I haven’t found a RR13 and can’t begin to buy the others, but I really like the Rare Breed bourbon and RB Rye, and the RR Barrel Strength Bourbon and Rye are, to me, way up there for pretty easy to find bottles. Very affordable! Thanks for a great tasting video! Very helpful!
My own personal opinion; many of the Masters Keeps are great but I wouldn't consider it to be something that you'd be devastated to never have tried. No hate on Masters Keep, I've got a fair amount of them, but Rare Breed does a fine job and is available everywhere. Plus, RR store picks are often near the same level of enjoyment of some of the rare stuff. Enjoy it in good health!
I’ve seen the Russel’s 13 twice at $500, I do not own it at that price. SRP is $150, so what’s worse the company cashing in the their product or the retailer? Same thing goes on with BT products the SRP is awesome on most of their products but you can’t get them for that unless you live in a controlled state.
Russell's 13 is one of the few bottles this year that has completely eluded me. I've found a lot of rare stuff, and I was even able to pick up a Single Rickhouse, but I cannot find a bottle of 13. I have tried it though, and it's definitely a delicious pour.
Man, absolutely NO losers in that lineup ! Love to have that in front of me. And the price to value ratios offers something for us mere mortals to actually get our hands on..
A friend of mine was offered this year’s single rickhouse at msrp and turned it down. We got to try it at a bar last week, and I would have done the same. It’s delicious, but nowhere near worth $300. That’s just insanity. I can’t imagine going to $450 for Generations. I can get 5 bottles of Knob Creek 12 (which I prefer) for one bottle of single rickhouse. Just pure stupidity.
I would be curious to see how the Generations or the Camp Nelson do in a blind against maybe one of your Single Barrel picks because those prices are just a little crazy for me. That said golden gobbler might need to be the name of one of the next picks you do haha.
This makes me happy, because I was able to finally get a bottle!! 😆 I was surprised at what you put third, you seemed to say it had more complexity the first go around. But guess it didn’t hold up overall. Rarebreed is so good and for the money, fuhgeddaboudit. Cheers!
Rare breed is $52.00 at my local store and they always have plenty of it. There is value there .No one could ever convince me that any Bourbon is worth 3 to 9 times the price of Rare Breed. The Bourbon market has gotten stupid.
Crazy. Def surprised!!! I love the Rare Breed for me it's my go-to when I can't find Stagg Jr. (now Stagg) based on one of your past videos. Thank you for the advice btw. I actually think the RR13 is overrated. It was so hyped and I had a chance to taste it in Vegas in 2022 and I was not impressed. We get a lot of RR Single barrel store picks in NYC and I've had tons of store picks that are better than the RR13 in my opinion. I have an RR13 sitting that I don't know if I'll open bc I just don't care for it. On the other hand, I have a bottle of the Camp Nelson F being held for me at a store I have a relationship with. Based on this video I'm now wondering if I really want to go get the Camp Nelson F. hmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Thanks for the SbS comparison! Well, i dont mind paying $450- 500 if its transcendent whiskey- but, that means its better than Everything else put out by that distillery or bottler. WT Generations sounds like another big back-story bourbon full of marketing hype without the chops/ product in the bottle to back it up. I suspect it will be a shelf turd for at least a generation.
Russels 13 has older whiskey in it especially batch 3. Not sure the age of camp nelson but the main selling point is not so much that it came from rickhouse F or C, it's more of the center floors, AND it's batched. There are plenty of single barrel 10 plus year old russel's picks from Camp Nelson as well as Kentucky Spirit at about 9 years from Camp Nelson. I picked up a 10 year 3 month camp nelson B pick for 73.99 from a MD store and it's absolutely fantastic. I can't imagine another Turkey product being worth 4 to 5 times that. I think buying those bottles is more about the uniqueness and/or the nostalgia. But it's playing to people that have the money to buy them which the bourbon industry really isn't about but sadly has become.
