In 1968 Thomas Ripy built the Old Hickory Distillery in Tyrone, Kentucky new Lawerenceburg. The Ripys sold bourbon they produced at their distillery to various wholesalers who bottled it under their own brands. Austin Nichols was one of these wholesalers. In 1940 an Austin Nichols executive named Thomas McCarthy took some of the best warehouse samples with him turkey hunting with a bunch of his friends. They next time they got together to hunt they asked Tom if he had any of that wild turkey bourbon and the rest was history. Two years later the Austin Nichols company decided to bottle and sell that whiskey as Wild Turkey Bourbon. Three decades later they bought the distillery that made that amazing bourbon and renamed it the Wild Turkey Distillery in 1971. Jimmy Russel, the master distiller was at that distillery before it changed hands and he’s been there since. Not only has he been inducted into the bourbon hall of fame but he taught his son Eddie everything he knows and he started at the bottom and worked his way up and became a master distiller himself. The only father-son team of master distillers in the world. Now Rare breed is a night and day difference than original Wild Turkey. This is something to sit down and enjoy. Compared to the original it pales in comparison.
