Buy rare and selected Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey online

The roots of today s Wild Turkey distillery go back to 1869, when the Ripy family founded their distillery on what is now known as Wild Turkey hill above a gorge of the Kentucky river in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The distillery produced whiskey that represented Kentucky at the 1893 World s Fair in Chicago. The distillery was temporarily closed in 1919 due to Prohibition, but was finally reopened and modernized in 1933. The wholesale grocery company Austin, Nichols and Co, originally from New York, began as a distributor of wine and spirits, selling bourbon whiskey under various names but not sourcing their own. They eventually acquired the brand and stock, but not immediately the distillery itself. Austin Nichols was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 1980. In 2009, Pernod Ricard sold Wild Turkey to the Campari Group from Italy for 575 million US dollars. Campari has since invested heavily in the brand and the distillery, including the construction of a new, modern distillation plant.
In 1940, Thomas McCarthy, one of the managers of the Ripy distillery, brought whiskey from his own company to hunt wild turkeys. His friends liked the whiskey so much that the following year they asked him to bring back some of the Wild Turkey whiskey for turkey hunting, and the colloquial name became the brand name.
In 1954, Jimmy Russell began working at the distillery. He was trained under Ernest W. Ripy Jr. (son of the founder) and rose to become the distillery s third Master Distiller. Jimmy Russell is now a bourbon industry icon, known as the Buddha of Bourbon or the Master Distiller s Master Distiller, with over 60 years of experience (as of 2024, although he is cutting back slightly, he is still involved). Jimmy s son, Eddie Russell, followed in his father s footsteps in 1981 and has worked at the distillery ever since. In 2015, he was also appointed master distiller, meaning that father and son hold this position together - a rarity in the industry.
Wild Turkey distils to a relatively high strength, but fills the distillate into the barrels at a comparatively low strength (historically 107-115 proof, today mostly 115 proof / 57.5% vol.). The legal maximum is 125 proof. Wild Turkey argues that this means less water needs to be added at bottling (especially for higher proof bottlings such as the 101), resulting in a richer flavor profile. Wild Turkey uses the highest level of char (Char Level #4) for its barrels, also known as alligator char, because the surface of the wood afterwards resembles alligator skin. This contributes strongly to the deep color and the intense caramel, vanilla and oak notes. Wild Turkey Bourbon is known for its strong, full-bodied and often spicy taste. It is considered a rather traditional and uncompromising bourbon with a high rye content (high rye) in the mash bill of approx. 13%, which contributes to the characteristic spicy notes (pepper, baking spices such as cinnamon and clove). On the palate, the bourbon has the typical aromas of maturation in new, charred new white oak barrels with vanilla, caramel, toffee and maple syrup and a distinct rye spiciness with black pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. It shows pronounced oak notes, often with hints of toasted wood or, in younger bottlings, a slight bitterness that becomes more complex with leather and tobacco with longer maturation. Sometimes there are notes of cherry, orange or dried fruit. Wild Turkey also produces rye whiskeys, which are even spicier and often somewhat drier than bourbon, with intense notes of pepper and spice.
The father-son team of Jimmy and Eddie Russell as master distillers with over 100 years of combined experience is unique and guarantees continuity and traditional craftsmanship. The Wild Turkey Bourbon Whiskeys have received several awards for their excellent quality, the Wild Turkey Rare Breed ( barrel strength), Russell s Reserve Single Barrel, the Special Releases and the exclusive Bourbon of the Master s Keep series are highly sought after by connoisseurs and collectors and the old bottlings from the 1970s and 1980s are rarely found.