First, we did the Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye and now we’re sipping on their latest limited release: Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Bottled In Bond 17 Years. This bottled-in-bond behemoth is the latest in the highly anticipated, yearly, Master’s Keep line that displays the delicious, unique and creative side of Wild Turkey.
Of all the yearly limited releases, this is the series I look forward to the most and I’m not-so-secretly delighted that these aren’t overly coveted releases like Pappy or BTAC. Which are fine whiskeys, but being able to go into a bottle shop and walk out with one or two bottles of MK every year without trouble feels like the good-old-days. Yearly nostalgia in an unbroken seal.
Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Bottled In Bond 17 Years Review: Details and Tasting Notes
“This 17-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey is designated Bottled-In-Bond, a certification that guarantees a strict production process and ensures incomparable flavor and consistency.
To carry the bonded label, the bourbon must be the product of one distilling season from one distillery, aged in a federally bonded warehouse and artfully bottled at 100 proof. Master Distiller Eddie Russell identified this unique, high aged liquid and pledged to share it with discerning whiskey connoisseurs around the world.”
Details (price, mash bill, cask type, ABV, etc.)
Region: Kentucky, USA
Distiller: Wild Turkey Distillery
Mash Bill: 75% Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Oak
Age: 17 Years
ABV: 50%
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Price: $175*
Tasting Notes
EYE
Mahogany
NOSE
Baking spice, oak, caramel, vanilla, dried cherries, cereal grain sweetness, medicinal sweetness and a touch biscuity and acetone.
PALATE
Baking spice, oak, caramel, vanilla, medicinal cherry, cereal grain sweetness, leather and a touch biscuity and acetone.
FINISH
Medium -> Spice, oak and dark sweets
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Ok, Med-full, dry and tannic
Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Bottled In Bond 17 Years Review: Overall and Score
Aroma is pleasant with plenty of spice and sweet notes to pair with the oak and biscuity ones, but carries this light medicinal note that I can’t quite get around; Palate is a close duplicate of the aroma but with a bigger hit of that medicinal cherry/cough syrup note which sits evenly with the bigger oak, slight acetone, spice and sweet driven notes; Finish is my favorite aspect with the caramel-toffee-cocoa-butterscotch dark sweets note dragging through the spice and oak.
It’s not a bad whiskey, but I feel like I’m missing that Wild Turkey soul. Something is missing from the Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Bottled In Bond 17 Years and it just doesn’t scream Wild Turkey. It’s a profile I’ve been able to call blindly on several occasions, one just recently with Bozzy, but I don’t think I’d be able to do that with this one. Still, it’s not a terrible bourbon and one of the oldest Bottled-in-bond whiskeys I’ve seen in a long time.
SCORE: 3/5
*Disclosure: The bottle for this bourbon review was graciously sent to me by the company without obligation. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.
Wild Turkey Master's Keep Bottled In Bond 17 Years Review $175
Overall
3- Nose (3.5)
- Palate (2.5)
- Finish (3)
- BBF (3)
User Review
0 (0 votes) Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)Wild Turkey Master's Keep Bottled In Bond 17 Years Review Summary
A divisive whiskey even amongst Wild Turkey Fans, some find it sweet and herbally and spicy. Others find it a bit harsh and over-oaked with some acetone coming through. I’m, unfortunately, in the latter.
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