Wild Turkey Distillery: History, Owner and Visitor Guide

Wild Turkey is a Kentucky straight bourbon brand made at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, by the Campari Group. The distillery offers tours and is on the American Whiskey Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

At a glance

• Location: Lawrenceburg, Anderson County, Kentucky, United States

• Owner: the Campari Group, since 2009

• Brands bottled here: Wild Turkey and Russell's Reserve

• New distillery: built in 2011 where the old bottling facility stood

• Bottling: a new bottling facility opened in 2013, ending 13 years of offsite bottling in Indiana and Arkansas

History in chapters

1891 to 1949

Thomas Ripy built the Old Hickory Distillery in Tyrone, Kentucky, in 1891 on the site of the Old Moore Distillery. After Prohibition the Ripy family rebuilt it and sold bourbon to wholesalers who bottled under their own brands, including Austin Nichols. Robert and Alvin Gould bought out the Ripys in 1949.

The brand name

The Wild Turkey name is said to come from 1940, when Austin Nichols executive Thomas McCarthy took warehouse samples on a wild turkey hunting trip and friends kept asking for that wild turkey bourbon. Austin Nichols began bottling it in 1942.

1971 to today

Austin Nichols bought the facility, then called the Boulevard Distillery, in 1971 and renamed it the Wild Turkey Distillery. Pernod Ricard bought it in 1980 and Campari acquired it in 2009. Campari built the new distillery in 2011.

News and controversies

• 9 May 2000: a fire destroyed a seven storey warehouse holding more than 17,000 barrels. About 20% of the whiskey flowed into the Kentucky River, shutting the Lawrenceburg water treatment plant temporarily, with water restrictions and school and business closures. An estimated 228,000 fish died along 66 miles. The company paid 256,000 dollars to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife

• August 2011: the Distilled Spirits Council review board ruled that the Give 'em the Bird advertisement breached its code. The company disagreed but withdrew the video

• 2016: Matthew McConaughey was hired as creative director and spokesman

How it is made

Wild Turkey uses a mash with a lower share of corn than most bourbons and works to counteract the alkaline limestone water. The raw spirit is distilled to about 55% ABV, well below the legal maximum. Barrels were traditionally rotated in open rick houses and aged until at least a third of the contents had evaporated before being considered for bottling.

Awards

Wild Turkey 101 earned an Editor's Choice award from Whisky Magazine in 2012. The 101 Single Barrel sits in the 97th percentile of rated bourbons according to an aggregator cited by Wikipedia.

FAQ

Who owns Wild Turkey?

The Campari Group.

Where is it made?

Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

How did it get its name?

From a 1940 turkey hunting trip with warehouse samples.

Who is Jimmy Russell?

The official site calls Jimmy Russell a Master Distiller with 70 years at Wild Turkey as of 2024, working alongside his son Eddie Russell, also a Master Distiller since 2015.

What happened in 2000?

A warehouse fire sent whiskey into the Kentucky River.

When did Campari buy it?

2009, from Pernod Ricard.

Can you visit?

Yes, tours are offered.

What is Russell's Reserve?

A second brand bottled at the Lawrenceburg distillery.

What the official site adds

The official Our Heritage page gives a timeline that differs from Wikipedia on the founding. It says the Ripy brothers opened their family distillery on Wild Turkey Hill in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky in 1869, and that their bourbon represented Kentucky at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Wikipedia says Thomas Ripy built the Old Hickory Distillery in 1891. The two accounts are shown side by side because they have not been reconciled.

The site agrees that the Wild Turkey name came in 1940, when a distillery executive shared bourbon with friends on a hunting trip. It says Austin Nichols began selling wine and spirits in 1855.

Official timeline highlights

• 1954: Jimmy Russell joins Wild Turkey, the third in a line of master distillers

• 1976: the world's first bourbon liqueur, which led to American Honey

• 1991: Rare Breed, one of the first barrel proof bourbons

• 1995: Kentucky Spirit, a single barrel 101 proof bourbon

• 2015: Eddie Russell given the title of Master Distiller

• 2016: Matthew McConaughey joins as Creative Director

• 2018: Longbranch, made with Eddie Russell and McConaughey

• 2020: Rare Breed Rye

• 2024: Jimmy Russell marks 70 years, which the site calls the longest tenure of any master distiller

Range and Wild Turkey 101

The product page for Wild Turkey 101 states 101 proof, aged between 6 and 8 years, in barrels with deep alligator char. It lists 2021 results of 90 points and gold from the Beverage Testing Institute, gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and 90 points at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge. The home page also lists Wild Turkey Bourbon, 101 Rye, Rye, Kentucky Spirit, Rare Breed, Rare Breed Rye, the Master's Keep series, American Honey, American Honey Sting, Generations and the Gold Foil Edition, described as 16 year old, 120 proof.

Visiting

The site has a Visit Wild Turkey link, but the visitor page was not opened, so tour details are not confirmed here.

Sources

Sources: Wikipedia article on Wild Turkey (bourbon) (read 19 October 2026), plus the official pages listed below (read 20 October 2026).

Official sources read on 20 October 2026: wildturkeybourbon.com (home), /our-heritage/ and /products/wild-turkey-101/. The our-story address returned a 404.

Gaps: the pages read do not name the current owner, so Campari rests on Wikipedia and should be confirmed. Tour hours and prices were not seen. The 2000 fire and the Pernod Ricard years were not covered by the official timeline.