Accident Whiskey: a Stupid Genre

Diageo recently released its latest whiskey in the Orphan Barrel series, the Gifted Horse, in which a young corn whiskey and bourbon were "accidentally" mixed with some older bourbon. Wow! How lucky for the largest spirits company in the world that some corn whiskey (which usually sucks) was poured into a 17 year old bourbon...and now it's $50 a bottle.

Unfortunately, the "accident whiskey" seems on the way to becoming a genre of its own. First came Serendipity, a blend of Scotch in which someone poured young Glen Moray into old Ardbeg.  How...serendipitous. Then Wild Turkey introduced Forgiven, in which someone dumped rye into the bourbon.

Just like those old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials in which someone eating a chocolate bar collides with someone eating a jar of peanut butter and makes a delicious discovery, the Accident Whiskey backstories are silly and seem implausible. (Who the hell walks around eating peanut butter right out of the jar?)  Then, the company bottles it and gives it a name like WTF Whiskey which emphasizes the accidental nature of its creation.

The prevalence of these Accident Whiskeys would lead one to believe that either these stories are marketing fluff or whiskey distilleries are run by total idiots who randomly dump barrels together. The whiskey companies can let me know into which category they fall.
 

Dusty Thursday: Wild Turkey Cheesy Gold Foil 1988

More Thanksgiving Turkey! Today our dusty is a 1988 Wild Turkey 12 year old. Bottles of the 101 proofer from this era are affectionately known as CGF or Cheesy Gold Foil for obvious reasons.

Wild Turkey 12 year old, 1988, 50.5% abv

The nose is caramel with lemon rind and cinnamon. The palate is a Christmas spice pack with ginger, brown sugar, orange rind and clove; the late palate has some nice oak. It gets minty and medicinal on the finish.

This is certainly a nice bourbon but not one that I think is exceptional. The palate is nice, but the finish is a bit heavy on the mint and medicinal notes. From what I understand, it's very popular among Wild Turkey fans, but I've never been as big a fan of old Turkeys as some folks.

Thanks to Brendan Prouty for the sample.

Thanksgiving Turkey: Russell's Reserve 1998

I'm a sucker for a Wild Turkey post on Thanksgiving, so I figured this would be as good a time as ever to review the new Russell's Reserve 1998. This was distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2015, but according to Josh at The Whiskey Jug, it was moved to steel containers in 2014.

Russell's Reserve 1998, 51.1% abv ($250)

This has a beautiful nose with caramel, honey and plenty of oak. The palate carries those same notes along with tannic and earthy notes which lead into an earthy, peppery finish.

As someone who has been pretty disappointed with the recent output from Wild Turkey, I'm pleased to report that this is really good stuff.  It's probably the best release since the American Spirit (which I reviewed for Thanksgiving six years ago).

It's definitely on the expensive side, and I'm sure it will be hard to find, but it's one of the best of the bourbon special releases I've had this season (and I'll be running down a bunch of the others next week).

Thanks to Dan Walbrun for sharing his bottle.

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.

Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Retailer Bottlings

Retailer whiskey picks are big these days.  Whiskey companies allow retailers to select their own barrel of whiskey and the retailers can then advertise them as a special, one of a kind release.  But how different are retailer picks from the distillery standard offerings?  That will depend on the offering and the retailer. Sometimes, retailers can pick a single barrel of a product that is not usually single barrel; picks like that can have a substantially different flavor from the regular whiskey which is the product of many barrels blended together.  But what about a retailer pick of a single barrel product?

I recently participated in a blind tasting of eight bottles of Wild Turkey's Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon from various retailers as well as a regular non-retailer bottle.  The retailer bottles included three offerings from K&L in California, two from Liquor Barn, one from Westport Whiskey and one from Cox's Liquor Barrel, the latter three of which are in Kentucky. As with the standard offering, all of these were 55% abv.  The cost was similar to the regular edition and all were non age statement bourbons.

The result was that most of them were pretty similar.  I liked a few better than the standard offering and a few worse (and of course, the standard offering will vary from bottle to bottle, since it is a single barrel). None of them were bad, but many were boring and they ran too hot, even with water. Most of them had the same profile which I suppose is a credit to Wild Turkey in keeping them consistent; there was only one that was off the profile, with many more herbal notes.

My favorites of the nine was Barrel 24 from Westport Whiskey followed closely by Barrel 19 from K&L.  I've rated all of them on the LA Whiskey Society page. As you can see, the ratings all ranged from B- to B+.

What does this tell us about retailer picks?  Well, in this case, they weren't that different from each other or the standard offering.  At least in some cases, retailer bottlings may constitute a distinction without a difference.

