Eagle Rare vs Russell's Reserve 10 Year BLIND BOURBON REVIEW | Is Eagle Rare REALLY THAT SPECIAL!?

[@Josh_Stringer]

Did a blind of these two about a year ago. Same conclusion. The more I try and the more experience I develop, there's almost always something on the shelf and readily available that would be comparable or better than an allocated bottle. The higher the proof, the less true that statement is, but it's getting to be more common. This is why I love your channel. You don't only review allocated, high budget bourbons. In fact, you do a great job showing that you don't need to chase unicorns or have a $1000 collection to have good whiskey. Keep up the good work!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

You get us, and we appreciate that. It's a seriously huge compliment and we're so glad that our intent shows through. Cheers and thanks so much for watching!

[@WoodshavenPatriot]

Been two years since ive seen ER in PA.. Used to be 5 bottles deep at a ~$36. Shame the company allocates and people horde or buy to sell on secondary market.

[@southernoverdrive09]

Man. This was a good video. I opened a bottle of EC small batch and the first pour was very smooth and sweet my wife really loved it neat. The next two pours were nothing like the first. Funny how they can seam to change from pour to pour.

[@roger80465]

When I saw this matchup, based on your previous comments on each of these in other head-to-heads, your ratings were exactly what I expected. I am one who loves Eagle Rare and buy it whenever I can find it. Russels is just OK for me. I would pick up a WT 101 before a Russels. We visited WT last summer and that was my impression then after tasting them side by side. Of course, Rare Breed always wins the day for WT products. Thanks for the match up.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We're wholeheartedly with you there, Roger. When it comes to Wild Turkey, we don't ever reach for 101 or Russell's anymore because Rare Breed has turned into our go-to pour. Cheers and thanks for watching!

[@mariad1151]

I agree WT101 better than Russell's

[@galaxyguy4522]

Just picked up Russel’s 10. It’s gone up a bit in price, but it wasn’t too bad at $41. I’ll have to try Rare Breed next!

[@Lithanify]

Here in PA: Eagle Rare is still $35 (but you can't get it unless you get lucky). RR10 is now $45 (and on the shelf).

[@distlledbrewedreviewed]

Great tasting my friends. I enjoyed the way you broke these down. Cheers!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Thanks so much! We appreciate you watching!

[@timmbottoni3135]

Fun review... love both products. Agree, they are good middle of the road 90 proofers. I think my wife and both like ER a little better, but I realize not everyone can find it.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

It'll be nice *if* we ever see a day where Eagle Rare is readily available again and folks have a choice between the two.

[@timmbottoni3135]

My wife and I compared the same two tonight blind. #10yearchallenge lol. We knew what they were, but not which was which and we both picked Eagle Rare but in all honesty we easily picked out the Turkey flavor immediately. We tried to see if we could get cherry out of ER, but we didn't. We are noobs - lol.

[@josephthomas2226]

both are over $40 where I live, and Eagle is nearly impossible to find. Looking forward to trying both. Although I prefer spending less - and there are plenty of bourbons for less money that I really like.

[@IC86]

Good review, thanks for posting it. I was able to get some Eagle Rare, and it is very delicious, particularly when I want something smooth and not TOO high proof. I haven’t tried the Russels.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

If you're a Turkey fan and want that low proof experience from time to time (don't we all sometimes?) then the Russell's is definitely a good bottle to grab. Cheers and thanks for watching IC86!

[@thomashobbes8786]

Best reviewers in the 'verse! Happy New Year, Erin and Josh!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

That's super kind of you to say, Thomas. We appreciate you watching. Happy New Year!

[@paullee2177]

Just rewatched this video. Eagle Rare is available again in my area after being gone for a few months. The week before Christmas I got a bottle at an OR store for $32.95 and my son got me two bottles in a WA store for $55.00 each.

[@cardinalj]

Digging the calculator ⌚️. Enjoying the video while doing dry January. Cheers!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Cheers to that William! Thanks for watching!

[@paradiswest4395]

I bought 2 bottles of Eagle Rare 10yr in December of 2021 at $53.00 each here in NorCal. Now they are pushing north of $60 IF you can find them.

