Taste Test: Wild Turkey’s New Bourbon Is One of the Best Whiskeys We’ve Tried This Year
Wild Turkey could just make its classic, time-tested 101-proof bourbon and nothing else, and most whiskey fans would be fine with that. But the Kentucky distillery continues to release fantastic whiskeys as part of its high-end Master’s Keep line, and the latest finished in Jamaican rum barrels is one of the best in this collection to date.
According to master distiller Eddie Russell, this is the first commercially available Wild Turkey whiskey finished in rum barrels, although he has experimented with this type of secondary maturation before. “I put some bourbon in rum casks, but all it did was to make it sweeter,” he told Robb Report. He’s pretty sure his father, the legendary master distiller Jimmy Russell, wouldn’t have approved though. “Some [experiments] I’ve never told Jimmy about, and that was a good thing because he didn’t like any of those things. All I ever got out of them was sweetness. I didn’t want that, I wanted funk and fruit notes, a little bit of molasses and cocoa.”
More from Robb Report
Well, he’s achieved all of that and more with this fantastic new Master’s Keep release called Voyage. The barrels came from Jamaican distillery Appleton Estate, which makes sense given that both Wild Turkey and Appleton are owned by parent company Campari. Russell wanted to use barrels that held pot still rum as opposed to column still rum for the finish, but Appleton Estate master blender Dr. Joy Spence was a little dubious at first. “She said, ‘Son, you can’t handle that stuff, it’s too much for you,'” said Russell. “I’m like, let me try. It was 14-year-old pot still rum barrels, and we finished the whiskey in them for ten to 12 weeks.”
Voyage is a triumph in the Master’s Keep series. It’s a 10-year-old bourbon bottled at 106 proof, which on its face seems pretty standard, but this secondary maturation has transformed this whiskey into something very special. It’s a beautiful bourbon, not overwhelmed by the rum cask finish as can sometimes happen. On the palate, there are notes of brown sugar, grape jelly, banana pudding, black pepper, cherry topped vanilla sundae, orange zest, and honeycomb. The Wild Turkey character is definitely still there, but it has become more of a background note with just enough of that recognizable grainy, nuttiness to complement the sweetness that came from the rum.
If it’s starting to feel like every new bourbon release involves a cask finish, that’s because that’s kind of true. But when it’s done right, as is the case with Master’s Keep Voyage, the results can be spectacular and enlightening. Wild Turkey 101 will always be my go-to whiskey from the distillery, but this special occasion sipper is worth the higher price tag.
Score: 97
100: Worth trading your first born for
95 – 99 In the Pantheon: A trophy for the cabinet
90 – 94 Great: An excited nod from friends when you pour them a dram
85 – 89 Very Good: Delicious enough to buy, but not quite special enough to chase on the secondary market
80 – 84 Good: More of your everyday drinker, solid and reliable
Below 80 It’s alright: Honestly, we probably won’t waste your time and ours with this
Every week Jonah Flicker tastes the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Friday for his latest review.
Best of Robb Report
Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