Except Russels 13 isn't $150... Best I've seen is $300 and it's pretty common for stores to ask $500-600 on it. More often than not it's the one where they say "I'll have to call the owner on that one" or "What will you pay?" You always know the price will be unreasonable when they come with those disclaimers. That's my luck on the bottle at least. I guess you COULD land it for retail but you need a fat connect or to be off every Thursday/Friday so you can stalk delivery trucks. Even Total Wine puts this bottle into their allocated lotteries and they drop JD Special Releases (Like Coy Hill) straight to shelf.
Only time I’ve ever disagreed on a point, I had batch 2 of the RR13 and thought it was all oak, oak, oak, and now have the May 2023 (batch 5) and it’s creamy vanilla goodness 🤷🏼♂️
to be fair, my pallette is nowhere near as refined as yours, for me the oak was overwhelming enough to maybe cover those other notes you picked up. Great review! I did my own blind with 101, 12 year, and RR13. If nothing else, these blinds remind me how solid 101 and Rare Breed are. Cheers 🥃
@@jreezy70 eh...I don't believe it better palates. I believe in more experienced palates. Trying different things over the course of time is really what makes it better. Some are more sensitive to other tastes. I'm sure there are flavors you can pick up on that I can't. With that said I agree....rare breed can hang. Lol
Just cracked Rare Breed yesterday. It's been too long (8 months?), and I'm tired of the strikeout potential of sourced store picks. Even convinced a group looking for a birthday present to buy Rare Breed and Jack Daniel's SBBP. Told them they couldn't go wrong with 2 of the best values on the shelf. I do wish you included a Russell's SiB just to throw another affordable bottle in the mix, but I understand a 5-way blind is tough. I have a completely unrelated question. I live in Cincinnati now and just won the lottery for Watershed's Fall Finishing Series in Apple Brandy. Is this worth it for $90? I've never had Watershed and based on the few reviews I've seen, I'm hesitant to drive up there and buy.
I have had several barrel picks of Watershed, and they were great. I enjoy bourbons with secondary aging. The apple brandy finish could be interesting and quite tasty. I don’t know if I would drive from Louisville up to Columbus for it, but if someone offered me a bottle, I would try it for sure, and at $90 (retail?) I would probably buy it. If it’s at Barrel Proof.
Wild turkey is phenomenal stuff. You say Wild Turkey makes 'such good whiskey, such good bourbons, at cheaper prices'. Hope you're talking about Rare breed, Kentucky sprit, and single barrels! RR13 $150-$200 is crazy! Don't care what the market is now. Single rickhouse for $200+? Forget about it!
@@TheMashandDrum I will say, they definitely need air and time to open up. I think people are wayyyy too quick to judge them on a fresh cracked bottle.
As long as wild turkey holds the pricing on 101, Russell’s 10 yr, the single barrell reserve and Rare Breed I could really care less. So hard to beat. And plentiful.
I'm gonna go against the grain here and say RR13 was not great. Or at best there is a lot of variance. I've tried multiple batches over multiple evenings and in the best case I got root beer level of sweetness, but in the worst case it was like nail polish remover, just incredibly astringent. As a point of reference i've tasted and owned many legacy bottlings like BD, CGF, split, pseudosplit, fauxsplit, MDS14, donut, etc.
No spoilers in the comments please! Thanks everyone and cheers!
Nope, spoilers galore to follow. Darth Vader is Luke's father, it was a dude in the crying game, and Snape was the half-blood prince
Sam is the true hero of Lord of the Rings, Kevin Spacey is Keizer Soze, my Dad wasn’t rolling his own “cigarettes” as a kid.
@@garyfranchy7726 Bruce Willis is dead the whole time
@@TheMashandDrumdo you know what batch RR13 you did the blind with? Thanks
@@bobschannel1844 2
Russell’s 13 is amazing. I really enjoy the Rare Breed, haven’t tried the others.
I 2nd that
They'll keep raising the prices as long as we keep paying.
Great blind!
Yup!!
Spectacular blind, Jason. Good job using those black glencairn glasses. Cheers.
I rate this two-part review a stellar outta ten! Thanks for doing the work.
I just wish he would display on the screen what bottles he's tasting while he's tasting them.