[@DjMorningstartrancedj]

Russell 10th years very good tasting pour

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Definitely, especially for the price. Cheers!

[@big_goat]

Can we see the scores of all the whiskey reviewed so far. Im curious of the best.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We've got a full database of everything we score that we update as we go over on our Patreon in the Whiskey Nerd tier that's fully sortable by each scoring category (and the database access also has digital downloads of all our scoring rubrics to boot). For things that pop up multiple times we do some specific calculations for appropriate weighting. That said, we're more than happy for folks to track if they'd like and share that publicly. We appreciate you watching and commenting as always King!

[@big_goat]

@@stuffandwhiskey thankyou!

[@Jared40]

I love both actually Eagle Rare is one my favs just so difficult to find it here where I live in Colorado. I agree with what you got in smell and taste on Eagle Rare. Russels Reserve I get overly oak smell and taste it's a very good easy sipper though. Can find it for usually $29-39 🥃Cheers Happy New Year

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Russell's is definitely an oaky bugger, almost to the point of being surprisingly oaky for its proof point. Cheers and thanks for watching Jared!

[@taylorrynott1445]

I just paid 54 bucks for eagle Rare and I'm not mad. It was high cherry and yes I am so happy I found it in WA state

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We've heard it can be exceedingly difficult to find in the PNW. Congrats on grabbing one Taylor!

[@maddkatter7948]

RR i love. Eagle rare good

[@chrislewis1943]

I like Russells Reserve, and can't find Eagle Rare. Great comparison y'all.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Hopefully this shows that they're both good, albeit in different ways, and that you're also not missing a ton by not having access to Eagle Rare.

[@connorcooney5037]

It's near impossible for me to find Eagle Rare in Maryland, and even now being stationed in Mississippi I can't find it, and If I do find it, I'm not finding it for under $100 because of how hard it is to find. Lucky for me a friend here from Indiana picked up a bottle over Christmas for $49.99 when he was home and I have a small sample to try myself. I can't wait try it myself now based on the sweeter, cherry notes you were pulling, but also glad I never pulled the trigger on the $100+ price tags I've seen. If i did see it for $35, I'd probably go buy the bottle since I haven't seen one for the value yet. With Russel's Reserve I need to go buy a bottle because I'll have to see if "the curtains don't match the flavor" for myself. Though the amount of disappointment that was showed on Josh's face when he realized what whiskies these are, maybe I'll just stick to free samples from friends lol. PS - I love your scoring system. Caters to the Whiskey fan on a budget

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Two whiskey fans on a budget checking in right here. 😉 Good call on passing at $100 for Eagle Rare. It's a good pour with a great nose for a 90 proofer, but anything beyond $40-45 is a stretch for us.

[@wakeskatebumTX09]

I think Josh had some LSD in glass 2 with that wild cough drop moss story 😂

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Imagine how wild this video would have gotten if that had been true! 😂

[@BrianKusko]

Curtains don't match the flavor 😂 Russell's 10 is probably the only Turkey I wouldn't buy again. That hurt to type.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We hear ya. It's definitely a proof thing. On sale for $26 we're still in to keep a bottle around though for those rare occasions when we want low proof bourbon.

[@ljhookem14]

I have (2) bottles of Eagle Rare 10yr and 2-weeks before Christmas I was able to get in line and get a bottle of Eagle Rare SiB 10yr Store Pick. All I can say is that SiB store pick bottle is sublime and I actually can’t get over just how great it is. I did a blind even with all 3 and picked it out easily. It’s so so good!!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

That's awesome LJ! Eagle Rare goes crazy fast around here, and store picks go even faster, but we do have one on hand. It's weird and funky and not anywhere near as good as the standard Eagle Rare bottlings we've had, but we'd still buy another if given the chance just because they're fun to try for $35-40. Cheers and thanks for watching!

[@roberticolari7447]

I prefer Eagle Rare

[@jolkraeremeark6949]

Nail polish remover, but not in a bad way??

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We’re definitely not your everyday tasting notes channel, although we have heard other people mention “Sharpie marker” or “wood varnish” on bourbons before and this is definitely in that same vein.

