THE RIGHT WAY""
1855 - Austin Nichols starts selling wine and spirits as a wholesale grocer. The business he starts would later own Wild Turkey. 1869 - The Ripy brothers open their family distillery on Wild Turkey Hill in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. 1893 - The Ripy Brothers' bourbon represents Kentucky at the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. 1940 - Wild Turkey Bourbon gets its name after a distillery executive shares his bourbon with friends on an annual hunting trip - of course, they were after wild turkey. 1954 - Master Distiller Jimmy Russell joins Wild Turkey. He's the third in a line of distillers and learned his craft from Wild Turkey's second master distiller, Bill Hughes, and Ernest W. Ripy, son of the original distiller. 1976 - Wild Turkey introduces the world's first bourbon liqueur as a way to attract even more people into the bourbon world, which eventually led to the creation of Wild Turkey's American Honey. 1981 - Eddie Russell, son of Jimmy Russell, joins Wild Turkey as a relief operator and begins to work his way up the ladder. 1991 - Wild Turkey introduces our premium Rare Breed, one of the first barrel proof bourbons to go to market. 1995 - Kentucky Spirit, a single-barrel (one of the world's firsts), 101-proof bourbon, is released. 2000 - Master Distiller Jimmy Russell is inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame. 2004 - Jimmy Russell celebrates his 50th year at the Wild Turkey distillery. 2006 - American Honey, a liqueur with real Wild Turkey Bourbon and pure American Honey, is introduced. 2007 - American Spirit, a 15-year-old bourbon, is released in honor of National Bourbon Heritage Month. The month celebrates the rich heritage, tradition, and legacy of the bourbon industry. 2010 - Eddie Russell is inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame by his father, Jimmy Russell. 2011 - In Eddie Russell's 30th year at the distillery, he introduces an 81 proof expression of the world famous Wild Turkey Bourbon, intended to be the perfect mixing bourbon. 2014 - Jimmy Russell celebrates his 60th year at the Wild Turkey distillery. To celebrate this achievement, a special bourbon called Diamond was released in his honor. A combination of 13 and 16 year old bourbons, this bourbon is something special, just like our own Jimmy Russell. 2015 - Eddie Russell is officially given the title of master distiller, making Jimmy and Eddie the only active father and son duo of bourbon master distillers in the world. 2016 - A year after Eddie Russell joined his father Jimmy as Master Distiller, we gave our packaging a bold new look to better reflect the ownership behind each of our bourbons.