Turkeys are Forever: Wild Turkey Diamond Anniversary

This bottle of Wild Turkey commemorates Jimmy Russell's sixty years at the distillery.  It's a blend of 13 to 16 year old bourbons.  Right now it's only at the distillery visitor center, but it will be distributed nationally later this summer, and it sounds like there will be plenty of it available.


Wild Turkey Diamond Anniversary, 45.5% abv ($125)

I usually don't comment on the color of whiskey, but the color on this one is quite light which is unusual for a bourbon in this age bracket.  The nose is nice and very Wild Turkey; it's got sweet candy and a good dose of oak. The palate opens with light candy and then some spice.  It's hot for the abv, which is typical of more recent Wild Turkeys. The finish is where the oak comes back with a burnt wood/barrel char note.

This is decent bourbon, but not anything I would pay a premium for.  It's fine to drink but doesn't have much in the way of complexity; it's very typical of recent Wild Turkeys (which are a far cry from the great stuff they used to put out).  Tasting blind, I would have guessed that this was a good $30 to $40 bourbon.  There's no way I would pay triple digits for it, but such is the world of escalating whiskey price creep.

(Wild) Turkey Day Bourbon: Russell's Reserve Single Barrel

I always like to do a Wild Turkey review for Thanksgiving because I'm corny like that.  This year, we'll do the new and redundantly titled Russell's Reserve Small Batch Single Barrel (I guess a single barrel is about the smallest batch you can get).   The bourbon is aged in alligator char barrels.  It weighs in at 110 proof and is not chill filtered.  There is no age statement.

Russell's Reserve Small Batch Single Barrel, 55% abv ($55)

The nose is light with candy corn.  The palate is richer than the nose lets on and has spice, pine, polished wood, anise and caraway.  On the finish there's pepper and tobacco.

This is a nice, spicy bourbon with some richness and complexity.  It certainly would do well on the Thanksgiving table, and maybe even better with the pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Bourye Serendipity: Wild Turkey Forgiven

Back in 2010, High West shook up the whiskey world with its Bourye, a blend of straight bourbon and ryes.  Before High West came along, a blend of whiskeys meant, well, blended whiskey, a mix of high proof neutral spirit (i.e. vodka) and whiskey that was pretty much always crappy.  Of course, many bourbons and ryes were blends of different barrles, or vattings as they used to call them in Scotland, but no one in the modern era had marketed a blend of just straight bourbon and rye.  Bourye was quite good and deservedly popular, later spawning Son of Bourye.

Now Wild Turkey is getting into the Bourye game with Forgiven, a blend of straight bourbon and rye whiskeys.   Forgiven is composed of 78% six year old bourbon and 22% four year old rye.  Oh, and there's a back story about how this whole thing was the result of an accident...blah, blah, blah.  For the same story, see Ardbeg Serendipity or, for that matter, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Wild Turkey Forgiven, Batch #302, 45.5% abv ($50)

The nose is really nice with honey, floral notes, and spice, like laying in a spring meadow.  The palate has some of those same honey notes along with clove, but then it falls flat and develops a soapy note.  The finish has some bitterness on the palate and some nice spice on the nose.

The nose sets up an expectation for a really interesting flavor balance, but the palate doesn't deliver.  This surprised me since Wild Turkey makes high quality bourbon and rye, but if you're looking for a bourbon/rye blend, I'd stick with High West.  Perhaps Wild Turkey should have gone for a more Eastwoodian name: Unforgiven.

78%, 6-year-old Bourbon and 22% rare, high-proof Rye - See more at: http://www.bourbonblog.com/blog/2013/08/13/wild-turkey-forgiven/#sthash.M2U0eYi2.dpuf

Dusty Thursday: Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Pewter Top

Today a bit of dusty trivia. Serious dusty hunters look not only for out of production brands and distilleries but familiarize themselves with changes to the bottle. They know that a bottle of Weller Centennial with sloped shoulders comes from a different time period than one with sharp corners. Today, we dive into that minutiae.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit is a single barrel expression of the Wild Turkey 101 bourbon. Today, the bottles come with a wooden topped cork, but they previously had a pewter topped cork. Those pewter tops are now considered desirable dusties. From what I understand, the bourbon began production in the 1990s and the switch from pewter to wooden tops came in 2001. Today, I'm trying a pewter topped version from 1995.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit (Pewter Top), 50.5% abv (And for all you bourbon geeks: Barrel 1, Warehouse E, Rick 12, June 8, 1995).

The nose is sweet with a bit of wood. The palate is strong on vanilla with a bit of spice in the background and some oak notes as well. The finish has rock candy and wood.

I'd say I like this just a little bit better than the current version of Kentucky Spirit. This one has a bit more wood influence and a bit more complexity, which could be due to older whiskey being used. It's good but not something I'd go to great effort to hunt down.