[@midwestcoontrapper]

$55-65 Eagle Rare $37 Russell's ,I like the Russell's ! Illinois

[@stuffandwhiskey]

For that price differential, Russell's is a no brainer. Cheers MCT!

[@lionelg4648]

Is there a full spreadsheet of thumb scores?

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Over on our Patreon (in the Whiskey Nerd tier and above) there's access to our entire scoring rubric and a full spreadsheet of everything in the blind sample pool, everything we've scored thus far, and everything we've scored multiple times with some weighted averaging factored in that we keep up to date as we go.

[@bryanc8275]

With how good RR Sib store picks can be, I'm baffled with how weak RR 10 is. Don't understand it

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We hear ya. 90 proof gonna drink like 90 proof though.

[@drgallup]

I've got a bottle of Eagle Rare from '17 that I'm holding onto because I just never see it anymore. If I want that flavor profile I'll just drink Buffalo Trace which does come around occasionally. So I give ER a big thumbs down on availability. I always buy the RR single barrels, usually much more flavorful but a little more money. I agree with some of the other comments that you can't beat Rare Breed for a Wild Turkey buy.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Agreed on springing for the 110 proof Russell's Reserve picks and single barrels over Russell's 10. That's a great point!

[@markwood2452]

Josh is it Nashville Barrel Co. that you love? I’m in Maryland and it popped up locally. Single Barrel #356. A little pricey for 5yrs aged but if it’s anything like Smoke Wagon UCUF I’m in.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Nashville Barrel is it! Their 5 year bourbons that we've tried have all been excellent in different ways but the common characteristic is that they've all drank much deeper, darker, and richer in flavor than you'd expect for a typical 5 year single barrel.

[@markwood2452]

@@stuffandwhiskey Perfect! I have the Smoke Wagon Batch 76 which is I believe 115 proof. I would never guess the proof was that high and the bourbon is deep and rich like you described NB Co. One of my top 5 favorites for 2021. I was surprised to see Nashville Barrel locally. I’ll probably go back and pick up a bottle to try based on your accolades.

[@LP23D6]

Snow coming to a Nashville near you. Drive careful kids!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We need a "We Survived Nashville Snowpocalypse 2022" bumper sticker. 😂

[@877-MASH-NOW]

WHISKEY CHEERS 😎😎😎😎

[@nathantuck2257]

Good blind as always.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Thanks Nathan!

[@hamricmike8]

I just got my Russell's Reserve 10 Year last week. In my area, it is $45 so I had fairly high expectations. I gotta say, I am really enjoying it. I had a few sips neat and it was just 'okay', but when flicked in a few drops of water it REALLY opened it up and the flavors became much more prominent (at least to me, I'm no expert by any means). I will strongly consider getting another bottle when this one runs out.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

That’s awesome Mike! Cheers and enjoy!

[@hamricmike8]

@@stuffandwhiskey Absolutely. I just subscribed. You guys got me hooked with the stuff like nail polish remover and the weak sauce lol That's how my friends and I talk about liquor, not 'yeah the finish is floral but with just the faintest hint of charbroiled white Asian asparagus ' like some of these people talk about.

[@tragic504]

I think eagle rare may have had a bad year. All of the bottles I tried last year was a dud. The first bottle I tried 2 years ago was great. The flavor was eight in my flavor profile that i enjoy. But last year I think the barrels was inferior.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Allegedly it's *almost* a single barrel product, in that they bottle them barrel by barrel rather than mixing into a large batch and bottling everything from that large batch. They just don't call it a single barrel product because they don't flush lines or clean equipment between, and theoretically one bottle every ~200 or so could have whiskey from two different barrels in it. *IF* that's true, there's always going to be some variance. If it's not, though, there could still be flavor drift over time from batch to batch. We've had good and just okay Eagle Rares in the past and recently as well. This bottle is a good one as far as Eagle Rare's go (the store pick we currently have isn't though unfortunately).

