Once a year, I escape from Chicago to spend a few weeks in the Florida Keys, trading the bustle of the big city for sitting on a deck as the sun sets over the Gulf of Mexico sipping on a good whiskey. It’s a great reprieve from the cold doldrums of the Chicago Winter, and I’ve managed to find a great local liquor store down there that always has a few interesting bottles on the shelf. This time, it was a bottle of Wild Turkey that spoke to me while browsing – and I’ve never been a big fan of Wild Turkey, but I figured vacation was as good a time as any to try something new.
History
Thomas Ripy built the Old Hickory Distillery in Tyrone, Kentucky in 1891. This first incarnation of the distillery closed down during prohibition, but the distillery was resurrected once that dark period ended and became a successful wholesaler for bourbon, with other brands bottling their whiskey under their own individual labels.
Legend has it that in 1940, Thomas McCarthy, an executive for one of the wholesalers buying from Old Hickory brought a bottle of the bourbon on a wild turkey hunt. The bourbon was so popular that his friends continued to ask for “that wild turkey bourbon” and in 1942, McCarthy’s company, Austin Nichols, began distributing a Wild Turkey branded bourbon.
In 1971, with the massive success of the brand, Austin Nichols purchased the distillery and renamed it the Wild Turkey Distillery. The brand changed hands over the years but is currently owned by the Campari Group, who built a new distillery near the original building in 2011 where the whiskey continues to be produced to this day.
Product
- Learn More: What Is Bourbon Whiskey?
The Kentucky Spirit expression is the standard Wild Turkey bourbon, except aged longer and selected as a single barrel by master distillers.
The bourbon reportedly starts as a dry mix of 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley. From there, the mash is fermented and distilled.
The spirit takes a rest in charred oak barrels for a while — there’s no age statement provided on the bottle, but the description on the website states that these barrels are between 8.5 to 9.5 years old. After that, it’s bottled and shipped out to store shelves.
Original Wild Turkey used to be called Wild Turkey 81 (because at 40.5% ABV it’s 81 proof) — but in the case of Kentucky Spirit, it’s bottled at a slightly higher 101 proof (50.5% ABV).
Packaging
While the typical Wild Turkey whiskey comes in fairly nondescript packaging, this one it looks like they actually spent some time on the design.
The bottle itself is a plumper and shorter version of their standard bottle, with a cylindrical body that tapers to a relatively short and straight neck. There’s a little bit of a ridge in the neck that seems designed to make it easier to pour, and the neck is capped off with a wood and cork stopper. That wood portion is essentially disk shaped, making it very easy to grab the bottle… but also a little ungainly.
On the face of the bottle is an improved label, still prominently displaying their usual sketch of a turkey on gold foil. Under the turkey, in a large font, is the Kentucky Spirit moniker. Wrapped near the bottom of the bottle is a second label that talks about the specific barrel in which this spirit rested, which makes sense as it is a “single barrel” bottling of this whiskey. (I do appreciate that you get all the details of where the barrel was stored and when it was bottled. For people who find a barrel they really like, this can be helpful to find a similarly stored cask.)
My big complaint about this bottle is, as usual, the size of the label. It’s massive and obscures much of the liquid inside the bottle — and with a deep and beautiful amber whiskey like this, the spirit should really be the star of the show.
Neat
The first thing I notice is the variety of aromas that you get from this bourbon, which go beyond the normal mixture of components. There’s the normal grain-forward sweet corn aroma, but it’s followed by some sweeter caramel with cinnamon and clove. If it tastes anything like it smells, I will be happy.
The first sip gives off a ton of sweetness: the caramel flavor is prevalent, along with some vanilla. You can also pick up notes of the cinnamon and caramel that was in the nose. There are also some rich earthy notes that are very prominent, like oak, leather, and almond.
By the end of the sip you get a little heat, but I would consider it the right amount. It drinks smooth and is quite enjoyable.
What is interesting to me is that I remember getting a lot of orange zest flavor in the OG Wild Turkey. It seems that the additional time spent aging mellows that out and brings forward a lot more of the rich earthy flavors. Overall, it’s a well-balanced and easy drinking bourbon.
On Ice
Drinking bourbon by the ocean means I really want to find something that is great on the rocks. That bit of chill just makes it more refreshing for me. Sadly, in this case, the results weren’t the refreshing delightful experience I had hoped to enjoy — it wasn’t bad either, it just was a watered down version of its neat self.
That sweet caramel was still the first thing you tasted, but it was more dull with the introduction of ice. Same with the cinnamon and clove — tasting like stale spices that have just sat in the back of your pantry for too long. You do pick up a little note of raisin, which is a nice pop of flavor.
The oak is a lot punchier here without the sweetness to balance it out. In fact, most of those early notes are more present.
It’s not to the extent that I’d say you’re drinking oak wrapped in leather… but it’s not as well balanced as it was neat.
Cocktail (Old Fashioned)
While drinking this on the rocks mellowed out the sweetness, adding sugar and bitters for an old fashioned brings everything back into balance.
The rich earthy notes of oak, leather, and almond are the first flavors that I taste, but you also get a pleasant vanilla sweetness with the addition of the sugar. The angostura bitters bring some much-needed spice to the drink, and the orange garnish also brings a citrusy zest that helps to tie everything together.
Overall, it’s really enjoyable. After doing the tasting for this article, most of the remainder of this bottle was consumed as an old fashioned.
Fizz (Mule)
While the bourbon on the rocks was enhanced by the ingredients for an old fashioned, it was stomped into oblivion by the ginger beer. And I do mean stomped. There is nothing going on here other than ginger beer.
I cannot get any of the flavors that were originally present in the bourbon. If I really stretch, I can get something I could maybe call oak… maybe. And you should not have to strain your palate to taste the bourbon in your cocktail, so this was a real letdown for me.
Overall Rating
Kentucky Spirit is definitely an upgrade over the OG Wild Turkey. It’s delightful on the rocks and made a flavorful old fashioned. While the extra aging managed to subdue the orange zest that can be overwhelming, it also left some of the more delicate flavors to be washed out with the addition of ice.
If I had to choose a Wild Turkey bourbon, this would be my choice hands down. However, at a price point of $65 (at the time of publishing this), there are a plethora of better bourbons out there for either the same price or even less. (You can find our best bourbons under $60 list here.) I can’t say the price is validated by the contents of this bottle.
| Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Production Location: Kentucky, United States Classification: Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aging: No Age Statement (NAS) Proof: 50.5% ABV Price: $64.99 / 750 ml Overall Rating:   |
Overall Rating: 3/5
It’s the best Wild Turkey, but you probably don’t need to spend $65 for the same quality.