101 is the only Wild Turkey product I have had for a long time. I've been disapointed with current RB and WTKS as well as their standard 101, so much so that I've damn near given up on any bird that isn't a dusty.

Edited December 4, 2012 by ILLfarmboy

[Lazer]

I'm disappointed by the lack of an age statement. I have a bottle. It's good. Very much Wild Turkey, everything you like about Wild Turkey is there. Usually I would add some water to a 110, but I have enjoyed this without water. I don't know. Much like with the Knob Creek single barrel, I kind of wonder what the point is, in this case especially since it's NAS. I assume they're looking for honey barrels but beyond that, and the added proof (which is a good thing), what's the point of a single barrel as a line extension when single barrel and higher proof are the whole story?

what kind of story are you looking for? Tornadoes, Ocean aged? Those are stupid ideas. How about giving the barrel an extra shake after you dump it to get the whiskey "trapped" inside. They already did honey. I'd say single barrel and higher proof sounds like a good story to me.

[cowdery]

I'm certainly not looking for a gimmick. Exactly the opposite. I'm trying to find a rationale for why single barrel isn't, in this case, basically just a gimmick.

Higher proof is a story in its own right. It has nothing to do with it being single barrel. We know producers make multiple brands from the same whiskey and the difference is brand profile accomplished through barrel selection. In a typical product, that profile is achieved through the combination of whiskeys from different barrels, which often are of different ages. Since that's not possible with a single barrel, what's the objective here? To find individual barrels whose profile more-or-less matches the brand profile? By 'story,' I was referring to something like Evan Williams single barrel, which although it bears the same brand name as the black label EW, it has the 9-year-old and vintage stories to rationalize its single-barrelness. Even though it has the same name, it's a completely different profile from EW black label.

"Honey barrel" is a term or art that has nothing to do with honey flavoring. It refers to simply the most exemplary barrels. One assumes that in all single barrel products, that's what they're doing. The thing is, people seem to think 'single barrel' automatically means 'better' when a theoretical single barrel chosen at random might very well be lacking. The fact that Knob Creek and, now, Wild Turkey felt that their single barrel line extensions had to be higher proof muddlies the water as to why it's single barrel in the first place.

Not that I'm objecting. Higher proof is a good thing. Since it's single barrel, why not barrel proof? I feel like the producers are exploiting the ignorance of most consumers by doing this and exploiting ignorance has a tendency to promote ignorance, which is the part of this that makes me uncomfortable. It also seems like a rip, in the context of the Russell's Reserve brand, to go NAS, as if making it single barrel somehow makes up for that. Where are the individual, hand-written barreled-on and bottled-on dates we get with EWSB and Blanton's? The lack of any reference to age tells me the age, if revealed, would not be impressive.

It's also not chill-filtered, which is a good thing but, again what does that have to do with anything else? And they slapped the words 'small batch' on the label for good measure, which means exactly what when we're talking about a single barrel product? What's small batch about it that isn't inherent in it being single barrel?

I'm afraid we're starting to see what it means to have the Skyy Vodka folks in charge of Wild Turkey.

Edited December 4, 2012 by cowdery

[squire]

I'm in agreement with you Chuck. I would prefer a bottled in bond with a clear explanation on the back label of what that means. Emphasizing the historical context of that phrase would set the brand apart as well.

[Brisko]

I hesitate to complain, especially about Knob Creek. It's great at higher proof, it's still 9 years old, and it's variable enough from one bottle to the next to be interesting, but still sort of within an established profile (or so it seems from my statistically very small sample of 3 bottles... so far).

I'm a little puzzled as to why they didn't go barrel proof... maybe because of the hassle of changing labels? They could handwrite it, maybe. But all in all, we have been clamoring for age-stated, high-proof bourbon, and KCSB fits that description.

Wild Turkey, as is their custom gets it about half right. It's nice that they went with the higher proof but I think I speak for a lot of us when I say I would have settled for 101 and keeping the age statement.

I'll give it a fair shot though. But if we've learned anything from Kentucky Spirit and Rare Breed, if this product is good, we should bunker the hell out of it. The quality of their NAS bottlings seem to follow a predictable plot.