[@89sooner]

The curtains don't match the flavor... I'm totally with y'alls notes on this one. This one is the perfect example of showing how two bourbons with relatively identical "stats," including pretty close mash bills can differ so. Of course to me one of the real fascinations is studying the Wild Turkey line, with right at a half dozen base products using the same mash bill, differing only by age, proof, or single barrel expression. In my main bourbon group I always use Rare Breed (along with y'alls not fave Early Times BiB) as what I would call my daily drinker if I subscribed to the concept. I am not a huge stan of any of its siblings though. I haven't tried Kentucky Spirit though...I may have to replace the Rare Breed bottle I finished recently with that one for a try. Cheers!

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Well said David. If you do try Kentucky Spirit, let us know what you think. That's one we need to try ourselves (but for the price, we always reach for Rare Breed instead). We definitely have to get it on the channel soon though. It's proof, price point, and ready availability make it a great contender against several allocated pours in the same proof and price range.

[@jchristopher2031]

You all are crazy

[@jchristopher2031]

ER is so much better tasting than RR 10 yr. Sure, RR is easy to find. But there is a reason for that - because it’s just ok. ER doesn’t have that oak/tannin blah . It’s sweeter and so much better

[@MeTaLISaWeSoMe95]

​@jchristopher2031 yeah that's 100% perspective and personal preference.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Sweeter isn't always better for everyone, though. They're both 10 year bourbons and a fun comparison, ESPECIALLY if there's a way you can try them side by side double blind without knowing you're drinking either. Can be quite surprising how both come across in that format.

[@davinhwang4478]

Russell's 10 falls flat for me. Drinks more like a scotch and it tastes pretty thin. Rare Breed is only $2 more here in WA and is a significantly better pour.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We're happy Russell's 10 is on the market for folks that prefer lower proof, but we're with you on MUCH preferring Rare Breed.

[@eviltrain24]

sour (tart, citrus) is my flavor jam. and also some solid sweetness (though not TOOO candy) I do like my Eagle Rare. I've always been eyeballing the Russell's Reserve based on so many likes but this review, doesn't have me wanting the RR even more.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

That's what we're here for--to hopefully provide enough of a description of the flavor profile to help steer you one way or the other. So glad this one helped. Cheers and thanks for watching!

[@jeffreyjennings1640]

I don't even know how this episode came across my feed today, especially since I just bought and tried Russell's Reserve 10 year for the first time today. I scored Russell's Reserve pretty much the same as Josh. I'm actually happy with the Russell's Reserve (it's $40 in my market). I came across Eagle Rare in a bar last November so I tried it and it was a real disappointment. I have to wonder if that place put something like Rich & Rare into the Eagle Rare bottle, I mean it was simply bad to the point I don't understand the hype. In fact, that Eagle Rare experience was so bad the last time the ABC store had an allocated drop with about seven cases of Eagle Rare I passed (although I did land two bottles of Blanton's at $60 each and one bottle of Knob Creek 12 year at $60). Eagle Rare will not be featured in my home bar.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Hard to disagree, especially with as marked up as Eagle Rare gets. The nose is almost always great for us but the palate does tend to leave us wanting.

[@LeatherDaddy97]

Both good pours but win goes to russels for me

[@stuffandwhiskey]

For the price and availability edge, it's a no-brainer. We need to get some Bulleit 10 year to compare to both.

[@mariad1151]

Eagle Rare millions times better than Russell's 10 year. Wild Turkey 101 better than Russell's. Let's face it: Russell's 10 year not very good.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Russell’s 10 has beaten Eagle Rare in double blinds for us in the past, but not always. Ultimately 90 proofers can only go so far in our book. Cheers and thanks for watching!

[@mariad1151]

@@stuffandwhiskey to each his own. Eagle Rare light years ahead in my book. Cheers guys!

[@bdwilcox]

Weak sauce? I thought it was totally fetch.

[@stuffandwhiskey]

Fetch! 😂 Great throwback!

[@bourbonfan1]

how often does she grab your ears

[@stuffandwhiskey]

We can't wait to rewatch this one and see what this comment is in reference to! 😂

[@bourbonfan1]

your ears are red so we know how she holds her liquor 😝@@stuffandwhiskey