I haven’t found a RR13 and can’t begin to buy the others, but I really like the Rare Breed bourbon and RB Rye, and the RR Barrel Strength Bourbon and Rye are, to me, way up there for pretty easy to find bottles. Very affordable! Thanks for a great tasting video! Very helpful!
My own personal opinion; many of the Masters Keeps are great but I wouldn't consider it to be something that you'd be devastated to never have tried. No hate on Masters Keep, I've got a fair amount of them, but Rare Breed does a fine job and is available everywhere. Plus, RR store picks are often near the same level of enjoyment of some of the rare stuff. Enjoy it in good health!
Such an exciting 4 way blind!! The only bottle I’ll be owning is Rare Breed. Cheers
Digging that hat.....had one abut 20 years ago. Big time Falcons and Braves fan. Love the show!
Great reviews! I probably won’t get any generations to try but the RR 13yr is awesome and the Rickhouse is even better!!
Great video. Haven't had the others, but Rare Breed with a rock in the glass is such a treat!
Great video. I love Wild Turkey, but their trend on pricing of some of their releases is troubling
I’ve seen the Russel’s 13 twice at $500, I do not own it at that price. SRP is $150, so what’s worse the company cashing in the their product or the retailer?
Same thing goes on with BT products the SRP is awesome on most of their products but you can’t get them for that unless you live in a controlled state.
Russell's 13 is one of the few bottles this year that has completely eluded me. I've found a lot of rare stuff, and I was even able to pick up a Single Rickhouse, but I cannot find a bottle of 13. I have tried it though, and it's definitely a delicious pour.
I’m a big fan of WT, I just wish I could find some of these.
One of the best episodes! So much fun. Sippin on 2023 batch 5 RR13 while watching this.
Man, absolutely NO losers in that lineup ! Love to have that in front of me. And the price to value ratios offers something for us mere mortals to actually get our hands on..
A friend of mine was offered this year’s single rickhouse at msrp and turned it down. We got to try it at a bar last week, and I would have done the same. It’s delicious, but nowhere near worth $300. That’s just insanity. I can’t imagine going to $450 for Generations. I can get 5 bottles of Knob Creek 12 (which I prefer) for one bottle of single rickhouse. Just pure stupidity.
lol
Great video! Surprised for sure…and yet not surprised!!!
I would be curious to see how the Generations or the Camp Nelson do in a blind against maybe one of your Single Barrel picks because those prices are just a little crazy for me. That said golden gobbler might need to be the name of one of the next picks you do haha.
great review
Random commement from Cass(8oz Old forester 1920-8oz Johnny Drum-41/2 OZ Brown Sugar Bourbon-2 oz purified water. History made
That is a strong lineup. Cheers.
This makes me happy, because I was able to finally get a bottle!! 😆 I was surprised at what you put third, you seemed to say it had more complexity the first go around. But guess it didn’t hold up overall. Rarebreed is so good and for the money, fuhgeddaboudit. Cheers!
Wild Turkey is just good
We love your show!!! Have you ever had or reviewed Rebecca Creek double barrel bourbon? It is delicious!!
My local liquor stores are selling Single Rickhouse for $500 (lol) and they're sold out at that price. Ridiculous.
Rare breed is $52.00 at my local store and they always have plenty of it. There is value there .No one could ever convince me that any Bourbon is worth 3 to 9 times the price of Rare Breed. The Bourbon market has gotten stupid.
I got my Russells 13 from the VA ABC for 70$, and I can promise you it is worth 20$ more. I was so lucky to get it before they raised MSRP.
Hear me out. I’ve got an interesting ideal for a good Double Base 🥁. Benchmark Full proof VS Still Austin Cask Strength.
Such a great review!
Great blind Jason!
Jason, no Kentucky Spirit?? I like it better than the RareBreed personally. Who and I kidding though I’m a fan of all things Wild Turkey 😂
Crazy. Def surprised!!! I love the Rare Breed for me it's my go-to when I can't find Stagg Jr. (now Stagg) based on one of your past videos. Thank you for the advice btw. I actually think the RR13 is overrated. It was so hyped and I had a chance to taste it in Vegas in 2022 and I was not impressed. We get a lot of RR Single barrel store picks in NYC and I've had tons of store picks that are better than the RR13 in my opinion. I have an RR13 sitting that I don't know if I'll open bc I just don't care for it. On the other hand, I have a bottle of the Camp Nelson F being held for me at a store I have a relationship with. Based on this video I'm now wondering if I really want to go get the Camp Nelson F. hmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Great review.
