Russell's Reserve Private Barrel Selection

Taste: Rich caramel and vanilla up front along with some rye spice. It has an oily mouthfeel and is a little sweet. Look: Deep amber Smell: Caramel and vanilla

The Party Source pick Barrel No. 23-0015 Warehouse TY-K; Floor 4 Distilled - 09-30-2014 Dumped - 10-24-2023 Bottled - 11-08-2023 Age - 9 years, 24 days Open 6 weeks Nose - Decadent creme brulee, spicy caramel, fresh cinnamon bun, cardamon, leather, rich oak, and medium ethanol. The nose is fantastic. Palate - Heavy toast flavors, toasted oak, toasted marshmallow, burnt caramel, etc. Also hints of clove, star anise, dense coffee cake, and pipe tobacco. Finish is long with sweet, slightly tannic oak, toasted marshmallow, cinnamon bun with a caramel glaze, rye bread, and medium ethanol. This is an outstanding pick. I'm only knocking it 0.25 stars because the price of these has crept up to $90 in most northern Kentucky stores. But, if they are remotely close to this good, I will keep buying them. For under $100, I do not think you can beat the consistency of Russell's or Elijah Craig picks.

On The Rocks pick, "Bruce Russell for Buddy's" Barrel No. 22-0715 Warehouse T; Floor 4 Barrel filled 12-10-2013 Bottled on 10-20-2022 Age - 8 years, 10 months, 20 days Open 4 months Nose - Caramel, butterscotch, funnel cake, cinnamon, clove, shortbread, light oak, and medium ethanol. Palate - Fresh cinnamon bun that forgot to add enough brown sugar and frosting, rye bread, dill, chair leather, chewy caramel, medicinal cherry, and cereal grain. Finish is medium with sweet oak, baking spices, burnt marshmallow, unripe stone fruit, and light ethanol. This one started mediocre, but got much better after a week or two of being open. I'm at the point where if I see a Russell's store pick at a reasonable price, I buy it no questions asked. Even a lesser version of Russell's is better than 90% of what's available. But there is an obvious price creep with these store picks in a privatized state. You will almost always see these for $80-90, which is marked up $10-20 over the standard Russell's SiB. You're only paying extra for information, which Wild Turkey annoyingly obfuscates from their standard release. I think they're still worth it, but when they inevitably hit $100 I will have to be more scrupulous.