Master's Keep was Wild Turkey's limited-edition series, created by Master Distiller Eddie Russell in 2015 and closed in September 2025 with Beacon. Eleven bottlings exist in total: ten sold in the United States and one, Master's Keep 1894, made only for Australia. Each release carried a different idea — extra-aged bourbon, sherry, toasted-oak and rum finishes, long-aged rye — and the run spans 86.8 to 118 proof. Midnight Whiskey documents every release below, with age, strength and cask for each.
A Decade of Master's Keep
The series began with a storage problem. In 1997 Wild Turkey had more bourbon than warehouse space, and the barrels that were moved off-site came back seventeen years later at a lower strength than they went in — which became the 86.8-proof debut of 2015, the release that started everything. What was meant as one bottling turned into a decade. The anniversary blend of 10- to 20-year stock followed for Eddie Russell's thirty-fifth year at the distillery, then the bottling Australia kept to itself — the single export edition, never sold in America, and the reason the count reads ten at home and eleven worldwide. Sherry, toasted oak and Jamaican rum casks each had a turn; the run's first rye, from 2019 brought rye into the collection, and the only bonded bottling in the series took the debut's seventeen years to the statutory 100 proof. Beacon, the 118-proof finale closed the decade in September 2025, the first release signed by both Eddie and Bruce Russell. The ledger below lists all eleven in order; our release-by-release dossier in The Vault Journal carries the longer account of each, and the collection sits inside the Russell family shelf at Midnight Whiskey.
- Eleven bottlings in total: ten United States releases plus Master's Keep 1894, made for Australia and never sold stateside.
- Created by Master Distiller Eddie Russell in 2015 and concluded in September 2025 — a closed set, not an ongoing programme.
- Strength runs from 86.8 proof (the 2015 debut, which lost proof in barrel) to 118 proof (Beacon), the widest span of any modern Kentucky series.
- Eight bottlings are Kentucky straight bourbon, two are Kentucky straight rye, and one is a blend of bourbon and rye.
- Four releases carry a secondary cask: Oloroso sherry (2018), toasted-and-charred new oak (2021), rye casks (2022) and Jamaican rum (2023).
- Every bottling came out of the Wild Turkey Distilling Co. in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, under Eddie Russell's selection.
How the Series Divides
| Class | Bottlings | Which Releases |
|---|---|---|
| Bourbon Kentucky Straight Bourbon | 8 | 17 Year · Decades · 1894 · Revival · Bottled in Bond · One · Voyage · Beacon |
| Rye Kentucky Straight Rye | 2 | Cornerstone (2019) · Triumph (2024) |
| Blend Bourbon & Rye Blend | 1 | Unforgotten (2022) |
Every Release, 2015 to 2025
| Release | Year | Class | Age | Proof / ABV | Concept & Cask Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master's Keep 17 Year | 2015 | Bourbon | 17 Years | 86.8 / 43.4% | Brick and wooden rickhouses; strength fell naturally from 107 barrel entry |
| Master's Keep Decades | 2017 | Bourbon | 10–20 Yrs | 104 / 52.0% | Eddie Russell's 35th-anniversary blend from the McBrayer rickhouse |
| Master's Keep 1894 | 2017 | Bourbon | NAS | 90.0 / 45.0% | Australia export exclusive; every barrel sourced from Rickhouse A |
| Master's Keep Revival | 2018 | Bourbon | 12–15 Yrs | 101 / 50.5% | Finished in Oloroso sherry casks aged at least 20 years |
| Master's Keep Cornerstone | 2019 | Rye | 9 & 11 Yrs | 109 / 54.5% | The inaugural rye expression of the Master's Keep series |
| Master's Keep Bottled in Bond | 2020 | Bourbon | 17 Years | 100 / 50.0% | Single distilling season, aged in historic Camp Nelson rickhouses |
| Master's Keep One | 2021 | Bourbon | 9–10 & 14 Yrs | 101 / 50.5% | Second maturation in toasted and charred new oak (Tyrone G) |
| Master's Keep Unforgotten | 2022 | Blend | 13yr B / 8–9yr R | 105 / 52.5% | Bourbon & rye finished in freshly emptied rye casks in Rickhouse B |
| Master's Keep Voyage | 2023 | Bourbon | 10 Years | 106 / 53.0% | Finished in 14-year pot-still Appleton Estate Jamaican rum casks |
| Master's Keep Triumph | 2024 | Rye | 10 Years | 104 / 52.0% | Oldest age-stated rye ever released by Wild Turkey |
| Master's Keep Beacon | 2025 | Bourbon | 16 & 10 Yrs | 118 / 59.0% | Final series release; co-signed by Eddie & Bruce Russell |
Ages and strengths are as stated by the distillery. Whether the Cornerstone label carries a nine-year age statement is disputed between published sources, so the ledger lists its component ages instead; Decades is dated to the distillery's February 2017 announcement, which some later retrospectives record as 2016.