Russell's Reserve 13 (2026) Review: Eddie Russell's 45th Anniversary Bourbon

Today on the Bourbon Bites podcast, Russell's Reserve has a new $300 bourbon, there's a new Laddie Rye release, and bourbon-inspired treats for your dog? Then I have a bite-sized review of the 2026 Russell's Reserve 13. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Bourbon Bites podcast, a whiskey podcast with a gaming twist. I'm your host Clifton, and this is the week of Thursday, October 15th, 2026. Even though we are well into the month of October, we are still getting new whiskey announcements, and many of which are ones that everyone has been waiting on. So I'm really excited to talk about these today. I'm also reviewing the newest edition of Russell's Reserve 13 that was released as a celebration for Eddie Russell's 45-year legacy at Wild Turkey. So I'm super excited for that review, but we got some news to get through first. Let's get into it. Well, this first one is very relevant to the Bite Size review coming later because this is the new Russell's Reserve single rickhouse release. This is called Camp Nelson D. It was just announced last week and it is the fifth annual single rickhouse release. This one's going to come in at 120.8 proof, of course non-chill filtered, and a $300 suggested retail price. Now, as with the other ones, there's no age statement with this one, but it is a tribute to Camp Nelson Rickhouse D, which was built back in 1946. And this particular release came from barrels that were on floors 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6. A lot of people feel like this warehouse's location and maturation conditions are ideal for Wild Turkey. So I think people are going to go crazy for this release as they have with other Camp Nelson releases. Now what's interesting when talking about this particular single Rickhouse release, Eddie Russell said that if you tasted it blind, you'd bet it was a rye which is pretty interesting because I always do get a baking spice note on almost all Wild Turkey products whether it's the bourbon or the rye and a lot of times that can read like a rye whiskey so I have a feeling this one's going to have those spices turned up a lot but yeah this sounds like a great release listen it's high end it's how I felt about this release since it was first announced 300 bucks for a single rickhouse release seems a bit excessive especially when you're considering the fact that we don't have an age statement it's not a single barrel you know it's a single rickhouse which you know it's something to say but I'm always hesitant about these releases not because I doubt they're any good I just think the $300 price point is hard to justify I will say I did have the very first single rickhouse release that came out and I would buy that bottle over and over again for $300 so if it stays as good a quality as that first one was I'm sure it's worth it but for me I'm not going to take a gamble on it it's one that I would definitely try before I buy it, but I just want to tell you about that because I love these new releases coming out of Wild Turkey. I just wish they were a little more affordable for us. Well, while that is one way to spend $300 on bourbon, this next story makes a pretty good case for keeping most of that money. I wanted to talk about some recent awards winners from the IWSC and the International Spirits Challenge, and some budget Bottled in Bond releases seem to really win over judges this year. Old Bardstown's Bottled in Bond four-year won the IWSC Bourbon Trophy at 98 points. That's pretty incredible. I've had this, but it's been so many years. Of course, it's from the Willett Distillery, but it's one that you don't typically see winning awards. I've seen it for as low as 20 at some retailers. Definitely not one that you would expect to win such a high score at such a prestigious event. And what's even more incredible is an entirely separate spirits competition, which was the International Spirits Challenge, actually credited Evan Williams Bottled Bottled in Bond as the winning bourbon for up to five years old. So that's two Bottled in Bond bourbons that have won big this year. Evan Williams Bottled Bottled in Bond is one of the first bourbons that got me into whiskey. I was definitely picking up that white label bottle every time I saw it before I was willing to buy, of course, higher priced bourbons. That one was really one of the first higher proof bourbons I ever had, and it still holds a special place in my heart. Do I still buy it? No, not really. But again, to see my little beginner bottle win big at the Spirits Awards in 2026 is pretty awesome. It just shows you don't have to pay $300 for a good bourbon. Now, how do these compare to a Russell single rickhouse? That's a whole different story. But you know what I'm saying. For the price, I think that's Awesome. And congrats to those folks. I always love seeing the