LAWRENCEBURG, Kentucky — As bourbon fans flocked to the Wild Turkey Visitor Center, there was no ordinary greeter at the entrance. Jimmy Russell, who has lived through so much of the distillery’s rich history, was on hand as a goodwill ambassador, signing whiskey bottles, posing for photos and chatting with tourists about his favorite subjects — making and sipping bourbon.
For 70 years, the distillery in the heart of Kentucky’s picturesque bourbon country has been Russell’s second home. He learned his craft from a distiller who’d lived through the dark days of Prohibition. Decades later, Russell has been a key player in the bourbon revival — creating some of the world’s most premium whiskeys and becoming a global figurehead for his brand and the bourbon industry.
Known affectionately as the “Buddha of Bourbon,” Russell, 89, celebrated his 70th anniversary at the distillery on Tuesday. For nearly half a century, he was master distiller at Wild Turkey, overseeing every step of production — from distillation to bottling.
“I’ve always said, ‘The first day I go back to work, I’m retiring,’” he said recently.
That day has not yet arrived.
Russell is a beloved member of the distillery nearly a decade after handing over the duties of master distiller 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, serves as associate blender, putting him at the heart of creating new Wild Turkey products.
The Russell family has a long history of top executives leading the production and, in later years, promoting the brand. It is also not uncommon for Master Distillers to have long careers at a distillery and later become brand ambassadors. But Jimmy’s long service puts him in a special class.
The elder Russell worked with his son and grandson on a special project to recognize the family’s tradition of whiskey making. Wild Turkey Generations was created by combining aged bourbons that each selected to reflect their own personal preferences. The bourbons were then blended to create the ultra-premium whiskey that was released in limited edition last year.
“I got to work with him on a project where all of our names are on the bottle,” Bruce Russell said. “And that’s super special to me.”
Jimmy Russell is no longer part of the daily grind of bourbon making, but he still tastes and offers his unvarnished opinions on some of the latest Wild Turkey releases being developed. However, he usually spends a few days a week greeting tourists in the visitor center.
His easy-going charm was on full display a few weeks ago when Mark and Donna Barton asked him to sign bottles of Wild Turkey they had purchased from the gift shop. Eddie Russell topped it off by adding his signature.
“Yes, this is going to be on display,” said Donna Barton.
Whether the couple from Princeton, West Virginia, drank the contents of the signed bottles or kept them as unopened souvenirs was “up for debate,” Mark Barton said.
“We can crack it, get an ounce of it and then put it back in the ground,” his wife added.
Jimmy Russell is a seasoned hand at charming and educating bourbon fans, having traveled the world promoting Wild Turkey for decades. One big change over the years, he said, is the level of knowledge whiskey fans now have about their favorite bourbons.
“When I started, it was all whiskey, it didn’t make any difference,” Russell said. “Nowadays, people know every drop, every little thing about it.”
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 takes on its flavor and golden brown color. Wild Turkey — owned by Italy-based Campari Group, which bought the brand from French liquor company Pernod Ricard in 2009 — now produces 700 to 800 barrels of whiskey daily, stored in nearly three dozen warehouses. The brand sells globally, with its largest overseas markets being Japan and Australia. A second distillery is being built at the Wild Turkey complex to meet demand.
Unlike other distillery employees, who tended to focus on one task, Russell switched jobs early on, giving him a broader perspective that prepared him to take over as Master Distiller in 1967.
“Once I got a job really good, I was moved around and put on something else,” Russell said. “So I’ve done everything here.”
His son Eddie, now 64, received the same extensive training when he joined Wild Turkey in 1981.
“He wanted me to learn it from start to finish, just like he had,” Eddie Russell said.
Within a few weeks, he said, he knew “this was my home.” Other lessons he learned from his father: putting maximum effort into his work and being an advocate for consistency in the product, he said.
“The most important thing I tell everyone about what I learned from Jimmy is that if you’re going to do something, do it right or don’t do it at all,” said Eddie Russell.
The Kentucky distillers are a close-knit group, and another famous bourbon baron, Fred Noe, a seventh-generation master distiller at Jim Beam, says Jimmy Russell has been a valued friend and mentor, especially after the death of Noe’s father, famed master distiller Booker Noe. Russell and Booker Noe were close friends.
“When I took over from my father, Jimmy became a second father figure to me, guiding me as I took on the role of bourbon ambassador,” said Fred Noe. “His friendship and passion for the industry that he and my father loved have shaped me into the man I am today.”
In Kentucky, where 95 percent of the world’s bourbon is produced, master distillers are treated like celebrities. If there were a Mount Rushmore of Kentucky bourbon, Jimmy Russell would be on it, said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.
“When you think of the names of him and his colleagues from back then, you’re talking about some of the most cherished, beloved and cherished names in the history of Kentucky bourbon,” Gregory said. “And they did this at a time when bourbon wasn’t as celebrated as it is today. They paved the way for the success of Kentucky bourbon today.”
Russell cherishes most the experience of watching his son and grandson follow in his footsteps.
“That’s what I’m so proud of, to see what they’re doing,” he said. “To see how far Eddie’s come. He’s known everywhere now. Bruce is coming that way.”
His wife, Joretta, now 93, has been with him every step of the way, and Eddie Russell said she deserves credit for his father’s longevity. The bourbon business wasn’t discussed at home, as she made sure to keep her husband’s work and personal lives separate to help him relax, their son said.
“Jimmy and Dad are master distillers at work. But at home, Grandma is the boss,” said Bruce Russell.
Of all the questions fans ask him, there’s one constant: How does he take his bourbon? Jimmy prefers it neat — no ice or a splash of water. No matter how you serve it, you have to sip and taste it, he said.
“Bourbon is not something you just throw down,” Russell said. “You sit there and enjoy the taste and the smell of it. And I’ve always said, you know one thing about bourbon, you drink it when you’re happy, you drink it when you’re sad.”
And his sense of humor hasn’t waned. When asked to name his favorite bourbon, he replied, “One of each.”