Russell's New Packaging

[tlsmothers]

Just got this photo today and wanted to share the new attire for WT Russell's Reserve 10 year. Quite handsome, eh? Not in NYC, yet.

[doubleblank]

It's quite a package as many of us saw at the Sampler........only proof down and price up are our complanits. Jimmy Russel just shrugged his shoulders. Don't know what to think.

Randy

[doc mcCabe]

It's quite a package as many of us saw at the Sampler........only proof down and price up are our complanits. Jimmy Russel just shrugged his shoulders. Don't know what to think.

Randy

Other than proof-down, is it the same product as the old Russel's Reserve?

[Strayed]

Other than proof-down, is it the same product as the old Russel's Reserve?

Wild Turkey only makes one bourbon. Proof up or down, or age, is what makes it Russell's Reserve and not Tribute or Rare Breed. It's funny how legends go -- I'm pretty sure the old 101 proof was a marketer's idea. You know, "this one goes to eleven". But it was always explained as, "Jimmy Russell feels 101 proof is the ideal strength for our whiskey". As far as I know, Jimmy personally prefers Rare Breed, at barrel proof, to the 101; at least he always says that's his favorite. So I kind of feel that taking the brand that was supposed to be his signature and diluting it to a lower proof than I feel he would have wanted sends a message that some people might find a bit offensive.

Then again, there doesn't appear to be anything more the Jim Beam folks can do to deface the Old Crow brand, and still they fail to replace James Crow with James Beam in our hearts as the father of American Bourbon. Long live Jimmy Russell!

[gillmang]

John, it may be the same whiskey but isn't it all made (mingled) to specific profiles for each brand? So that they would choose presumably specific barrels with specific taste attributes to get the profile they want for Russell's Reserve vs. say Wild Turkey 101 (apart that is from the difference in age between the 2 if there is a difference in fact).

I liked the 90 proof new version of RR, it tastes just right sampled neat but I recognise they snuck in a price increase.

Gary

[bunghole]

Less Bourbon. More Water. Higher Price. DAMN! I never thought I'd ever see this kind of thing from Wild Turkey.

Virginia has the 101 proof R's R 'on sale' now for $25 a bottle. The trouble is that I can't afford to lay in a case, and whenever I buy a bottle I tend to drink it right away - I'm drinking some now.

GREED really bothers me.

ima

[Brewer]

As far as I'm concerned, as nice as the new packaging is, WT shouldn't mess with a good thing. I bet it was that evil woman tour guide in combination with some hot shot accountants that wanted to further burn us...we'll give 'em a fancy new package, bet they'll like that...we'll charge 'em more...bet they'll think its even better bourbon...& we'll make 'mo money! I'll have to pass on RR in the future I guess in light of this news.

[bunghole]

Just another good reason to hate the French! Even though bottom line profits to Pernod Ricard would hardly pay for their 8 billion Euro bid for Allied Domecq - greed still makes me mad!

ima

[cowdery]

I agree with everybody who thinks Russell's Reserve was just fine as it was, but these changes don't surprise me. The segment of the market in which RR plays is shaping up to be the new face of American whiskey and to compete, RR needed a milder proof and fancier package. The fact that it is now a little more profitable doesn't hurt either.

The 101 proof ("it's one more, isn't it?") has been a kind of trademark for Wild Turkey, but the 80 proof is increasingly the one you see in bars (outside of Kentucky, anyway) and one characteristic of this "new bourbons" segment is the irrelevance of history to its patrons.

Note that the new package also deemphasizes the Wild Turkey ID.

Ultimately, though, anything that keeps the distilleries making whiskey is good for our little tribe. Think of it that way.

[gillmang]

Very true that this emerging luxury segment seems to de-anchor whiskey from its roots. It becomes something separate from what it was. This happened to Jack Daniel in the years when it was considered (and it still is by many) a prime U.S. whiskey. It became an icon, people who couldn't tell whiskey from windex could recognise it as an American symbol. All the folksy ads (including some relevant tech and historical information) from B-F about Jack hasn't really changed that. I think that is what will happen to bourbon, ecah distillery will have a flagship which it hopes will be its Grey Goose, something so different and superior to regular whiskey that it becomes something different and new, in effect. That's okay as long as it still tastes good and WT 90 proof tasted very good, no question about that, ditto EWSB '95, Woodford Reserve, etc. Maybe this is a win-win situation, we get something that is better than ever and the distilleries stay in business to give it to us. The downside is traditonal low-price products may fall in quality. E.g. maybe I've been sampling too much good bourbon lately but VOB just doesn't taste as good to me as it did 5 years ago. I know the Ridgemont has a different spec, so logically VOB should not have changed at all, but it just doesn't seem as good in the last 2 years. Maybe this is just normal batch variations. I feel the same about Jim Beam Black Label.

Gary

[bunghole]

Ultimately, though, anything that keeps the distilleries making whiskey is good for our little tribe. Think of it that way.

You know Chuck this just makes folks want crank up their own micro-distilleries, and make bourbon the way it was ment to be made from the get go.

I grow tired of both the English and the French telling me how bourbon should taste and at what proof it should be bottled.

I'd much rather have hard working Americans distilling my whiskey, and bottling it at a proof I adore.

I guess that just leaves Buffalo Trace as the All American Distillery.

It's very freakin' sad when you can't trust Wild Turkey to bottle good old 101 proof bourbon!

I konw Jimmy Russel. I trust Jimmy Russel. How in Hell can I believe in GOD when Wild Turkey has been downgraded to 90 proof?

Greedy French Accountant Bastiges!

[Brewer]

I guess that just leaves Buffalo Trace as the All American Distillery.

You said it! BT RULES!

[jbohan]

I guess that just leaves Buffalo Trace as the All American Distillery.

You said it! BT RULES!

I concur !!
:

[tlsmothers]

I did NOT hear the news of the lower proof. That's why I love you guys and gals! So we can all fill each other in.

Wow. Darn it. I've harped that same line, "Jimmy's signature whiskey is 101 cuz he feels that's the ideal proof." When he was here to debut the Tribute, we drank Russell's Reserve all night. Said that's the one he drinks most regularly. I'm gonna try to stock up as much of the old as I can afford. Seems I never get ahead here at LeNell's. Always trying to hoard some whiskey so we can have a stash for customers for a while without depending on the whims of distributors as much.

[Brewer]

I'm gonna try to stock up as much of the old as I can afford. Seems I never get ahead here at LeNell's. Always trying to hoard some whiskey so we can have a stash for customers for a while without depending on the whims of distributors as much.

And this friends, is one of the reasons why LENELL'S THE BEST! Buy up that "real" Russel's Reserve LeNell...it's your "community" service! ]