Russell's Reserve Single Rickhouse Camp Nelson E

This is Russell’s Reserve turned all the way up. Single Rickhouse Camp Nelson E is a limited Kentucky straight bourbon drawn from a small batch of barrels on Camp Nelson Rickhouse E’s fifth floor. Bottled at barrel proof 128 and non-chill filtered, it’s the highest-proof Russell’s Reserve release to date. Barrels were aged at least ten years in the cooler, shaded environment of Camp Nelson’s 1946-built Rickhouse E.

Expect classic Wild Turkey mashbill character—75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley—with extra oak weight and slow, cool-climate maturation.

The nose is powerful yet layered, revealing vanilla, caramel, and maple before figs, dried orange peel, cola, and deeply toasted oak arrive. Chestnut, amaretto, and cream soda weave through the aroma, alongside blackberry, seasoned oak, and a faint echo of rickhouse dust. Even neat, there’s surprisingly little ethanol sting, just a steady wave of warm, dessert-leaning fragrance backed by serious oak.

The first sip brings cinnamon, cherry, and cola, quickly joined by sweet, charred oak, leather, and a dense, almost syrupy mouthfeel. Dark fruit, blackberry preserves, graham cracker, and nutmeg ride over waves of molasses, burnt brown sugar, and rich, tannic oak.

The finish stretches out with black cherry, molasses, clove, musty old oak, and peppery heat that settles deep rather than biting sharply.

It’s a decidedly oak-forward Russell’s, rewarding patient, small pours, and a bit of air in the glass.