[Lazer]

I'm certainly not looking for a gimmick. Exactly the opposite. I'm trying to find a rationale for why single barrel isn't, in this case, basically just a gimmick.

Higher proof is a story in its own right. It has nothing to do with it being single barrel. We know producers make multiple brands from the same whiskey and the difference is brand profile accomplished through barrel selection. In a typical product, that profile is achieved through the combination of whiskeys from different barrels, which often are of different ages. Since that's not possible with a single barrel, what's the objective here? To find individual barrels whose profile more-or-less matches the brand profile? By 'story,' I was referring to something like Evan Williams single barrel, which although it bears the same brand name as the black label EW, it has the 9-year-old and vintage stories to rationalize its single-barrelness. Even though it has the same name, it's a completely different profile from EW black label.

"Honey barrel" is a term or art that has nothing to do with honey flavoring. It refers to simply the most exemplary barrels. One assumes that in all single barrel products, that's what they're doing. The thing is, people seem to think 'single barrel' automatically means 'better' when a theoretical single barrel chosen at random might very well be lacking. The fact that Knob Creek and, now, Wild Turkey felt that their single barrel line extensions had to be higher proof muddlies the water as to why it's single barrel in the first place.

Not that I'm objecting. Higher proof is a good thing. Since it's single barrel, why not barrel proof? I feel like the producers are exploiting the ignorance of most consumers by doing this and exploiting ignorance has a tendency to promote ignorance, which is the part of this that makes me uncomfortable. It also seems like a rip, in the context of the Russell's Reserve brand, to go NAS, as if making it single barrel somehow makes up for that. Where are the individual, hand-written barreled-on and bottled-on dates we get with EWSB and Blanton's? The lack of any reference to age tells me the age, if revealed, would not be impressive.

It's also not chill-filtered, which is a good thing but, again what does that have to do with anything else? And they slapped the words 'small batch' on the label for good measure, which means exactly what when we're talking about a single barrel product? What's small batch about it that isn't inherent in it being single barrel?

I'm afraid we're starting to see what it means to have the Skyy Vodka folks in charge of Wild Turkey.

When I was in college over 10 years ago I remember walking into a party and knowing right away they had a bottle of WT open because of the smell in the air. I used to drink 101 back then before I ever cared about what I was drinking that's how I knew the smell when I walked into that room. I didn't drink WT for a long time since then until recent years. When people talk about how this brand isn't what it used to be, I kinda know what they mean, I don't think the aroma of the current bottling would leave as much of an impression now as it did then. In other words, I don't remember what it used to taste like, I just remember that it used to be more powerful than it is today, and since I don't remember what it used to taste like, I like the current bottles that I've had.

As far as the new release, I see what you're saying about, "where's the story?" but I have to say, I like KC1B better than regular KC so I'm hoping this will be a similar story. I prefer RB and 101 to RR, but this one could change that.

I think I see your point about the uneducated consumer part. if its going to be single barrel and high proof, why not single barrel, barrel proof, non-chill-filtered AND age stated? Why hold back?

[squire]

Lazer I believe they hold back because marketer's think in terms of selling sizzle rather than steak.

[IowaJeff]

I usually don't get too worked up about age statements, but it doesn't make too much sense to me to have a single barrel without an age statement. With non-SB bourbon I assume not having an age statement is often because there's younger whiskey in there and they don't want to say '4 year old' if in fact it contains a fair amount of older whiskey. HH doesn't put an age statement on Larceny, for example, because '6 years old' doesn't tell the whole story. Similar idea with Rare Breed. Some NAS may be that way because the 'story' stinks, but there are certainly a lot of good NAS bourbons.

For a SB though, that logic doesn't hold. If it's all one age, I'd like to know what it is. And I'm not going to give you the benefit of the doubt like I would give Larceny, or other non-SB bourbons. For a NAS SB, I'm going to begin with the assumption that you're not telling me the age because its young. Why else wouldn't you? Because the ages may vary by a couple of years and it's a pain to print different labels? Not good enough. There are plenty of other products, even widely distributed products like EWSB and KCSB that have figured it out.

Also, knowing the age is part of the romance and allure of a single barrel. It's nice to know those details and think 'what was I doing in 2002 when this was put in a barrel?'