Distillery

Wild Turkey whiskies

Wild Turkey is a bourbon distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, on top of a cliff above the Kentucky River. It belongs to the Italian group Campari. It is famous for its high-rye, high-proof bourbon, and for the Russell family: its master distiller has worked at the house for more than six decades, alongside his son and grandson. Its 101 version is a classic of intense bourbon.

Founded
1940
Owner
Campari Group
Origin
Kentucky, United States
In the catalogue
9 whiskies

History, style and where to startSee it on the world mapWild Turkey official website

  • Wild Turkey distillery
    Photo: Smerdis · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (cropped and converted)

9 whiskies

Guide to Wild Turkey

History

The Ripy family had been distilling in the area since the 19th century, and their distillery was the origin of today’s. The name Wild Turkey came about at the beginning of the forties, when an executive of a spirits company took a high-proof bourbon on a wild turkey hunt with some friends, who later asked him for “that turkey whiskey”. The distillery was renamed Wild Turkey decades later. In 2009 it was bought by Campari, which built a new distillery and a visitor centre. The Russell's Reserve line bears the name of the family of distillers.

House style

Wild Turkey’s style is intense and spicy: caramel, vanilla, toasted oak, pepper, cinnamon, orange and a touch of leather. The house uses a recipe with plenty of rye, fills the casks at a low proof and uses casks with a very heavy char. 81 is smoother and lighter; 101, more powerful, and Rare Breed is bottled at barrel proof.

Average flavour profile of its 9 whiskies in the catalogue

Sweet
3.1
Fresh fruit
2.0
Ripe and dried fruit
1.1
Floral and herbal
0.7
Cereal and malt
1.4
Vanilla and creamy
2.7
Oak
2.8
Spicy
3.2
Toasted
2.2
Smoky
0.3
Maritime
0.0
Body and intensity
3.3

Where to start

Wild Turkey 81 is the smoothest way in, very good for cocktails. 101 is the house classic, intense and full of flavour. Russell's Reserve 10 Year Old adds age and elegance. If you like powerful bourbons, Rare Breed is the house’s barrel-proof benchmark. Drink them neat, on the rocks or in cocktails with character, such as the Manhattan.

This text was generated and translated by AI and may contain errors. Founding year, owner and official website come partly from Wikidata.

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