Wild Turkey Founders
(NOTE: FOUNDERS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
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The Wild Turkey Distillery is part of the international mega-corporation Campari America that produces over 62 brands, labels and variations of North American whiskey including bourbon, its biggest distillery is still in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The company and its distillery is now the sixth largest producer of Bourbon and North American whiskies in the world. Wild Turkey’s Founders are dominated by two families in the Ripy family and the Russell family.
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Alvin & Bob Gould
The Ripys were bought out in 1949 by Robert and Alvin Gould.
For the next three decades, Austin Nichols Company remained a non-distiller producer, bottling bourbon purchased on the open market under the Wild Turkey brand. Much of that whiskey was purchased from the Gould’s distillery in Tyrone, Kentucky (Now Lawrenceburg). In 1971, Austin Nichols purchased the facility
Katrina Egbert
Katrina focused on brand development by targeting local events and through efforts to improve the Visitor Center experience. She helped present Wild Turkey as a brand that resonates not only with loyal bourbon enthusiasts but also with a younger, emerging crowd. One of Katrina’s most notable contributions has been in storytelling and brand authenticity. She worked to amplify the Wild Turkey legacy, bringing attention to its unique history and dedication to traditional distilling processes.
J.T.S. Brown
At that time they bought the old run down McBrayer Distillery on the Salt River in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky where the Wild Turkey Distillery stands today.Their flagship brand was named after a newspaper editor turned Confederate General George D. Prentice. He was a lightning rod for rallying around the Southern cause and had a ship named after him in the S. S. Prentice. The brand, the Old Prentice was their best seller but the Brown boys also made the brands called, J. T. S. Brown, Old Lebanon Club and Vine Spring Malt.
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James E. Nichols
At the end of the 19th century, James E. Nichols led the period that was known as the “Golden Age of Austin Nichols”, the very beginning of the era of packaged goods. The Austin Nichols name was known from Maine to Florida and coast to coast. Austin Nichols became an integral piece in getting whiskey to the consumer across this great land of ours under James Nichols direction. Later Austin-Nichols purchased the Wild Turkey Distillery.
Thomas McCarthy
. . . Turkey Hunting Executive
In 1940, McCarthy took a barrel of the Ripy Bourbon to a hunting trip in North Carolina. On that trip, McCarthy hosted a Turkey Hunt and invited some of their distributors. McCarthy was entertaining the hunters throughout the hunt and stopped to share some of his fine whiskey right from the barrel. As it came out of the barrel it was smooth, spicy and at 101 proof. Everyone on the trip raved about the taste and less than two years later the Wild Turkey 101 brand was introduced in 1942.
Bill Hughes
Bill Hughes was the second Master Distiller at Wild Turkey. He served in that role pre-prohibition when the distillery was known as the Old Hickory Distillery. Years after the 21st Amendment’s repeal of Prohibition he would return to his role in 1950 to serve in that capacity alongside Ernest W. Ripy, Jr. During Hughes’ time, Wild Turkey earned recognition for its bold, full-bodied flavor profile, a hallmark that continues to define the brand today.
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James Ripy
James Ripy an immigrant from Ireland settled in a small town in Kentucky called Lawrenceburg around 1830. Ripy later became a successful merchant and distributor of household goods including whiskey in the mid 1840’s and 1850’s. He started buying up a number of small distilleries in and around Anderson County. James had two sons that lived to adulthood, James P. Ripy and T. B. Ripy.
Ezra Ripy
THIS FOUNDERS HISTORY WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON
Sylvester Ribaudo
THIS FOUNDERS HISTORY WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON
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. The Original Founder
THIS FOUNDERS HISTORY WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON
Bruce Russell
T. B. Ripy
“The Original Bourbon Baron”
The Rippy Brothers Distillery named after the two sons of James Ripy that he had hired to run the place, Thomas Beebe Ripy and James P. Ripy. Thomas would go on to become the largest distiller in the world during the two decades in the 1890's and 1900's. Thomas Ripy's Bourbon was chosen from over 400 to represent the State of Kentucky at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.
E. W. Ripy, Jr.
The Ripy Brothers Distillery, which his father was helped start following the conclusion of Prohibition, was where he served for a total of 42 years in the bourbon business. The distillery changed hands several times over the years and by the time he retired as Master Distiller, the distillery was known as the Austin Nichols Distilling Co. and today produces Wild Turkey.
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Jimmy Russell
. . The "Budda of Bourbon"
Russell's beginning in the whiskey business started off by sweeping the floors at the distillery not five miles from where he grew up in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Now after 60 years passion for his work, Master Distiller Jimmy Russell has become a Global Ambassador, not just for Wild Turkey but for the entire Bourbon Industry.
Eddie Russell
Edward Freeman Russell is the youngest of 3 sons of Jimmy Russel. He began working at the family business at the Wild Turkey distillery with his father on June 5th, 1981. He learned the ways running and operating the distillery from the bottom up working about every position as Jimmy had done years prior. He is the third generation of the Russell family to work at the distillery.