If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Robb Report may receive an affiliate commission.
Even the most dedicated collectors of expensive, allocated, unicorn bottles of whiskey from distilleries like Buffalo Trace and Michter’s know that Wild Turkey’s humble 101-proof bourbon is one of the best bangs for your buck that you can find. The Kentucky distillery just upped its game by releasing a new 8-year-old version of its classic 101 bourbon, a bottle that longtime fans of the distillery have been asking waiting for, and it does not disappoint.
Regular Wild Turkey 101 has not carried an age statement since the 1990s, but the whiskey is generally matured for at least five years, and what you’ll find in the bottle is often even older than that. Wild Turkey 101 8-Year-Old has been available but only as an export product, meaning whiskey fans in Japan were pretty much the only ones lucky enough to get to try the whiskey (aside from Americans traveling abroad who brought back a bottle or two).
If you’re a diehard Turkey fan, you know that an 8-year-old special edition came out last fall. Jimmy Russell’s 70th Anniversary 8-Year-Old Bourbon was a tribute to the legendary master distiller’s long tenure at the distillery. However, according to his grandson, Bruce Russell, that whiskey is very different. “The 70th was harder to do,” he said on a recent Zoom call. “Anytime you’re doing something for Jimmy, there’s always that pressure. I don’t want to cook for Eric Ripert or Daniel Boulud. I don’t really like making whiskey specifically for Jimmy because I’m afraid he’s not going to like it. When we were making 70, I was taking samples to Jimmy and I had to lie about what it was [it was a surprise]. So he was signing off even though he didn’t know what it was for.”
Bruce went on to say that he had to be more selective with the 70th Anniversary expression to meet Jimmy’s specific flavor profile, and overall Wild Turkey whiskey now tastes older at a younger age due to the hotter weather that Kentucky experiences in the summertime. “This new 8-year-old is maybe too nice for Jimmy’s flavor profile,” he continued. “Jimmy likes punchy, in-your-face whiskey.” The new 8-year-old is the same liquid that’s in the export bottles, but according to Bruce it’s not just 101 aged for a few more years. He said the whiskey comes from different warehouses and positions in those warehouses and the barrels have more oak influence and a darker flavor profile—because that’s what the export product is.
The new whiskey is certainly recognizable as Wild Turkey bourbon, with the distillery’s typical nutty, leathery notes leading the palate, but there’s a richness and depth to it that goes well beyond regular 101 with flavors like dark chocolate, tobacco, dark stone fruit, black pepper, and smoky oak along for the ride.
Wild Turkey 101 8-Year-Old (SRP $45) will be available starting this month at select retailers around the country, and you can find the rest of the lineup—including past Master’s Keep expressions—at websites like ReserveBar now.
Authors
-
Jonah Flicker