Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel (B-ackstage Pass)
As anyone who has an interest in bourbon knows, there are a lot of limited release whiskeys out there that have a much higher demand than they do supply. Be it Pappy, BTAC, Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition, Parker’s Heritage, or any of the other special release whiskeys, they are hard to get and people go to great lengths to try to get them. Those are all great bourbons of course, but what a lot of people often miss is that there is another sort of limited release bourbon (and rye) that is much easier to obtain and often just as good, sometimes even better—single barrel store picks.
Some of the absolute best bottles of bourbon you can buy right now are single barrels picked by your friendly neighborhood liquor store. And unlike Pappy, you can actually find these bottles of bourbon fairly easily and at a reasonable price.
Single barrel bourbon has been around for a while. But while Blanton’s, Elmer T. Lee, Henry McKenna, and the like may be single barrel products, they don’t tend to vary all that much from barrel to barrel. Distilleries try to match the flavor profile of their single barrel brands and are largely successful. It’s when you get into store pick single barrels that you start to see a bit more variation from the standard… and that’s usually a good thing. I get why distilleries want to put out a consistent product. That’s what most casual drinkers want. And when it comes to core expressions, I often want that too. But core expressions get boring after a while. I want a whiskey that surprises me. I want a whiskey that’s unique. I don’t want to drink the same bourbon, rye, or single malt every day, no matter how much I like a particular expression. Variation is what makes whiskey interesting, at least in my opinion.
I’m lucky in that I have a bunch of great liquor stores near me who are serious about whiskey and who have a talent for picking great single barrels. It helps that being in Nashville, TN, the major Kentucky distilleries are only a short day trip away, so many of my local stores make regular trips to Bourbon Country to pick out a new barrel. But even stores who are much further away from Kentucky still often have the ability to obtain their own single barrels, so hopefully you have access to such a bourbon even if you are more than a day trip away. And if you do have access to such bottles, you really should be checking them out. Forget about hunting down a bottle of Elmer T. Lee or whatever other allocated whiskey you can’t find, instead try a unique single barrel bourbon. People pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for special releases that are “limited” to 10,000 bottles, but single barrel store picks are actually far more limited than George T. Stagg or any other of the limited fall releases. A single barrel of bourbon will only produce a few hundred standard bottles of whiskey at the most (depending on the barrel and the bottling proof), and they are often wonderful and unique.
Of course now that I say that, a lot of bourbon fans are catching on to the greatness that can be found in a good store pick. Some stores sell out of their single barrels within a few days. Some even within a few hours. It’s crazy. But even so, good store picks are a hell of a lot easier to get than a lot of other limited bourbons.
So today I’m reviewing a single barrel store pick of Russell’s Reserve, the premium line of bourbons and ryes from Wild Turkey, named after the legendary Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell. This particular bottle was selected by the guys from Barrels and Brews and sold at Carothers Wine and Spirits in Franklin, TN. Carothers/Barrels and Brews have a reputation for selecting great single barrel whiskey, and it’s a reputation well earned. They’ve picked some truly terrific barrels over the course of the last year (and yes, they often sell out very quickly). If you happen to be in Middle Tennessee, I highly recommend giving them a visit.
One of the recent trends in store picks is for stores to give each of their single barrel picks its own unique name. It’s good for marketing purposes and for reference purposes. This particular Russell’s Reserve pick is named B-ackstage Pass. It was aged in Wild Turkey’s Warehouse B (hence the name), originally barreled on November 20, 2008, and bottled on May 23, 2018, making it just over 9 years, 6 months old.
Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Review
Type: Bourbon
Region: Kentucky
Age: 9 years, 6 months
ABV: 55%
Non chill-filtered
Nose
Melted caramel over vanilla ice cream. Freshly baked bread. Candy corn. Brown sugar. Cinnamon. Pie crust. Chocolate covered pretzels.
Palate
Surprisingly mellow for the ABV (in a good, mature whiskey kind of way). Caramel and butterscotch candies. Vanilla cream. Crème brûlée topped with fresh berries. Sweet cinnamon and oak. Apricot. A bit of rye spice, and just a touch of that classic Wild Turkey funk. Big bodied with a creamy, if somewhat liquidy, mouthfeel (it is a liquid after all, but it doesn’t quite have that chewiness that some high ABV bourbons have… still good though).
Finish
Fairly long and somewhat sweet. Dark caramel. Sweet oak. Cinnamon rolls. Mint.
Overall
Caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, oak, cinnamon… this is simply a classic bourbon flavor profile, balanced perfectly and quite delicious. I’m really enjoying it. An incredibly easy sipper in spite of the high ABV. This one doesn’t need water, although it can handle a little if you prefer.
There are so many single barrel store picked bourbons around me, I’m sometimes hesitant to buy them only because I buy too many of them to begin with, but I’m happy with my decision to grab this “B-ackstage Pass” while it was available (I believe it is now sold out). Very good bourbon.
SCORE: 7/10
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned in my review of Rare Breed, I’m not always a huge fan of Wild Turkey. But I am a fan of the Russell’s Reserve line, especially when it’s a good store picked single barrel.
This bottle is very close to being an 8/10, but I’m trying to reserve scores of 8 and higher for truly spectacular whiskeys, and while this one is very, very good, it doesn’t quite land in the spectacular range. Scores don’t really matter anyway, and that’s the whole point of moving away from the traditional 100 point scoring scale, as I recently did.
Buying Advice: Although you may not be able to find the exact same bottle I’m reviewing, you may be able to find a bottle of Russell’s Reserve picked by your local store. If so, I highly recommend giving it a try. Or just get the regular Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel, which is also good (although not quite as good as this one).
Drink This Not That: Drink this. It’s a terrific, reasonably priced, classic bourbon.
Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.
For more reviews, check out the Whisky Review Archive.
