Russell Driscoll

About

I am a senior project manager at a regional logistics company in Louisville, Kentucky. I have lived here long enough to know the bourbon trail gets backed up on October Saturdays and to have a reliable route around the dry-county exit ramps that surprise out-of-state shoppers trying to order online.

The shelf started in 2018. My wife asked me to pick something up for Derby weekend, I grabbed Buffalo Trace because the name was familiar, and by winter I had five bottles and a small notebook with impressions from each one. The notebook kept going. The shelf moved from a single pass-through ledge to the full cabinet above the dishwasher. It currently holds nine bottles, sometimes ten.

Wine got into the mix because her book club kept arriving with bottles I had never heard of, and she kept asking me which ones were worth a second glass. I had no useful answer, so I applied the same approach I had been using for bourbon: one full bottle minimum, two separate sittings, write down what stayed interesting and what faded. I have no formal training in wine. I have tried enough to tell you what I noticed, which is a different thing from telling you what a rater would say.

I am not a sommelier, not a distiller, not affiliated with any retailer or brand. The credential I am working from is eight years of ordinary spending on a kitchen shelf and a habit of writing things down before I forget them.

Articles by Russell Driscoll

• Tasting Notes for Cabernet vs Merlot for Beginner Wine Drinkers
• Online Bourbon and Wine Retailers Compared: State Shipping, Price, and Selection
• How to Ship Bourbon Safely Across the Country Without Any Breakage
• Non Alcoholic Beer for Weight Loss After Months of Trying
• Best Red Wines for Bourbon Drinkers Transitioning to the Vine
• Best Wine Gift Baskets for Professional Clients After the Project
• Best Bourbon for Beginners to Sip Neat Without the Burn
• Comparing Bourbon and Red Wine Pairings for a Backyard Steak Dinner
• Best Personalized Wine Bottles for Special Gifts and Milestones
• Practical Ideas for How to Organize a Home Bar for Beginners at Home
• How to Buy Hard to Find Bourbon Online Without the Local Markup
• Best Wine and Cheese Gift Baskets for a Housewarming Party
• How to Host a Casual Bourbon Tasting for Your Neighbors
• Low Calorie Non Alcoholic IPA for Craft Beer Drinkers Who Care
• The Best Wine Tasting Kits for Beginners to Try at Home (2026 Update)
• Finding a Non-Alcoholic Beer That Tastes Like Real Beer After Work (2026 Update)
• Why You Should Decant Wine Before Serving to Your Guests
• Best Bourbon Gift Sets for Men Who Already Have Everything: 2026 Shelf Report
• The Shelf Over the Kitchen Pass-Through: Lessons from Eight Years of Louisville Pours

Disclosure

Some of the retailers, wine calendar companies, and non-alcoholic brands I write about here send me a commission when a reader orders through one of my links. Your price stays the same as going direct. The shelf came together over eight years of regular-person spending, and I keep what I keep because it earned that spot. If a bottle did not hold up through the Tuesday tasting, that is what the write-up says. Check your state's direct-shipping rules before you order anything.