If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any amount of time you know I’m a big fan of Wild Turkey so when the opportunity came up to once again run deep with the Kickin’ Chicken and do a Wild Turkey Rare Breed tasting with the same group of guys as the Wild Turkey 101 Tasting I was elated. Emails were sent, lineup was set and then we gathered for a night of Turkey tasting and turkey eating.
To compliment this auspicious occasion our generous host AG slow grilled a turkey while the rest of us piled in enough food to make my last 2 Thanksgiving dinners ashamed of themselves. Of course wanting fresh palates that feast was reserved for after the tasting. After all, we had work to do. We had the arduous job of getting to the bottom of this epic Wild Turkey Rare Breed vertical to see if there was a clear winner in this barrel proof poultry pantheon.
To ensure there was no bias we did this as a semi-blind tasting. First we poured out equal amounts of each Rare Breed release into large sample bottles and the bottoms were labeled with a number that corresponded to the bottle it came from. The sample bottles were then mixed up without me looking while I used my expert penmanship to make pieces of scotch tape with A-L on them and then applied them at random. The end result was a 11 bottles of Wild Turkey Rare Breed and one bottle of Wild Turkey Legends being tasted at random.
I realize the setup isn’t as much fun as the drinking, but I wanted to set the scene. Now that you know how we set up this shindig it’s time to talk turkey and see how this incredible Wild Turkey Rare Breed vertical tasting all shook out.
A: Wild Turkey Rare Breed – Current (112.8 proof / 56.4%)
- Nose: Wood, fruit, caramel, corn, vanilla, dark fruit and acetone.
- Palate: Wood, fruit, caramel, spice, dried dark fruit, acetone.
- Finish: Banana heavy fruit, dark sweets, spice and wood.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) Water and time brings out some nutty notes and tempers the fruit a bit. I wrote “Yummy” in my notes and I ended up ranking as my #3 for the night. A good sign for the current direction of Wild Turkey.
B: Wild Turkey Rare Breed WT 03 RB Dark Wrap (108.2 proof / 54.1%)
- Nose: Caramel, spice, vanilla, dusty grain, wood, corn and acetone.
- Palate: Wood, caramel, fruit, vanilla taffy, acetone and spice.
- Finish: Caramel, wood, fruit and a bit of ash
- Overall: B- (80-82) The woody acetone notes were a bit high and if it weren’t for the sweeter notes that helped balance it out it would have been a straight up C/C+. Some water and time brought out some herbal and earthy notes.
C: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-96 (108.8 proof / 54.4%)
- Nose: Citrus, dark fruit, spice, waxy box of theater candy (Jujubes?), anise and wood.
- Palate: Spice! Wood, dark fruit, waxy cherry, dusty grain, dark sweets and anise.
- Finish: Wood, spice, anise, dark sweets and menthol.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) This is a nice complex spice bomb of a whisky that’s complimented nicely by sweet and rustic notes which are enhanced with a bit of water and time.
D: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-97 (108.6 proof / 54.3%)
- Nose: Lollipops, caramel, dark sweets, dark fruit, vanilla taffy and a bit of wood.
- Palate: Spice, caramel, dark sweets, corn, salt water taffy, wood and vanilla.
- Finish: Wood, caramel, vanilla and dark sweets.
- Overall: B- (80-82) Woah this one was sweet. Sweet on sweet with a bit of oak and then more sweet and a dusting of spice. Water and time brought out a bit of mint but did nothing to tame the sweetness.
E: Wild Turkey Rare Breed WT 03 RB clear wrap & embossed cap (108.2 proof / 54.1%)
- Nose: Wood, caramel, dark fruit, vanilla, spice, toasted grain and citrus peel.
- Palate: Caramel, anise, wood, cinnamon, vanilla and lots of sweet spicy notes.
- Finish: Wood, caramel, vanilla and spice.
- Overall: B (83-86) I considered giving this one a B+, but in the end I left it at a high B. I enjoyed it and it turns out I’ve reviewed this one already and I finished it off last week before the tasting as a way to “get my bearings” leading up to the event. While writing up my last glass review of it I pegged it down at a low B+ and that’ll be updated next week. Time, place and perspective are interesting things.
F: Wild Turkey Legend (101 proof / 50.5%)
- Nose: Wood, spice, caramel, corn, citrus, brown sugar and a bit of that musty old bottle effect.
- Palate: Dark fruit, wood, spice, OBE, dusty gain, candied citrus and butterscotch.
- Finish: Spice, wood, caramel and grain.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) A fun lovely and lively whiskey that tasted old and rustic. I flirted with giving this one an A-. Water and time work in its favor, some good Turkey right here, but it wasn’t included in the end-of-night rankings since it wasn’t a Rare Breed.
G: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-02-94 (109.6 proof / 54.8%)
- Nose: Dark fruit, spice, caramel, wood, vanilla and leather.
- Palate: Wood, acetones, peanuts, muted spice and an industrial / solvent note.
- Finish: Medicinal, herbal, industrial / acetone notes.
- Overall: C+ (77-79) This was the only Rare Breed I didn’t like that night. The nose was fantastic, but the palate and finish were so sharp and harsh. It was off balanced and a little thin. This one flirted with a C for me, but the nose saved it. Kind of what I’d imagine a Wild Turkey air freshener would be like – great to smell, but you wouldn’t want to drink it. This one and B were very divisive with some guy loving them and other guys not.
