Wild Turkey Bourbons

[Linn]

Wild Turkey bourbon has a long and colorful history. J.P. Ripy bought what is now known as the Wild Turkey Distillery (real name Boulevard Distillery) back in 1888 from J.W. Stevens.

The Ripy family were excellent bourbon distillers and they were known for their high quality whiskey. Their brands were; "Ripy Bros.", "Sam Stephens" and "J.W. Stephens".

Thomas McCarthy Sr. founded Austin Nichols & Co. and started buying barrels of bourbon from the Ripy's Boulevard distillery to be used in a new brand. Tom liked to go hunting for Wild Turkey in North Carolina. He brought some of his newly acquired bourbon with him. All the other hunters liked it so much that they requested he bring more next year. This bourbon has been known as "Wild Turkey" ever since. It became so successful that Austin, Nichols & Co. bought the distillery from the Ripy family in 1972. Many years later Austin, Nichols & Co would itself be bought out by a large French wine and spirits company by the name of Ricard Pernod. And so it is today Wild Turkey is owned by the French, but they have changed nothing. The distillery itself still uses all of the same original buildings (they have since built more) and much of the original equipment is still in use today. The original Ripy bourbon recipe is still the same one used today to distil Wild Turkey bourbon by Master Distiller Jimmy Russell.

Among the fine line of Wild Turkey Bourbons are the world famous '101' proof. This bourbon used to be a full eight years old, but through a slight of hand and a bit of marketing gimicry became "old No. 8 brand" and presto-changeo started to be bottled as a 5 1/2 to 6 year old rather than a full eight years old. Now the label has been changed again with no reference to the number '8'. The regular 101 proof is now and always has been an excellent bourbon. In the days before small batch and single barrel bourbons, Wild Turkey along with it's competitor Old Grand Dad were long considered America's premium brands.

Wild Turkey now bottles four expressions of the world class Wild Turkey formula for the U. S. market.

1) Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel - 101 proof. This is absolutely great stuff and in my not so humble opinion is the best Turkey ever put into a bottle.

2) Rare Breed 108 or 109 proof. It varies. Jimmy Russell batches this up himself. This is not a blend, but rather a marriage of barrels of different ages from 6 to 12 years old. It's all the same whsikey from the same recipe distilled at the same distillery. It's all straight whiskey and nothing is added.

3) Two years ago at the Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Kentucky Wild Turkey introduced 'Russell's Reserve' to commerate Master Distiller Jimmy Russell. This is a ten year old bourbon at the traditional 101 proof. It's flaovr profile was hand picked by Jimmy himself and this is the way he thinks bourbon ought to be, and I do agree! Great stuff! Very close to the much more expensive Kentucky Spirit. I love it and always keep several bottles on hand.

4) The original 101 proof bottling.

5) A sissy-assed 80 proof bottling.

6) A very special 12 year old bottling that is no longer being sold in the U.S. simply because they can get $250 a bottle in Japan. If you see any of this - BUY IT!

7) Wild Turkey also makes a great straight rye whiskey.

Linn