Dusty Thursday: Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve 10/101 - What is a Dusty?

I talk about dusties every Thursday but I don't think I've really spent any time defining what a dusty is. If you ask most people, they would say it's a hard to find or out of production bottle of whiskey. But if you really talk to people about dusties, many would say that what they are looking for are bottles that were out of production before they started drinking (or seriously drinking) whiskey.

Enter Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve 101. Unlike many of the dusties I've covered here, this bourbon was available when I started becoming a whiskey fan. In fact, it was the first bottle of bourbon I ever purchased. Around 8 or 9 years ago, I had been drinking Scotch for a few years and was trying to learn about bourbon; a friend recommended this ten year old version of Wild Turkey 101; I think I picked it up for around $35. Needless to say, I loved it and I was on my way to bourbonland. A few years later, they repackaged Russell's Reserve at a lower proof (45% abv). Since then, the 101 proof version has become a dusty treasure, but it's hard for me to think of it as a dusty, since I remember seeing it on the shelves.

I haven't had a sip of the Russell's Reserve 101 since that first bottle, so I was excited to get some and see how it compared to my memory.


Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve 101, 10 years old, 50.5% abv.

The nose is candy sweet with a good measure of wood. The palate is rich and woody with some rye notes. There is a lot of age on this for ten years. Tasting blind I would likely guess it was older. I'm getting sentimental now, this really reminds me of why I started drinking bourbon. It revealed what bourbon could be and shaped many of my early opinions. I'm lucky I started with this. If I'd picked up something else, I might never have bothered to buy a second bottle (then again, maybe that would have been a good thing - at least I'd have more available closet space).

This really is a great bourbon and it saddens me that it's no longer around, but Dusty Thursdays can be bittersweet, especially when the whiskey comes with memories.

The Last Flight of the Wild Turkey: 101 Rye

This is the second in a series of joint reviews I'm doing with Jason at Sour Mash Manifesto and Tim at Scotch & Ice Cream. Our first review, as you may recall, was of the roundly panned Rebel Yell Bourbon. Today we hope to up the ante with Wild Turkey 101 Rye.

For years, Wild Turkey 101 has been a reliable, workhorse rye: cheap, available, good for cocktails or sipping neat. Recently Campari owned Wild Turkey announced that it would bring out a new 81 proof rye, and that the release of this new rye would result in shortages of 101, which makes sense since they only have so much rye and presumably they are using the same batches for the new 81. Sources seem to differ as to whether 101 will go away entirely or will be back once rye stocks are replenished.

I haven't tried good old Wild Turkey 101 Rye in a while, so consider this a goodbye (for now) tribute.

Wild Turkey 101 Rye, 50.5% abv ($20 if you can find it).

The 101 picks right up with a nice, spicy rye nose. The nose is so full of rye spice that it's much closer to LDI or one of the Canadian straight ryes than your typical 51% Kentucky rye. Think pine, brine and the kitchen spice cabinet (you know, that blend of all the spices in there). The palate doesn't disappoint with its rye strength either. It's less sweet than the versions I recall from years past but full of punch. It starts with a big rye hit with a touch of sweetness, gets a bit soapy mid way through and then trails off into a hot rye finish. Water brings out some bitter notes, so I say leave it out.

There's not much complex about this rye but it's got everything you need for a general rye whiskey, does wonders in cocktails and there are few better deals around. Let's hope it spreads its wings again soon.

Whiskey Wednesday: Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit

I haven't reviewed a Turkey in a while, so I thought I'd give Kentucky Spirit a spin. It's Wild Turkey's single barrel bourbon at 101 proof.

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit, 50.5% abv ($45)

The nose is syrupy sweet, candy corn, caramel and toffee. The palate is less candy and has a nice richness to it with a good dose of wood, and a bit of a perfumy quality. There's a nice long finish with a good balance of sweetness and wood.

Choosing between this and Wild Turkey's Rare Breed, which is a bit cheaper, I'd probably take the Rare Breed which has such great balance, but this is a decent bourbon as well.

Whiskey Heresy: Flavored Whiskeys

I didn't post this as part of my Whiskey Wednesday series because, as noted in the title, flavored whiskeys are whiskey heresy, but on Friday, anything goes. We've suffered through inanely flavored vodkas and rums for a few decades now, but flavored whiskey and whiskey liqueurs are just starting to proliferate. Sure there are some that have been around forever, like Southern Comfort (though I don't know that it has actual whiskey in it anymore), Bailey's and Drambuie, but recently the floodgates seem to have opened wide to new, sweet whiskey products.

