LAWRENCEBURG, KY (JUNE 2020) — From the hallowed racks of the Camp Nelson warehouse comes the latest release in the award-winning Wild Turkey® Master’s Keep series – Master’s Keep Bottled in Bond. The fifth release designated worthy of the Master’s Keep imprimatur, Master’s Keep Bottled in Bond is a 17-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. The bottling is only the second-ever Wild Turkey bourbon to carry the bottled-in-bond label – a certification that guarantees a strict production process and ensures incomparable flavor and consistency.
The Bottled in Bond designation has grown significantly alongside the interest in heritage spirits. To carry the Bottled in Bond label, the bourbon must be the product of one single distilling season from one distillery, aged in a federally bonded warehouse and artfully bottled at 100 proof.

Thirteen years earlier, Wild Turkey released its first-ever Bottled in Bond expression – aptly named American Spirit. At the time, American Spirit was one of the first “Bottled in Bond” whiskies released by a bourbon distiller and among the oldest American whiskey entrants in the U.S. market at 15 years of age. Always ahead of the curve, legendary distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell were keen to release a big, bold bourbon – which they accomplished by tasting several different batches and landing on an older whiskey that had the distinctive merits of a deeply aged liquid. Those taste markers inspired Eddie as he worked on this latest Bottled in Bond release.
“With our own Master’s Keep Bottled In Bond, we took the historic process and protocol of aging for four years to the next level and allowed the liquid to rest for 17 years,” said Eddie Russell, Master Distiller at Wild Turkey. “We aged and perfected this rare, 17-year-old bourbon in Wild Turkey’s Camp Nelson rickhouses. This expression is a nod to the past, both our own heritage and the heritage of American whiskey-making as a craft.”
Master’s Keep Bottled in Bond is a true emblem of the distillery’s unrivaled statement of distinction. The bourbon has an enticing taste and aroma of toasted oak, apple and dark cherry highlighted by the sweet confectionary flavors of vanilla, brown sugar and toffee. At 100 proof (50% alc. by volume), the enjoyable, lingering finish is complete with dark notes of mocha, smoke and spice.
Like its predecessors, Master’s Keep Bottled in Bond will be a limited release with approximately 14,400 bottles of this unique spirit available for purchase. The whiskey will be available for a limited time at select retailers in the United States for MRSP $175.00 per 750 mL bottle.
For additional information, please visit www.wildturkey.com.
Awesome write up and great information! Cannot wait to try this one!!🥃🦃
Thank Campari for the words. I just copy/pasta! 🙂
Copying and pasta-ing is way more fun than copying and pasting 😉 , thanks for the info, David. Also good to know that “bottled-in-bond” doesn’t mean aged exactly four years, rather it’s a minimum of four years. (I should have known this by now!)
Thanks! We’re all learning. Very few experts in this world.
Hey thank you for the post. I’ve just made a promise to myself to pull the cork on the American Spirit I have – IF I can score at least one of these. Just wondering on the timing on this.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Open that bad boy! It’s Jimmy’s favorite.
Any early reviews on the new 17 yr old masters keep yet,I’d like to wait on your blessing before I drop that kind of dough on it.
I posted my initial thoughts on Patreon. Also, check out Bourbon Blind’s review: https://youtu.be/qHkkwIG222Y It’s tasty! 😎🥃🦃
So can we safely say that this was distilled in 2003 by doing simple math or could it have been distilled in 2002? I know sometimes the juice is pulled and vatted in a holding tank for blending. Any confirmation?
I believe 2002, as I was aware of it in late 2019. That said, I haven’t confirmed with Eddie.