Russell’s Reserve 13 Year Old Bourbon (Spring 2025)

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Back in 2021, the world was falling apart. The pandemic wasn’t going away, real estate prices were sky-high and prices had virtually doubled throughout the bourbon secondary market. But there was one reason to believe everything was going to be okay – Wild Turkey had just released a new label called Russell’s Reserve 13 Year Old Bourbon (known as RR13 among enthusiasts). This limited time offering caught virtually everyone off guard with how astonishingly good it was.

What was behind the success of that release? Two things. The first one was the use of older barrels in the blend. Russell’s 13 did have 13 year old barrels in it (135 to be exact) but it was the 35 barrels of 19-year-old bourbon (that’s the old 107 barrel entry proof stuff!) that were added to really kick it up a notch. This created an astonishing balance of rich tannins and bright sweets that it caused yours truly to award it my Most Memorable Whiskey of the Year for 2021 (a full month before Fred Minnick would do the same thing). It was the closest in taste we got to owning an actual bottle of “Dusty Turkey.”

But the other reason why RR13 was such a success was the blending prowess of Shaylyn Gammon. She was relatively unknown up until that point but that release skyrocketed her to fame. She was immediately signed by Blue Run to be their Whiskey Director that same year.

Russell’s 13 would go on to have 4 more “batches” over the next 24 months (in reality, there were batches within batches, but more on that later). Enthusiasts would learn to identify each of them by their laser codes: LL/JL for December, 2021, LL/KE for May, 2022, LL/LC for March, 2023 and LL/LE for May 2023. Some batches (like Batch 3) used barrels as old as 20-years-old!

Following on the success of their age-stated beauty, Campari again blessed the enthusiast community with a 15-year-old Russell’s Release in 2024 that earned similar praise. But with that release, talk of RR13 faded away. To be honest, I think most enthusiasts (including myself) believed that RR13 was dead and that we’d only see new Russell’s Reserve releases wearing ever-higher age statements. But we were wrong. Batch 6 was announced in the Spring of 2025 after a two year hiatus.

2025 Russell’s Reserve 13 Year Old Bourbon – LANE0_E____

This new iteration of Russell’s 13 not only wears a new proof (123.8! The highest EVER from Wild Turkey) but also comes with a label that lists the season and year it was bottled. This means that enthusiasts don’t have to squint and find the laser code on the bottom of the bottle. But just because they don’t have to doesn’t mean they won’t. I have already identified that Wild Turkey is using a new laser code marking system that deviates from the LL/XX of the past. This one starts with the letters “LA” then drops the “/” and is followed by the typical year/month letter process they have always used. Then it gives the day of the month after that followed by the month (in letter format) followed by what I assume to be the time it was bottled (using military time).

All of this is to say that the bottle I am reviewing today is LANE08E1514. It was bottled on May 8, 2025 (at 3:14pm). I have seen proof of other bottles from this batch being bottled on May 6th and 7th, so, you know, I guess let the speculation begin about which bottling date is better?

This blend was supposedly captained by Josh Kaul – the Associate Master Blender at Wild Turkey and one who has been quietly blending behind the scenes. Bruce Russell thinks that Josh is the next hot commodity in the bourbon community for his blending abilities. So be on the lookout for his name in the years to come.

Speaking of the blend for Russell’s 13, the makeup of barrels for this batch is about 160 in total. 150 of those came from Camp Nelson and 10 from Tyrone. This is great news if you’re a Camp Nelson fan (I know I am) because the single barrels that have been coming out of there recently (as well as early releases of WT12/101 Export and the Russell’s Single Rickhouse series) have been off-the-charts good. Oh, and while I was doing this review I came across an interesting fact that the previous five batches of Russell’s 13 contained a majority of barrels from Camp Nelson! I love them because they have fruit notes that I just don’t get in regular Tyrone warehouses. If you’re new to Wild Turkey and didn’t understand a word of what I’m talking about, check out Rarebird101’s write-up about warehouses and their locations.

Alright, enough talk about the backstory. Let’s hear how it tastes. I have my great friend James to thank for making today’s review possible. He has lifted me up with samples and information galore for over 2 years now. He’s also – in my eyes – a walking encyclopedia of Kentucky bourbon who I wish more people could meet. I’m always thankful for friends like him, Brad, Mike, Chris, David and so many others who have helped me along the way. This review’s for you, Cheers! And now, I’m going to sample this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: The nose on this bottle has loads of sweet toffee and cinnamon. They’re brought into focus by scents of oak spice and “rickhouse floor.” This has some great woody notes, but seems to be missing some of that old varnish note that was so enjoyable on the first batch of Russell’s 13. Still, I find plenty of other scents that make me happy to stick my nose back in the glen such as chocolate, rye spice and a little bit of peppermint candy cane.

Palate: The blending team at Wild Turkey really nailed the complexity while reigning in the heat of 123.8 proof points. The strong proof beefs up the spice notes like clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder and ginger. It also pushes the full set of tannins like leather, barrel char and antique oak. I’m finding the fruit that I thought was kind of missing from the nose when I taste orange marmalade, dates and a little bit of prune. The sweets don’t disappoint either with toffee, chocolate and a touch of honey. I am happy with how many layers of flavor I can find with each sip.

Finish: A sweet (honey, toffee, beeswax) and oaky finish greet me when the sip is complete. I’m happy to still find some lingering fruit notes like (toasted) orange peel and dates. But the spices (cinnamon, allspice, rye spice and ginger root) start to steal the show and give off some smoldering heat on my tongue with its long finish. Speaking of rye spice, I can also still detect some of the signature high-rye Wild Turkey influence when I get a passing glance of peppermint. Nice.

Score: 8.4/10

While this batch of Russell’s Reserve is very good, I don’t find it to be quite on the same plane as previous batches (I’ve had 1, 2 and 3 in the past). I won’t beat around the bush with my reasoning – it’s because it doesn’t taste as old. I’m assuming that Wild Turkey will be a little more secretive with the age of the barrels used in this batch probably because there’s no barrels over 14-years-old. I’m sure this is a trend we’ll keep seeing if Campari decides to keep producing RR13, RR15 and whatever the next iteration is going to be as annual releases.

Still, 13 and 14-year-old barrels are a fantastic age for Wild Turkey to reach and the high barrel proof on this batch goes a long way in making up for the lack of age from before. So I’m not saying that I’m disappointed, just that it could have been a little bit better.

Final Thoughts

This is a very competent, highly provocative bourbon with a proof point that makes me salivate, but it’s not God-tier like the first batch of Russell’s Reserve 13 was. I assume that the secondary market will cool off rather fast for this bottle and it will end up hovering around $350 after a while on the market. That’s fine with me because aside from the Single Rickhouse releases and Russell’s 15, this is easily the third best product that Wild Turkey has produced over the last few years. You’re a lucky person if you find one this year.