budget bottles do well on things like this. Question for you. What's like one of your favorite budget bottles that continues to hold up year after year? I know you may not want to spill the secret on it, but I'd love to hear what your bottle is. To me, I think it would either be a Buffalo Trace store pick, which I know is kind of crazy to say, but when I find it, it's usually like 30 bucks or less. Other than that, I think Jack Daniels Bonded and Elijah Craig Small Batch are regulars on my shelf, no matter where I'm at. Those are always just good buys for the money, but curious what your favorites are. All right, well, spinning the globe around, we have a second release of the Lottie Rye from Bruichladdich. Now, I had the first one of this back on the podcast. I think it was in 2025. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10. I thought it was a really fun release to see how a Scotch distillery would create a rye whiskey. Now, this one is a six-year-old 100 proof bottle, and it's coming in at $60 retail. Now all of the rye and barley were grown within an 11 mile radius of the distillery, which is pretty incredible. And the maturation includes first fill bourbon, second fill American virgin oak, and some former bourbon casks that were de-charred and re-charred. They said for this second release, they really lean into experimentation and interesting wood types. So I'm excited to see how that's affected this whiskey. I know the first one was so interesting, but yet so strange. And you know what? I love some weird experimentation. I would definitely be down to give it another chance. Well, speaking of estate-grown grain, let's go over to Frey Ranch because they've just announced their Harvester Series Third Harvest Whiskey. This is a blend of five to eight-year-old whiskeys bottled at 123.4 proof and selling for $299.99. And for this released, they are introducing Triticale, which is a wheat and rye hybrid grown at Frey Ranch. So they're including that with the corn, the rye, the malted barley, and the wheat. Now, Colby Frey says this series is a way to put their grains front and center, and they're specifically highlighting Triticale, which was developed back in the 1800s to combine the high yield and grain quality of wheat with the hardiness and disease resistance and drought tolerance of rye. They say it contributes a spicy, peppery note that's normally associated with rye, while imparting the soft, sweet, bready characteristics that are inherent to wheat. Now, I am thankful that this is a cask strength. I do love that it's five to eight years old. 300 is a bit high, but again, with these experimental series using estate-grown grains, I understand why they're a bit higher than normal. I do love most everything I've tried from Frey Ranch. This is definitely another try-before-I-buy situation, but again, I can't put them down for a release like this because it is bringing awareness to these really interesting grains that are grown all over our country and beyond and how else will we learn about them unless we're you know farmers now this is going to be first released this November to their recently announced Tractor Tailgate Club which is a limited membership farm to bottle whiskey club and then it says it's going to be available in the tasting room starting on November 7th so if you want to get a bottle of it definitely look into joining their members only club they say they only have 500 memberships available uh so it's a thousand dollars a year to get in if that's your thing check it out but definitely one that i would love to try i'd love to see what that that triticale and yes i did have to google how to pronounce that because that is not how i would have pronounced that word if i had just seen it spelled all right well we've been talking a lot about whiskey let's talk about a whiskey brand that's found another customer for its bourbon inspired products and this one has four legs so this is coming to us from Holiday distillery you may know them from their Ben Holiday bourbon releases but they've announced a new bacon flavored bourbon inspired dog treat that of course contains zero alcohol but it's made in Kansas City and it's sold in a miniature barrel style container one dollar per container supports animal charities with Wayside Waifs featured in 2026 and Stephanie Taylor who is their sales and marketing manager says our fans love their bourbon and they love their dogs which is why they created Holiday Bourbons yes bourbon with es at the end Bourbons very very clever they say Bourbons bring these two things together in a way that feels natural to our brand with the added bonus of giving back to animals in need so if you're looking for a treat for your drinking buddy uh four-legged friends definitely check out Bourbons they're they're very very cute and they go for a good cause your dog gets bacon you get bourbon just don't mix those up so with that