Which would win between RR13 or EC C923 ?
C923 all day
Well done! Cheers!
generations is a collectable bottle will be worth 4x the price in a couple years
Camp Nelson F curb stomps RR13. Not even close in my opinion but interesting blind
Nice blind! That price tag on the generations has me concerned as well. I hope Campari doesn’t keep raising prices
Thanks for the SbS comparison! Well, i dont mind paying $450- 500 if its transcendent whiskey- but, that means its better than Everything else put out by that distillery or bottler. WT Generations sounds like another big back-story bourbon full of marketing hype without the chops/ product in the bottle to back it up. I suspect it will be a shelf turd for at least a generation.
Great video 🥃🥃
Russels 13 has older whiskey in it especially batch 3. Not sure the age of camp nelson but the main selling point is not so much that it came from rickhouse F or C, it's more of the center floors, AND it's batched. There are plenty of single barrel 10 plus year old russel's picks from Camp Nelson as well as Kentucky Spirit at about 9 years from Camp Nelson. I picked up a 10 year 3 month camp nelson B pick for 73.99 from a MD store and it's absolutely fantastic. I can't imagine another Turkey product being worth 4 to 5 times that. I think buying those bottles is more about the uniqueness and/or the nostalgia. But it's playing to people that have the money to buy them which the bourbon industry really isn't about but sadly has become.
Except Russels 13 isn't $150... Best I've seen is $300 and it's pretty common for stores to ask $500-600 on it. More often than not it's the one where they say "I'll have to call the owner on that one" or "What will you pay?" You always know the price will be unreasonable when they come with those disclaimers.
That's my luck on the bottle at least. I guess you COULD land it for retail but you need a fat connect or to be off every Thursday/Friday so you can stalk delivery trucks. Even Total Wine puts this bottle into their allocated lotteries and they drop JD Special Releases (Like Coy Hill) straight to shelf.
Where do you think you would rank WT 12 in this lineup
I enjoy the 101 or Russell 10 better than any of the others, guess I’m just a cheap date lol
Would like to have a review if ALL the prices on these instead of just #1 & 4
Do you think if WT started doing “batches” of rare breed, similar to ECBP, interest would change in it?
That would be cool if they put an age statement (and varying proofs) on each batch like ECBP does.
Thanks for suffering thru this 4-way skirmish. You will do anything for science. 😂
I think a great Russell's pick could take it.
Only time I’ve ever disagreed on a point, I had batch 2 of the RR13 and thought it was all oak, oak, oak, and now have the May 2023 (batch 5) and it’s creamy vanilla goodness 🤷🏼♂️
Well I haven't had batch 5 yet to compare. Just got one. Lol
to be fair, my pallette is nowhere near as refined as yours, for me the oak was overwhelming enough to maybe cover those other notes you picked up. Great review! I did my own blind with 101, 12 year, and RR13. If nothing else, these blinds remind me how solid 101 and Rare Breed are. Cheers 🥃
@@jreezy70 eh...I don't believe it better palates. I believe in more experienced palates. Trying different things over the course of time is really what makes it better. Some are more sensitive to other tastes. I'm sure there are flavors you can pick up on that I can't. With that said I agree....rare breed can hang. Lol
@@TheMashandDrumthat’s a good distinction I hadn’t made, and your reviews and tasting notes have definitley helped me.
Shocked. I liked Camp Nelson more but I didn’t try it against 13.
Generations is a collectors item lol
I bet it comes in 3rd or last.
I’m team RR13
Can’t get RR13 for anything but high secondary in my area. 700 🦌
Only one I can afford is rare breed, lol. Had the 13 a couple times , it’s delicious.
If Rare Breed was non chilled filtered it would be hard to beat.
