Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review

 

The story of Wild Turkey goes all the way back to 1855 when the grocer Austin Nichols begins selling wine and spirits. Eventually the business would go on to own and sell Wild Turkey

The distillery itself started life on Wild Turkey Hill in  Lawrenceburg, Kentucky in 1869 under the stewardship of the Ripy Bros.

Legend has it that an Austin Nichols executive called Thomas McCarthy brought some barrel samples with him to a wild turkey hunt and the sourced whiskey was so popular that the brand was launched to the public in 1942. Austin Nichols then went on to buy the distillery that they were sourcing the whiskey from.

The brand is also synonymous with the father & son distillation dream team of Jimmy & Eddie Russell who have essentially been responsible for all Wild Turkey since the late 1960’s. But I’ll maybe talk about them a little more another time.

It's a straight bourbon (NAS) but aged for 5 to 8 years (as per the back label) in no.4 alligator char barrels. 

The mashbill is 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% malted barley.

You can watch my full YouTube review below.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon 40.5% abv/81 proof

Nose: A sweet nose – brown sugar, caramel waffles, garden mint, rye spice and sweetened black tea. Almond flakes too/

Palate: Although not high rye it’s the rye that bites first. Pepper, clove, cinnamon followed by mint and oak tannins. Caramel, vanilla and some limestone minerality. A nice oily mouthfeel – surprising!

Finish: Short to medium – rye spice the overarching profile along with caramel and oak

Overall: A decent dram that is affordable and could easily work as a daily sipper or for a cocktail base for Old Fashioneds or the like.

Score: 5 out of 10