Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This week we're filming on location at Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg, sitting in the old station house with Bruce Russell — third-generation whiskey maker and associate blender, grandson and son of the two living legends whose names hang over the place: Jimmy Russell, the longest-tenured master distiller of any spirit, and his son Eddie.
Bruce was headed for a career in robotics until a summer giving distillery tours, and one quietly devastating afternoon when his introverted father walked his tour and told him he didn't know much of anything, redirected the whole course of his life. We get into what it means to carry a name like Russell, the freedom in being told you'll never be Jimmy or Eddie so you'd better be yourself, and the uncanny way personality and palate skip a generation. We discover Jimmy's handwritten 1950s notebooks and the by-hand, by-feel craft that's quietly vanishing, chase the elusive "Wild Turkey Funk" of vintage bourbon and ask whether it can ever be made again.
We don't dodge the state of the market — the glut, the overproduction, the correction coming around 2029-30, and why the big houses ride out storms that sink smaller players. There's plenty for the nerds: angel's share losses of 75 to 90 percent on the oldest barrels, the freakish top floors at Camp Nelson where the highest-proof whiskey somehow tastes the best, and how a single recipe becomes Jimmy whiskey or Eddie whiskey depending only on the warehouse. We trace the rise of rye, the difference between Wild Turkey's stewardship and the offence of Russell's Reserve, and the tight, almost familial culture binding the Kentucky distilling families. Along the way we taste through some genuinely rare liquid: Bruce's first solo project - Austin Nichols Gold Foil 16 Year Old - a sneak peek of Russell's 13 made for Eddie's 45th anniversary, then onto the near-mythical Russell's 1998, and hear how Generations brought all three Russells together for what turned out to be the last whiskey Jimmy actively worked on. We finish on a Wild Turkey that travelled to Japan, took on a second life at Chichibu, and came back tasting like nothing any of us expected.
00:00:00 Welcome to Wild Turkey: the old station house and the bungee bridge
00:01:24 The accidental distiller: a summer tour job that stuck
00:02:46 "You don't know much, do you?" — the day Bruce met his dad
00:05:51 Carrying the name: pressure and the third generation
00:08:12 When your dad is Michael Jordan: Eddie's path under Jimmy
00:11:26 Steward vs. self: defending the brand, finding a voice
00:14:33 Jimmy's notebooks and the science the old guard knew
00:20:17 Wild Turkey Funk: the magic of vintage bourbon
00:24:14 Another glut? The bourbon market in 2026
00:37:10 Inside the distillery today: a million barrels, a new still house
00:39:38 The next drinker: cans, highballs and getting Gen Z in
00:43:15 How three generations actually drink it
00:49:21 Chasing the weird barrel
00:58:35 Sneak peek: Russell's 13 and Eddie's 45th anniversary
01:00:21 The unplanned 19-year-olds at Camp Nelson
01:02:30 Angel's share and the magic of the top floors
01:07:09 Why the barrel is everything (and the Campari playground)
01:11:04 Jimmy whiskey vs. Eddie whiskey
01:13:50 The rise of rye — and why Jimmy still won't touch it
01:18:47 Wild Turkey vs. Russell's Reserve
01:24:39 The Kentucky family: a rising tide and "one of us"
01:34:41 Russell's 1998, the secondary market and a $600 bottle
01:41:13 Generations: getting Jimmy, Eddie and Bruce to agree
01:44:57 The night Jimmy got emotional
01:47:52 What the fourth generation should inherit
01:52:11 One last pour: a Wild Turkey that went to Japan and back
With Thanks to Our Sponsors:
🍋🟩 Fever-Tree - For the very best mixers that taste pretty damn good even by themselves
🌾 Belvedere Vodka - Organic vodka, with substance, made from Polish rye and absolutely no additives.
📷 Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/tristanstephenson
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - thecuriousbartender.com
This week we're filming on location at Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg, sitting in the old station house with Bruce Russell — third-generation whiskey maker and associate blender, grandson and son of the two living legends whose names hang over the place: Jimmy Russell, the longest-tenured master distiller of any spirit, and his son Eddie.
Bruce was headed for a career in robotics until a summer giving distillery tours, and one quietly devastating afternoon when his introverted father walked his tour and told him he didn't know much of anything, redirected the whole course of his life. We get into what it means to carry a name like Russell, the freedom in being told you'll never be Jimmy or Eddie so you'd better be yourself, and the uncanny way personality and palate skip a generation. We discover Jimmy's handwritten 1950s notebooks and the by-hand, by-feel craft that's quietly vanishing, chase the elusive "Wild Turkey Funk" of vintage bourbon and ask whether it can ever be made again.
We don't dodge the state of the market — the glut, the overproduction, the correction coming around 2029-30, and why the big houses ride out storms that sink smaller players. There's plenty for the nerds: angel's share losses of 75 to 90 percent on the oldest barrels, the freakish top floors at Camp Nelson where the highest-proof whiskey somehow tastes the best, and how a single recipe becomes Jimmy whiskey or Eddie whiskey depending only on the warehouse. We trace the rise of rye, the difference between Wild Turkey's stewardship and the offence of Russell's Reserve, and the tight, almost familial culture binding the Kentucky distilling families. Along the way we taste through some genuinely rare liquid: Bruce's first solo project - Austin Nichols Gold Foil 16 Year Old - a sneak peek of Russell's 13 made for Eddie's 45th anniversary, then onto the near-mythical Russell's 1998, and hear how Generations brought all three Russells together for what turned out to be the last whiskey Jimmy actively worked on. We finish on a Wild Turkey that travelled to Japan, took on a second life at Chichibu, and came back tasting like nothing any of us expected.
00:00:00 Welcome to Wild Turkey: the old station house and the bungee bridge
00:01:24 The accidental distiller: a summer tour job that stuck
00:02:46 "You don't know much, do you?" — the day Bruce met his dad
00:05:51 Carrying the name: pressure and the third generation
00:08:12 When your dad is Michael Jordan: Eddie's path under Jimmy
00:11:26 Steward vs. self: defending the brand, finding a voice
00:14:33 Jimmy's notebooks and the science the old guard knew
00:20:17 Wild Turkey Funk: the magic of vintage bourbon
00:24:14 Another glut? The bourbon market in 2026
00:37:10 Inside the distillery today: a million barrels, a new still house
00:39:38 The next drinker: cans, highballs and getting Gen Z in
00:43:15 How three generations actually drink it
00:49:21 Chasing the weird barrel
00:58:35 Sneak peek: Russell's 13 and Eddie's 45th anniversary
01:00:21 The unplanned 19-year-olds at Camp Nelson
01:02:30 Angel's share and the magic of the top floors
01:07:09 Why the barrel is everything (and the Campari playground)
01:11:04 Jimmy whiskey vs. Eddie whiskey
01:13:50 The rise of rye — and why Jimmy still won't touch it
01:18:47 Wild Turkey vs. Russell's Reserve
01:24:39 The Kentucky family: a rising tide and "one of us"
01:34:41 Russell's 1998, the secondary market and a $600 bottle
01:41:13 Generations: getting Jimmy, Eddie and Bruce to agree
01:44:57 The night Jimmy got emotional
01:47:52 What the fourth generation should inherit
01:52:11 One last pour: a Wild Turkey that went to Japan and back
With Thanks to Our Sponsors:
🍋🟩 Fever-Tree - For the very best mixers that taste pretty damn good even by themselves
🌾 Belvedere Vodka - Organic vodka, with substance, made from Polish rye and absolutely no additives.
📷 Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/tristanstephenson
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - thecuriousbartender.com
