The Whiskey Barons Bourbon Collection is an ambitious undertaking by Wild Turkey Distillery to honour and recreate historically significant Bourbons that were lost after Prohibition. Our mission is to resurrect these remarkable spirits so current and future generations of whiskey lovers can taste history while giving back to the Kentucky community that sparked so much Bourbon lore.
Though most of the original recipes and distilling techniques have been lost to the ravages of time, Wild Turkey are painstakingly piecing together these lost gems with the help of living members of these noble distilling families, historic records, tasting notes, and talented distillers. In doing so, they hope to create a living archive of Kentucky’s great whiskey history, giving these Bourbons and the people who made them a chance to live again.
In 2017, Campari America will release two new expressions under The Whiskey Barons Collection umbrella – Bond & Lillard and Old Ripy. A portion of the profits from each bottle of Bond & Lillard and Old Ripy sold will be donated towards the restoration of The Ripy Home in Anderson County, Kentucky.
BOND & LILLARD KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON
Bond & Lillard was a trusted name in the pre-Prohibition whiskey industry. It was first distilled by John Bond in what was then called, Cedar Run, KY (now known as Anderson County), in 1820. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War, Bond moved his distilling operation closer to Lawrenceburg, KY after the war. In 1842, he left the company to his son and grandson, David and William. William would go on to form a partnership with his brother-in-law, C.C. Lillard in 1869, and they began labelling the product Bond & Lillard. The business stayed in their families until 1899 and was so revered that it won the Grand Prize at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Using the same tasting notes the judges wrote down during the World’s Fair in 1904, we recreated this winning recipe.
Distilled and bottled and at the Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, KY, this Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is aged a minimum of seven years in timber warehouses and is charcoal filtered. This filtration process simulates the aeration process that happens in the barrel, converting more aggressive congeners to esters that end in more elegant top notes. The result is a lighter coloured and flavoured bourbon with more floral notes. As the judges at the 1904 World’s Fair declared, this recipe represents “real delicacy of flavour, beauty in the sparkle and superiority in strength – it bears no equal”.
BOND & LILLARD TASTING NOTES
Nose: Creamy vanilla, citrus and stone fruit
Tasting Notes: Fruity and delicate with dry peach and apricot and hints of baking spice
Finish: Slight dryness with lingering fruits and spice
Color: Bright gold
Mash Bill: Corn, malted barley, and rye grains; sourced from the Wild Turkey Distillery
Proof: 50% alc./vol. (100 proof)
Price: Suggested retail price for 375mL: $AUD TBA estimate $100 to $130
OLD RIPY KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY
Born in Bourbon’s heartland in 1868, Old Ripy was created by Irish immigrant James Ripy and continued to be made in Lawrenceburg, KY, on the site of where the current Wild Turkey Distillery stands today, up until 1950. Back then, the Ripy family was ubiquitous in Anderson County’s bustling distilling community. They had opened several distilleries in the area, which remained in the family for generations. T.B. Ripy IV and Tom Ripy, the great grandson and great great grandson of T.B. Ripy, advised throughout the project on packaging and liquid development – calling upon original bottlings, brochures, and family stories to help us recreate what we can honestly say is the closest representation of the original Old Ripy brand possible.
Old Ripy is a combination of 8-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon with 12-year-old and younger whiskies for added complexity and oak. It is distilled at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Anderson County, aged in timber warehouses and non-chill filtered to retain congeners, fusil oils, lipid fats and proteins we believe you would find in the original. This results in more natural and complex flavour characteristics, fuller body, and a smooth but “chewier” mouthfeel.
OLD RIPY TASTING NOTES
Nose: Oak and vanilla with fruits and a hint of banana
Tasting Notes: Big mouth feel of chewy toffee, apple and oak notes
Finish: Oaky tannin gives way to pepper spice and sweet caramel
Color: Deep amber
Mash Bill: Corn, malted barley and rye grains
Proof: 52% alc./vol. (104 proof)
Price: Suggested retail price for 375mL: $AUD TBA but probably in the $100 to $130 range
Availability: Wild Turkey Visitor Centre and in select markets, including California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York City, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and …Australia!.