dhsilv2
Russell's Reserve 13 Year Bourbon (2022 Release)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
October 31, 2023 (edited November 19, 2023)
I guess I'll review it under this. Given there are sometimes 2 batches a year this method being used here isn't gonna work well.
2022/5/25
Nose - stately and yet youthful and off. A combination of aspartame, vanilla, caramel, and a strangely high oak and yet...funk note. This is classic wild turkey! Turned up to 13? I get red fruits, cinnamon, hazelnut, and it's lovely.
Taste - While the nose, I may have focused on funk too much, the taste is WAY more on the funk. Old whisky notes with over the top oak and rich funky again aspartame and more custardy funk.
I love this stuff. It's a wonderfully old and yet not old and stately whiskey! Turkey has found a way to do old without refinement but with some real power and force.
I just compared this to knob 12 CS and the ECBP C923, it doesn't really hold up. But as it's own thing, I love it. 2.75. Great CS fun stuff, but nothing exceptional.
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@Richard-Davenport I think MSRP is 150 or 175, but I've sadly been saying ECBP is a 200-250 dollar bourbon since 2019. I do think this falls short of ECBP so the prices are about what it's worth. Hate it...but if I'm gonna keep buying Fourgate's I gotta call it like it is.
@dhsilv2 Thanks for the clarification. These are crazy expensive in this neck of the woods, but I'm a big fan of the RR 10, so my mind tells me I'll be an even bigger fan of the 13. ;)
@Richard-Davenport I also should add, this score is LOW vs my enjoyment and thus perhaps my review too. I scored the saffle for example a 3.5. I likely did this a disservice by comparing it to the knob 12 and ECBP. It just got destroyed. Over on topshelf whisky on youtube we'll be doing a video review on this vs the C923, and I did my best to prop up how good this is...but it just can't stand head to head. As for price, I don't have any issue with 150-175. If every sourced bottle on the planet can ask 200, surely turkey can do the same. I'm more upset I can't even get these for retail despite that price lol.
@Richard-Davenport Yeah, I tend to grade on a more 4 star method with the last star reserved for simple beyond words great whiskies. Now I go over 4 stars often, but check the bottles I've done that for. They are simply put, out of this world. I know it's confusing, but so is giving every ECBP a 4.5+ and then what separates KoK vs a WLW vs a GTS?
@cascode Thanks for that! Duly noted.
@Richard-Davenport Not wishing to speak for someone else, but as you did not receive a reply I'll jump in. dhsilv2 uses a rating system that is a little different to most of us here. Add +1 to his scores to get a better idea of his feeling about a whisky. It's not 100% accurate, but close enough.
@dhsilv2 I've never had this but love WT and have always wanted to. You say you love it but yet only give it 2.75 out of 5--is that taking value into account, because it's so expensive?