let's go ahead and get into our bite-sized review all right well like i said at the top of the podcast this is the 2026 edition of Russell's Reserve 13 and this is a special one because it's a tribute to Eddie Russell's 45 year legacy at the distillery so eddie started his journey back in 1981 and it was meant to just be a summer job at the distillery but it quickly turned into a lifelong calling there's a great write-up by Rare Bird 101 if you're not a fan of his check it out about this particular release but he goes into a lot of detail about eddie's legacy and the bourbon itself so eddie said russell's reserve has always been deeply personal to me. It started as a way to honor my dad and everything he taught me. Now the opportunity to celebrate my own 45 years with a new release of 13 year old. A bourbon that really showcases how I approach the craft. Now this is also going to be released alongside a documentary called His Own Way the story of Eddie Russell. This premiered back in June at Alamo Drafthouse Theaters nationwide but it is available at the distillery to view as well. But let's talk about the bourbon, because this particular release of Russell's 13 is coming in at 60.6% ABV. And it's really cool, because if you watch the documentary, there's a scene where Associate Master Blender Bruce Russell and Eddie are doing a tour of the Rick House, and they pulled down an 18-year-old barrel and tasted it, and they said it was exceptional. So that barrel ended up being part of this year's 13-year-old release. Now, of course, it's at least 13 years old, but that does mean older whiskey can be added to it. So it's really cool to see that that special barrel made it into this blend. Now, retail on this bottle is technically $200 MSRP, which is $100 less than that single rickhouse we saw earlier in the podcast. And with it, you're getting cask strength, age dated, and a cool story celebratory anniversary bottle. To me, that's more worth the money. But we're going to find out today. We're going to give it a first impression, bite-sized review, and I'll let you know how I think it compares to previous Russells 13s. If you haven't been following for a while, I just recently reviewed the 2025 release of this back in November of last year, but I also tried the first release and the third release. So I think I've only missed one of these releases, which was the second. So I will say I'm a bit of an aficionado when it comes to Russell's 13, and I always longed for how good that first one was. So we'll see how up to par this new release is. Let's go ahead and get it open. Now, this sample was also provided to me by my friend Brandon. If you don't know him, he is a regular guest here on the saturday night live streams that i occasionally do on the youtube channel so cheers brandon thank you again for providing this sample let's start with the nose oh yep that proof gets you right off the bat that is definitely leaning towards these strong ethanol notes at least first impression let me let it open up just a little bit more i think i went in a little too early for it all right there we go i let it sit for a couple minutes um definitely getting a lot of sweetness on the tip of the nose. This is definitely leaning into like a creamy vanilla kind of nose. Dessert-y but not quite like toasty if that makes sense. It's more of like a filling than the pie crust itself. Y'all know I love my pie crust notes that I always give whiskeys but this is more of the sweet filling that's inside the crust. Kind of reminds me of a brown sugar pop tart. I know it's a very specific note but it's like that brown sugar filling that's in those pop tarts it's a little bit of fruitiness there as well it's like if you combine that with maybe a strawberry or even a cherry pop tart man i feel like i feel ridiculous comparing a $200 bourbon to a pop tart but you know that's what you get when you listen to a bite-sized review but yeah that brown sugar cinnamon thing is coming out more and more it's definitely on the back end of the nose like i said up front it's like that sweet creamy like sweet vanilla coating on like a cake or something there's a bit of oakiness there as well you got to go past those um you know sweet and spicy notes but there is a good oak backbone on the nose I can tell that there's some well-aged bourbon in here of course we know it's at least 13 years old but at least that's not hiding from us it's just a bit covered up by that bright nose up front overall smells delicious and I cannot wait to get this in my mouth so let's give it a try cheers oh wow much brighter than I expected I mean I know the nose was bright but I kind of expected it to go darker on the palate like some of the other ones have done that's kind of like an effervescent kind of thing kind of reminds me of like a like a cherry cola or something. It's not nearly as sweet as it was on the nose. I think this is really