Tasting notes

nose

lemon and orange peel, vanilla, ginger and gingerbread with hay, caramel, rye grain and spicy oak

palate

creamy; rye grain, caramel, kettle corn and lemon with pepper, vanilla and tobacco

finish

mildly dry and fairly quick; oak and caramel, then cherry, lemon cookie, pear drops and peppercorn fade out, leaving heat and dryness last

Mash bill

51% rye, 37% corn, 12% malted barley. It is Wild Turkey's rye recipe, the same grains as Russell's Reserve 6 Year Old, with enough corn to give a creamy, kettle-corn sweetness under the rye. Bottled from one barrel at 104 proof, the rye grain's lemon and pepper come through clearly.

Awards

• Double Gold — TAG Global Spirits Awards 2023
• Double Platinum — ASCOT Awards 2022
• Master — The Spirits Business American Whiskey Masters 2022
• Double Gold — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2021
• Finalist — Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2021

Why it's craft

This rye comes from one barrel picked by Jimmy and Eddie Russell, bottled at 104 proof and not chill filtered, so each barrel's character carries through. The barrels get the No. 4 "alligator" char, the deepest Wild Turkey uses. Jimmy has been at the Lawrenceburg distillery since 1954 and Eddie since 1981, with more than a century of experience between them; Campari Group owns Wild Turkey.