#WILD TURKEY SERIES#

Unlike competitors Buffalo Trace Distillery, Heaven Hill, Brown-Forman and so on, Wild Turkey does not experiment (with publicly available product, anyway) with mashbill. The distillery has continued shipping a significant amount of whiskey - most of it well-aged, as higher age statements are always in demand in a country dominated by scotch - to Japan, including bottles you can't get in the U.S. Thanks to its scotch whisky roots, Japan was a savior for a number of American whiskey makers at the time, and few capitalized more swiftly or effectively than Wild Turkey. In '70s and '80s, clear spirits were king, which led to a reshuffle of longtime whiskey makers and the first era in which the best of American whiskey wasn't necessarily available in America. It kind of musty, punchy, nutty and richness.'īig in Japan: Bourbon wasn't always booming. They've been using the same yeast forever. It's not the rye content I don't think, I think it's the yeast. It's not necessarily spicy, but it does have a kick.

David Jennings, author of American Spirit, a book that covers Wild Turkey 'from Ripy to Russell' (the Ripys ran the show before the Russells took over in the 1950s), characterizes it as a kick, and attributes it to the distillers long-time use of a mysterious yeast strain. But Wild Turkey whiskeys also have a tendency to bite back at the drinker, a trait that's gone by many names. The Wild Turkey 'kick': What does Turkey taste like? It shares many writ large tasting notes with the category: caramel, vanilla, toffee, nuttiness and so on. There are almost certainly more through-lines connecting each Wild Turkey expression, but the gist is this: the only thing that changes, bottle to bottle, is time spent in barrels, bottling proof and aging warehouse position. There is only one bourbon mashbill and one rye mashbill, every whiskey is made with the same yeast strain (the same one that's been used since at least the 1950s), each aging barrel is given the same #4 alligator char and every spirit goes into the barrel at the same proof (115). Mike Veach, a Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame inductee and bourbon history authority, put it best in a review of the brand's most famous bottle, 101: 'For those wanting to taste whiskey that tastes the way it did in their grandfather’s time, Wild Turkey 101 is as close as you can find in the market today.'Ī controlled experiment: It's not a sexy story you can build a marketing campaign around, but Wild Turkey's consistency is one of its greatest strengths. Together, the pair have worked to guarantee the Wild Turkey of today is as close to the Wild Turkey of 50 years ago as it can be. Jimmy, whose many accolades and personal accomplishments are impossible to summarize briefly, is best known as the Buddha of Bourbon. The house the Russells built: Between them, Jimmy and his son Eddie Russell have accrued more than 100 years on the job at Wild Turkey (Jimmy's father and grandfather are also said to have worked there, before they called it Wild Turkey), most of them as Master Distiller. Here's everything you need to know about Wild Turkey whiskey. Its roots are mythical and its whiskeys diverse, and, since the Russell distilling dynasty took the reins in the mid-1960s, it's remained at the top of the American whiskey craft - something few brands can claim. Point is, Wild Turkey isn't a label that's easily fenced in. But that's not how new bourbon enthusiasts that congregate on Instagram, /r/bourbon and private Facebook groups view them they'd point to Wild Turkey's exceptional single barrel offerings as the brand's calling card. Still, some may know it - likely for its 101 expression - as the standard bearer for well-made, well-priced American bourbon without the fuss brought on by the 2010s.

It's also a collector's whiskey, but not because it's joined the industry-wide conga line of pushing old, pricey and very limited bottles annually (usually in the early fall) - its Turkey's bottles from the '80s and early '90s that sell for hundreds of dollars in whiskey's grey markets. Depending on who you ask, it's college kid whiskey - something cheap and good (enough) swirled together in a tub with god knows what else. Wild Turkey isn't the most divisive whiskey maker in the U.S., but collective perception of the brand might be least unified.

#WILD TURKEY SERIES#

Welcome to Brand Breakdown, a series of comprehensive yet easy-to-digest guides to your favorite companies, with insights and information you won’t find on the average About page.

Wild turkey