rich and mouth-coating in every way. Those baking spices are still there. Like I said, with wild turkey, I always get these really dominant baking spice notes, whether it be nutmeg or allspice or cinnamon, they're always there on wild turkey. This is, you know, next level. These are showing up very, very dominantly on the palate. The finish doesn't linger too long I would say it's more of a medium finish which is a bit shorter than some of the other Russell's releases but again it's not that that's a bad thing it just doesn't linger too long and the flavor doesn't really change too much it kind of sticks to that brighter sweeter like I said like a baking spice or even like how about this okay I said cherry cola but with the spices it's leaning more to like a Dr. Pepper you know it has those 23 flavors or whatever Dr. Pepper says. It does feel like a really nice, you know, fall blend of spices with a bit of like a cherry pie, cherry cola filling on it as well. I remember on the very first release of Russell's 13, I got a really strong citrus and expressed orange peel note. I almost described it like a old fashioned. That one was incredible. That was 114.3 proof. I got it for 70 bucks, which blows my mind thinking back, but that was back in 2021. This to me is almost like to replace that orange note with a red fruit not in a bad way but it's funny because last year's release the spring 2025 release i got that orange zest as well so it's almost like they kind of alternate it maybe release to release it could just be my palette today but i'm not picking up on any of those orange notes i mean if i'm really looking for citrus the closest thing i can find is a little bit of like a lemon zest but even that to me is really subtle with this release so with all that being said here for the bite size review I just give one score out of 10 based on palate proof nose availability price all things considered with this being $200 I think that's you know a fair price for a 13 year old limited edition bourbon I'm not going to fault them for the price secondary market can go screw themselves because we don't talk about that we talk about retail availability I mean this is going to be incredibly hard to find as it has been since its initial release if you live close to the distillery it says they have some available there but again that's hit or miss but there is the fact that this is a special 45th anniversary bottle and we know for a fact that there is an 18 year old barrel in here somewhere so we do have some more sentimental value to it i do you know credit that a little bit i just don't think this is my favorite russell's 13 but as a bourbon in general for 200 13 years cask strength it's going to be hard to find a better deal if you can find this at retail so for me i'm going to give this a 7 out of 10 last year's release was a 7.5 out of 10 this one i'm just going to dock it a little bit because i do miss those orange zesty notes as well as that longer finish but overall another fantastic limited edition release from Wild Turkey if you have a chance to buy this at retail i recommend buying at least one bottle maybe a little bit over retail depending on your market you know i would pay maybe up to 250 for it i just think it is that special of a bourbon it's definitely not my favorite Russell's 13 which is i'm going to keep saying that until they make one as good as that first release, but it's definitely still a strong bourbon on its own when it's not being compared to other releases. But like I said, if you want to see me do a direct comparison between this sample and my full-size bottle of the 2025 release, let me know because I can do that for an upcoming live stream. Maybe I'll find those notes that I feel like I'm missing on the pour tonight. By the way, if you don't watch the live streams, I go live every Thursday night on YouTube, youtube.com slash Bourbon Bites, 7pm Pacific, 10pm Eastern. I'd love to see you there. If you're just a listener to the podcast, you never really tune into the live streams. I'd love to see you say hello. I do interact with everyone in the live chat and those that leave a comment on the video afterwards. Hashtag replay squad. I love you. But that does it for this week's episode. Thank you all so much for listening. By the way, just a heads up, I will be doing a podcast episode next week. But the following week on the 29th, I will not be I also won't be live. I'm traveling to Hawaii for Halloween so should be a fun time just gonna take a bit of a fall vacation there but I will be around on the discords on the website on Instagram wherever you follow me I'll still be active I just won't be putting out an episode in a couple weeks but next week I'll be here I'll be on YouTube definitely tune in because it's down to be a good show thank you all so much for listening this has been the Bourbon Bites podcast cheers and I'll talk to you next episode