Credit: Lost Cargo
Russell’s Reserve 13-Year-Old Bourbon is an annual special release from Wild Turkey’s Russell’s Reserve brand. It is currently the oldest whiskey in the core Russell’s Reserve lineup, but will be eclipsed in 2024 by Russell’s Reserve 15-Year-Old.
Russell’s Reserve 13-Year-Old was developed by Master Distiller Eddie Russell as a tribute to his father, Master Distiller Jimmy Russell. As such, it is released annually shortly before Fathers Day.
It was first introduced in June 2021 and has become a limited, annual offering. The bourbon is bottled at 114.8 proof and is not chill-filtered.
Tasting Notes
Tasting notes provided by Wild Turkey. 4Tasting Notes
Nose
Lots of aged character. Sweet and woody with notes of dark dried fruit and chocolate, honey, caramel, nougat and brown sugar.
Palate
Sweet and warming. Dried dark fruit notes complete with charred confectionary notes of charred marshmallow and burnt brown sugar.
Finish
Smoky campfire. Warming, long and lingering.
Batches
Russell’s Reserve 13-Year-Old releases are tracked by the laser code etched or printed on the glass near the bottom of the bottle. The first few characters of the code represent the batches shown below.
As of June 2023, Russell’s Reserve publicly refers to only three different annual releases.2“Straight out of the Commonwealth of Kentucky comes the highly-anticipated third annual release of Russell’s Reserve 13-Year-Old Bourbon…” Press Release However, there have been five separate bottlings based on the laser codes. There are no other distinguishing details on the label to tell the individual bottlings apart.
The details of the bourbon used in each bottling is also unclear. it is entirely possible that Wild Turkey may choose to create a batch and then store it in tanks, in which case different bottling dates would contain the exact same whiskey.3Batch Bitchin’ – Rare Bird 101