The highest profile new flavored whiskey is Jim Beam's Red Stag, a Black Cherry flavored Bourbon. Wild Turkey American Honey is a liqueur made with honey and Bourbon which has been around for a few years now. I grabbed minis of both to do a tasting. Obviously, these things are not meant for whiskey geeks like me, so I'm going to do my best to judge them for what they are, sweet drinks probably meant for cocktails.


Tasting

Red Stag by Jim Beam, Black Cherry flavored Bourbon, 40% abv ($14-18)

The nose on this is very light, smelling only faintly of cherries. Egads, it's insanely sweet! It's actually not bad though. I was expecting it to taste like cough syrup but the cherry flavor is more reserved than that; more like a cherry soda flavor. The sweetness makes it difficult to take straight, but on the rocks with soda, it would probably make a refreshing drink, like an alcoholic cherry soda.



Wild Turkey American Honey, liqueur with Bourbon and honey, 35.5% abv ($20-23)

The nose on this is really nice. It's got lots of floral and herbal qualities along with a good dose of lemon. Lemon is the predominant flavor, which I didn't expect. Surprisingly, it doesn't really have much of a honey flavor. While it's very sweet, the sweetness isn't quite as cloying as it is in the Red Stag. For this one, I would think there would be lots of good cocktail uses. It has a more complex flavor profile than the Stag and is generally more interesting to drink.

Now, that wasn't so bad, was it. I'm not going to rush out and buy this stuff but it's not bad as far as liqueurs go.

Whiskey Wednesday: Thanksgiving Turkey

I always try to emphasize American whiskies as Thanksgiving approaches, and what better whiskey to taste leading up to Thanksgiving than Wild Turkey.

Today we will be tasting two of Wild Turkey's popular premium Bourbons: Rare Breed and American Spirit. Rare Breed is a barrel proof Bourbon with no age statement. American Spirit is a 15 year old Bottled in Bond Bourbon, meaning it is 100 proof.

As you will note from the picture, the American Spirit comes in a wooden box which is supposed to be fancy but always reminds me of a casket. As a result, when I remove the Bourbon from its case, I always feel like I'm disturbing the dead -- vampire Bourbon, because, you know, vampires are popular these days.

Both of these Bourbons are very popular among Turkey lovers.


Let's Taste...


Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Barrel Proof, 54.1% alcohol ($35)

Sweet caramel on the nose, with some Cognac and wood. The flavor has both sweetness and spice in equal measures, with a good measure of wood. A few drops of water really brings out the wood in this one, as well as some pine, mint and banana flavors.


Wild Turkey American Spirit, 15 years old, Bottled in Bond, 50% alcohol ($70)

Fabulous nose with a rich, sweet, heavily wooded old-whiskey smell. The richness carries on to the taste with a nice, chewy texture. This one is for those who like them old and strong. There is lots of wood, but it's not over oaked, and the sweetness is mingled throughout. Water really opens this one up and brings out some rye spice, though at the expense of some of the wood.

These are both fine whiskies and good exemplars of the Wild Turkey flavor. The side by side nature of this tasting shows the American Spirit to be the far more interesting and complex of the pair, with layers of flavor in every sip.

My recommendation would be to integrate both Bourbons into your Thanksgiving Day, with a bit of Rare Breed before the meal and a snifter of American Spirit afterward, prior to drifting off into a happy sleep.

Happy (Wild) Turkey Day!

Whiskey Wednesday: Born in the USA Part 5 - Russell's Reserve Rye

As I look back at my various rye whiskey reviews and tasting notes, I'm hard pressed to come up with a rye I didn't like. I love the spice and flair of rye. Rye is still a boutique spirit in the marketplace so those who make it are doing so with love and skill, which is what may account for the high quality of rye whiskey (or maybe I've just been lucky).

Wild Turkey has a long-standing, excellent rye whiskey in their Wild Turkey 101 Rye. It has a good rye punch, some nice, corn sweetness and it's one of the best ryes you can get for the price. Given my experience with 101, I jumped at the chance to get some of the distillery's new Russell's Reserve Rye.

Russell's Reserve is the moniker Wild Turkey gives to one of its premium Bourbons, named for WT's master distiller. Recently they added a rye whiskey to the Russell profile. In addition, they are now marketing both Russell's products simply as "Russell's Reserve" without any mention of Wild Turkey. This may be an attempt to cultivate a premium crowd which, doesn't consider Turkey a high end brand.

Tasting

Russell's Reserve Rye, KY Straight Rye, 6 years old, 45% alcohol ($20).

Nose is light. Nice rye flavor, sweet with light spice. A nice sipping rye and a very good mixing rye (yes, I made some Sazeracs). I didn't taste them side by side, but I'm not sure I'd prefer this over the old-school Wild Turkey 101 rye, which is a great whiskey. Russell's is more subtle, but I like the punch of 101. Regardless, it's a very nice rye.