Wild Turkey 101 Rye Whiskey

About Wild Turkey

Following the end of the American Civil War, the Ripy Brothers returned to their native state of Kentucky and, together, opened a distillery on the slopes of a hill in Lawrenceburg. The distillery operated continuously for nearly fifty years until the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the sale of alcohol in the United States, was ratified. Following the end of Prohibition, the Ripy Brothers Distillery was reopened, and a distillery executive named Thomas McCarthy took samples of maturing whiskey from the distillery on a turkey hunt with a group of friends. The following year, his friends asked him to bring “some of that wild turkey whiskey” on their next hunt, giving birth to the distillery’s new name.

Today, Wild Turkey Distillery is stewarded by Master Distiller Jimmy Russell and his son Eddie Russell (together, the pair have over 90 years of experience producing bourbon). “I was born and raised in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky,” says Jimmy, “which was a small community when I was growing up, but there were four bourbon distilleries here, and you had families working all the distilleries. You wanted to get in the business. My grandfather and my father, me, and now my son, we’ve all been in the business.”