Tasting notes

nose

vanilla, toffee and butterscotch over cinnamon and toasted oak, with a sharp edge of alcohol

palate

sweet at first with vanilla, caramel and maple, then cinnamon, baking spice, oak and a little char

finish

medium length and biting; pepper, rye spice and oak lead with a thread of orange peel, fading to a dry aftertaste

Mash bill

75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley. This is the Wild Turkey bourbon recipe, and its rye share sits on the high side for bourbon; the distillery credits that high rye content for the bold spice in its whiskey. Corn supplies the sweet base, and malted barley does the work of converting starch to sugar in the mash.

Awards

• Gold — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2021
• Gold — Beverage Tasting Institute 2021
• 90 Points — Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2021

Why it's craft

Wild Turkey 101 is the house's flagship bourbon, aged six to eight years and bottled at 101 proof. Wild Turkey mashes, ferments and distills its own whiskey in Lawrenceburg with a proprietary yeast, barrels it at a lower entry proof, and uses the No. 4 "alligator" char, the deepest available. Jimmy Russell has worked at the distillery since 1954, his son Eddie has been master distiller since 2015, and the company has been owned by Campari Group since 2009.