When bourbon fans enter the Wild Turkey visitors’ center in Kentucky, they might be welcomed by Jimmy Russell. But he's no ordinary greeter. Russell has lived through much of the distillery’s history. For 70 years, the distillery has been Russell’s home away from home. The 89-year-old Russell marks his 70th anniversary at the distillery on Tuesday.
Jimmy Russell, known as the “Buddha of Bourbon” talks about being the third generation of the Russell family involved in the bourbon industry at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ky., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. FILE - Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell talks about bourbon making as he stands in a warehouse in Lawrenceburg, Ky., Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
Russell is a beloved fixture at the distillery, nearly a decade after turning over master distiller duties to his son, Eddie. Both father and son are members of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame, and the next generation is building on their legacy. Bruce Russell, Eddie’s son and Jimmy’s grandson, works as associate blender, putting him at the center of creating new Wild Turkey products.heading the production and, in later years, the promotion of the brand.
No longer part of the daily grind of bourbon making, Jimmy Russell still samples and offers his unvarnished opinion about some of the newest renditions of Wild Turkey being developed. But he typically spends time greeting tourists a few days each week at the visitors’ center. When he started in 1954, he said, the distillery had a different name — Anderson County Distilling — and the operation was much smaller, with about 40 barrels of whiskey produced daily and stored in four warehouses for aging, when bourbon gets its flavor and golden brown color.
Within a couple of weeks, he said he “knew it was home for me.” Other lessons he learned from his father: putting maximum effort into the job and being a stickler for product consistency, he said. “When I took over for my father, Jimmy became a second father figure to me, guiding me as I stepped into the role of bourbon ambassador,” Fred Noe said. “His friendship and passion for the industry he and my father loved shaped me into the man I am today.”
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