OUR
PROCESS

THE ESSENTIALS

Russell’s Reserve is different for a reason. It all comes down to experience, high-quality ingredients, and a lot of patience.

GRAIN

Only the finest ingredients are used to make our whiskey. This includes three non-GMO grains: American-grown corn, rye, and malted barley. We have one mash bill for our bourbons and one for ryes — our mash bills are a secret kept solely by Jimmy and Eddie.

WATER

The water for our whiskey is sourced from the Kentucky River and is naturally filtered through limestone, removing iron and other impurities. Russell’s Reserve is distilled to a lower ABV, meaning less water is added before barreling, resulting in a robust whiskey.

WOOD

Our whiskey is aged in new American oak barrels with the deepest No. 4 alligator char, giving Russell’s Reserve its bold flavor and deep auburn color. These barrels are set to rest in our timber rickhouses. The barrels for each batch are hand-selected by Eddie based on their flavor characteristics. Barrels that exhibit the unique Russell’s Reserve flavor profile often come from our center cut – or “sweet spot” – within the rickhouse.

TIME

Good taste takes time. Though the legal aging requirement for Kentucky straight bourbon is two years, we wait a minimum of ten years for our bourbon to mature and six years for our rye.