H: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-91 (109.6 proof / 54.8%)
- Nose: Complex dark sweets, dark fruit, toasted grain, iodine and wood.
- Palate: Wood, dark sweets, dark fruit, toasted grain, spice and acetone.
- Finish: Wood, dark sweets, dark fruit, spice, grain and acetone.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) A bit of water and time completely erased that acetone note and it unfolded to be a nice combination of sweet and rustic. By the end of the night I was loving this one.
I: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-99 (108.4 proof / 54.2%)
- Nose: Dense – Wood, dark fruit, banana, caramel, spice, vanilla taffy, candied citrus peel and a light dill meets anise note.
- Palate: Deep – Wood, spice, herbal, fruity, caramel, vanilla, leather, pepper and again a light bit of that dill meets anise note.
- Finish: Long – Wood, spice, dark sweets and a light herbal character.
- Overall: A- (90-92) Holy cow this one blew me away. This was hands down my favorite of the night, it hit all the right notes for me.
J: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-95 (109 proof / 54.5%)
- Nose: Caramel, butterscotch, spice, citrus peel, wood and vanilla.
- Palate: Wood, caramel, butterscotch, spice, brittle, vanilla and a bit herbal.
- Finish: Wood, spice, caramel, butterscotch and dark fruit.
- Overall: B (83-86) A good standard Wild Turkey. Add a bit of water and give some time to unfold a bit and it becomes a little more expressive.
K: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-93 (110.8 proof / 55.4%)
- Nose: Wood, caramel, dark sweets, herbal, spice, dark fruit and candied citrus.
- Palate: Dark fruit, dark sweets, spice, wood, herbal and menthol with a bit of pepper.
- Finish: Menthol, dark fruit, dark sweets and spice.
- Overall: B (82-86) Nothing wrong with this bird, definitely on the higher side of the B range. A bit of water and air brought out the herbal notes a bit more.
L: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-02-91 (110 proof / 55%)
- Nose: Dark fruit, wood, spice, dark sweets, toasted bread and menthol.
- Palate: Dark fruit, nuts, wood, spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of an industrial note.
- Finish: Acetone, salt, wood, spice and a bit of sweetness.
- Overall: B (83-86) Water brought out some light butterscotch notes and gave it a creamier feel. Still it didn’t do enough to pop it up to a B+.
Unlike the Wild Turkey 101 tasting there wasn’t a unanimous winner and loser, which is something I’ve never experienced at a tasting before, and people’s favorites and least favorites were mixed as is typical at a tasting.
However, like that last tasting, the most interesting occurrence of the night was how well the current Wild Turkey did against all of the others. Despite the current Rare Breed having a profile that’s a bit different and fruitier than the rest, a profile which Mr. Neese picked out immediately, it was quite good and people seemed to gravitate towards it and I left with less than a 1/4 of a bottle. Though to be fair it did arrive at a little over 3/4
I obviously can’t speak for everyone, but this “new” direction seemed to agree with the Wild Turkey fans in attendance. To my recollection most folks placed it fairly high when we were talking about our favorites at the end of the night and it sparked a nice conversation. The one person I can speak for is myself and here’s how I ended up ranking the various expressions of Wild Turkey Rare Breed at the end of the night.
- I: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-99 (108.4 proof / 54.2%)
- C: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-96 (108.8 proof / 54.4%)
- A: Wild Turkey Rare Breed – Current (112.8 proof / 56.4%)
- H: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-91 (109.6 proof / 54.8%)
- E: Wild Turkey Rare Breed WT 03 RB clear wrap & embossed cap (108.2 proof / 54.1%)
- K: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-93 (110.8 proof / 55.4%)
- L: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-02-91 (110 proof / 55%)
- J: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-95 (109 proof / 54.5%)
- D: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-01-97 (108.6 proof / 54.3%)
- B: Wild Turkey Rare Breed WT 03 RB Dark Wrap (108.2 proof / 54.1%)
- G: Wild Turkey Rare Breed W-T-02-94 (109.6 proof / 54.8%)
In another group of folks I get together and drink whiskey with we recently had a conversation about which distilleries we thought were on a downswing and which ones were on an upswing and in that group we all agreed that Wild Turkey was on an upswing. Between the findings in this Rare Breed tasting and the Wild Turkey 101 tasting, both of which were done blind, I think it’s fairly evident that’s the case.
Massive thanks to our host Andrew Goodloe who cooked a killer turkey and supplied several bottles. Also a big thanks to the other bottle providers Josh Hodas (who supplied a bunch), Steve Neese, Paul Wilcox, Max, Keegan and Brendan Prouty. Thanks are also due to Dan and Michael for the gourmet pies and professionally formatted tasting sheets, it wouldn’t have been as classy of an affair without them.
This was an incredible evening and I guess I also need to thank Wild Turkey for putting out a bourbon that inspired a group of whiskey fans in Los Angeles to collect and then rally around twice. Now that my long-winded Grammy’s style thank you speech and wrap up of this epic Wild Turkey Rare Breed vertical are done all that’s left is to end this post.
I hope that reading about events like this on TWJ inspires you to go out, find some other whiskey loving friends and setup your own verticals and tastings; to explore the beverage we love with people you enjoy being around. After all, whiskey tastes its best when it’s shared among friends.
Till the next one. Cheers!
