Wild Turkey
Wholesale grocer Austin Nichols began selling wine and spirits in the pre-Civil War era and would go on to own and sell Wild Turkey. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, the Ripy brothers open their family distillery on Wild Turkey Hill in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. In 1940, Wild Turkey Bourbon gets its name after a distillery executive shares his bourbon with friends on an annual hunting trip — of course, they were after wild turkey. Company fortunes took off in 1954 when master distilling legend Jimmy Russell joins Wild Turkey. He learns his craft and becomes the third in a line of master distillers for the brand which includes second master distiller, Bill Hughes and Ernest W. Ripy, son of the original distiller.