It is……overseas. Find someone flying internationally and they can score it at a duty free for like 55-60 a liter
Keep thinkin you were gonna say “oak n spice & everything nice” in a andrew dice clay accent 😂.
I still haven't seen a single bottle of Russell's 13. I did have Batch 1 and it was meh.
What batch rr13 is that?
Did we ever figure out which batch RR13 this was?
Sorry if I missed it, what batch did you taste for RR13?
Batch 2 - I missed it. 🙂
Just cracked Rare Breed yesterday. It's been too long (8 months?), and I'm tired of the strikeout potential of sourced store picks. Even convinced a group looking for a birthday present to buy Rare Breed and Jack Daniel's SBBP. Told them they couldn't go wrong with 2 of the best values on the shelf. I do wish you included a Russell's SiB just to throw another affordable bottle in the mix, but I understand a 5-way blind is tough.
I have a completely unrelated question. I live in Cincinnati now and just won the lottery for Watershed's Fall Finishing Series in Apple Brandy. Is this worth it for $90? I've never had Watershed and based on the few reviews I've seen, I'm hesitant to drive up there and buy.
In my experience it's not worth 90 bucks.
@@TheMashandDrumAwesome, thanks. I'll skip it.
I have had several barrel picks of Watershed, and they were great. I enjoy bourbons with secondary aging. The apple brandy finish could be interesting and quite tasty. I don’t know if I would drive from Louisville up to Columbus for it, but if someone offered me a bottle, I would try it for sure, and at $90 (retail?) I would probably buy it. If it’s at Barrel Proof.
@debcopeland3276 I've already decided to skip it, never been a huge fan of finished bourbon.
Golden gobbler is what I call my wife.
!
Russell’s 13 $150?!? Lol. DEFINITELY not around here and any other states near me.
Agree with RR13. It beat out Pappy15 2023 and J12 in a blind for me. It’s a beast!
I wonder how Baker's 13 would do in that blind?
@@100puremustard5 bakers I believe is single barrels. The ones I have had vary so depends on the bottle but I think the R13 still wins out
Spoiler Alert 🚨 this review is gonna be epic
Rare breed for me or Kentucky Spirit....
Wild turkey is phenomenal stuff. You say Wild Turkey makes 'such good whiskey, such good bourbons, at cheaper prices'. Hope you're talking about Rare breed, Kentucky sprit, and single barrels! RR13 $150-$200 is crazy! Don't care what the market is now. Single rickhouse for $200+? Forget about it!
For us mortals who usually have to pay secondary - Camp Nelson and RR13 are going for Generation’s SRP. So fair comparison.
Consider showing which whiskey is which as you try them. I forget the nosing and tasting notes of the first as you get to the last. Cheers!
Throw in a bottle of 2002 and you'll have a new #1.
The winner is Wild Turkey.
Even of it won by a mile its still too expensive. Not gonna stop me from buying one tho 😂
For price and availability it is hard to beat Rare Breed. The daily driver of choice.
So sus to say there’s no difference between RR13 batches. Idk why you’d say that.
There's a difference but folks act like each batch is a completely different experience which I think is a stretch to say the least
@@TheMashandDrum I will say, they definitely need air and time to open up. I think people are wayyyy too quick to judge them on a fresh cracked bottle.
@@jondilly1974 couldn't agree more 💯
As long as wild turkey holds the pricing on 101, Russell’s 10 yr, the single barrell reserve and Rare Breed I could really care less. So hard to beat. And plentiful.
Yes. And KY Spirit and RR SB Rye also the Rye is exceptional.
I'm gonna go against the grain here and say RR13 was not great. Or at best there is a lot of variance. I've tried multiple batches over multiple evenings and in the best case I got root beer level of sweetness, but in the worst case it was like nail polish remover, just incredibly astringent. As a point of reference i've tasted and owned many legacy bottlings like BD, CGF, split, pseudosplit, fauxsplit, MDS14, donut, etc.
Smh sorry bro but am a bit bias on your results
RUSSELL’S 13 IS #1️⃣.
Cheers Brotha🫵🏽🥃🇺🇸