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Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Wild Turkey 101 Rye
Since I recently reviewed the newest edition of Rittenhouse Rye, I thought I would do the same with Wild Turkey 101 Rye. For years, 101 rye was a great, budget rye. Then, in 2012, Wild Turkey announced that it was temporarily taking it off the market and putting out an 81 proof rye. We were all worried that the 101 would be gone for good or would come back with a huge price tag. Luckily, it returned, though it did see a price hike. It seems to only come in liter bottles now and goes for $40 (so they increased the volume by a third but doubled the price - maybe they thought with the bigger bottle we wouldn't notice). Let's see how it tastes.
Wild Turkey 101 Rye, 50.5% ($40 for 1 liter)
The nose opens with soft rye notes and some bourbon-style caramel. On the palate, it's much more bourbon like than I remember, with a lot of light, Evan Williams type notes and vanilla. Toward the end of the palate, the rye spice kicks in and you get some nice baking spice notes. The finish has light vanilla and baking spice notes but is fairly short.
This is still a very decent rye, but it's not as bold as the older version I remember. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a decent rye for a pretty good price (though no longer really a budget option).
Thanks to Funky Tape for the sample.
I hope the same does not happen to their bourbon. For my taste, WT 101 is consistently one of the best low price bourbons on the market. Sad to see so many examples where quality is not what it used to be. Don't think there is a universal law that demands it be so.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the Russell's Reserve 6 year? If so, any thoughts on how it compares to this or the old 101 rye?
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that Blogspot sites sometimes load and then almost immediately reload onto another website entirely? More than half the time I load this site it quickly redirects to something called Go Garden something something. This also happens with a couple of other Blogspot sites I frequent.
ReplyDeleteMost annoyingly, I often can't get back to this site, the "back" arrow works only occasionally, as if this site never loaded in the first place. Has anyone else experienced this?
I enjoy this site and will reload, back arrow, redirect as often as necessary!
JCR, it's been a while since I tried the RR rye. It would make a good comparison. Maybe I'll try to pick up a bottle.
ReplyDeleteHey t ball, I Go Garden pays me good money for that set up! Just joking and thanks for bringing it to my attention. I made some adjustments and hopefully it's working now. Please let me know if the problem continues.
Can't get the new 101 rye in my neck of the woods...but I saw a regular 750 ml bottle in a Michigan store last Christmas. Are they really only in 1 liter bottles now? Don't know if I'd want it that much :-O
ReplyDelete