Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye

Just about one month ago, my wife and I each had a birthday. Because our birthdays are within a couple of days of each other, we tend to celebrate them together. Usually, we’ll go out to eat, see a movie, and maybe buy a bottle of our favorite “Special Occasion” bourbon (Wild Turkey Rare Breed).

Well, this year we didn’t go out to eat. Instead, I smoked a couple of Ribeye steaks. We didn’t go out to see a movie. Instead, we bought the new Bill & Ted movie and watched that at home. I did buy a bottle of Rare Breed Bourbon, but as I was looking up the price ahead of my trip to the liquor store, I noticed that Total Wine was also listing the new Rare Breed Rye as being in stock at a few of the stores in the area.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Bourbon is one of our favorites and one that we will often celebrate special occasions with. I also really like Wild Turkey 101 Rye whiskey. So I was pretty excited to bring the new bird into our birthday celebration. Unfortunately, it wasn’t at my usual store. Luckily it was at a location a few suburbs away.

I consider that extra drive part of my wife’s birthday present.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed Rye

Purchase Price: $61.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Chanhassen, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.13

Details: 56.1% ABV

Nose: Mint, a hint of dill, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cedar

Mouth: Bright and lively. Mint, ginger, citrus zest, cinnamon

Finish: Medium and warm. Cedar and cinnamon notes linger.

Thoughts: This might just be my new favorite sipping rye. I really like the 100 proof Old Forester rye, but the added proof on this one raises Rare Breed Rye above that. Rare Breed Bourbon is my favorite Wild Turkey Bourbon. Depending on the day, I can see this competing with that for my favorite Wild Turkey product.

So, how does this newcomer compare to the other Ryes in the Wild Turkey lineup? In case you were curious, I’ve done a mini If You’ve Had… for the Wild Turkey Ryes below.

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Comparison to Other Turkey Ryes

Rare Breed Rye vs 101 Rye:

Noses are very similar. Rare Breed is bright and lively whereas 101 tends more toward sweet caramel flavors

Rare Breed Rye vs Russell’s Reserve Rye

Russell’s Reserve is sweeter and fruitier on the nose. On the mouth, Russell's Reserve shows more ripe fruit compared to the citrus zest of Rare Breed. Russell's Reserve also shows more oak.

Rare Breed Rye vs 81 Rye:

The nose on 81 is less concentrated. Much like 101, 81 is sweeter in presentation and obviously Rare Breed Rye has much more burn due to the 30 point proof difference.

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American Spirit: Wild Turkey Bourbon from Ripy to Russell by David Jennings

How excited I was for this book to come out? Well let’s just say that I backed it on Kickstarter at a level that got me an electronic copy and then when it was available for pre-order, I bought a paper copy.

I’ve been a fan of David Jennings work over at RareBird101.com for a few years now. Ever since I saw a tweet that mentioned his work. That tells you about how long I’ve been a fan since I’ve been effectively off of Twitter since 2017, maintaining a presence in order to promote new posts.

So who is David Jennings? I think I can sum it up in four words: Wild Turkey Super Fan. And a knowledgable one at that. This man’s work is all Wild Turkey and I love that about it. I’m a Wild Turkey fanboy, but not nearly to the extent that he is. Which is why he was the perfect person to write a book about the brand.

American Spirit: Wild Turkey Bourbon from Ripy to Russell covers the history of Wild Turkey from the earliest distillery on the land where Wild Turkey stands now, to the creation of the brand, to today. It’s a fascinating, though quick, read for fans of both history and bourbon. And if you want to know more about the expressions that Wild Turkey has released both current and historical, he’s got you covered there too. About a third of the book is dedicated to them, showcasing both the background of each and his impressions of them.

I really like this book and highly recommend it. It has a permanent place on my bookshelf of whiskey histories. My only wish is that it was even longer. I want more of it! In fact, I like this book so much that I want to give away a copy to one lucky reader. Just enter below and I’ll ship to one random entrant as soon as the second printing comes out. The giveaway ends midnight on August 26th, 2020. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

The BourbonGuy.com "Stuck at Home" Bourbon Brackets: Four Roses Single Barrel vs Wild Turkey 101 & Henry McKenna Bonded vs JW Dant Bonded

You know. I’ve been doing bracket type competitions for a long time. This is the eighth contest in seven years. You wouldn’t have thought that it would take a comment on the last post to make me realize that I could do all these rounds at once and have a completely blind competition. But it did. I started these as a way to try cheap bourbons that I hadn’t had before so I really didn’t have any preconceived notions about any of them. As I’ve included more and more bourbons that I’d had before, I guess it never dawned on me to change the way I run these.

Until now. Starting with the competitors in this post, this is not just a blind matchup of two known bourbons but is instead a completely blind competition. So what changes got made? Well, the main one was instituting another layer of blindness to the competition.

• I poured 200mL of each contestant into a sample bottle. I labeled each sample bottle with a 10 digit random code. (10 digits so it was just a garbage thing that my brain wouldn’t try to remember on the off chance I saw the bottle)

• I made a bracket that just had codes on it for my wife (she doesn’t pay attention to the brackets as we do this, she just tastes what is put in front of her). This way she knew which codes go against each other, but not what those codes represent.

• She then takes that bracket and chooses any of the contests that are available and pours us each a 1-ounce sample of each contestant. She places those samples on our tasting pads and leaves the room after recording in a notebook what code was placed on which letter.

• The tasting pads have four circles on them, labeled 1, 2, A, and B respectively. After she leaves the room, I choose whether to move number 1 to letter A or letter B (and then the other goes to remaining circle) and make a note of which bourbon I moved to which circle.

• She then reenters and if all has gone as planned neither of us knows what is in our glass beyond narrowing it down to one of the 10 remaining bourbons in the contest.

• Then over the course of Friday night through Monday night, we tasted the rest of the competition and … well, let’s just say we were amazed at some of the results when we had zero preconceived notions.

Now let’s get to it.

Wild Turkey 101 vs. Four Roses Single Barrel

Whiskey 1 (Wild Turkey)

Nose: Mint, Big Red cinnamon gum, vanilla, caramel, almond

Mouth: Warm and spicy. Notes of mint, dried grains, and oak

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. Dusty grains and vanilla

Whiskey 2 (Four Roses)

Nose: Nutmeg, cinnamon, raisin, and a slight antiseptic note.

Mouth: Spicy with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, leather, mint and dried fruit

Finish: Medium length and sweet. Notes of dark chocolate, ripe fruit, brown sugar, and baking spice

Pre-Reveal Thoughts:

If we had chosen based just on the nose, # 1 would have been a clear winner. As a whole though, #2 is much more complex and enjoyable. I'd take a glass of either though. # 2 wins.

Reveal: So there goes the King of the Bottom-Shelf Brackets. Its first crack at the more expensive competition and DOWN GOES TURKEY! Four Roses Single Barrel advances.

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Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond vs. JW Dant Bottled in Bond

Whiskey 1 (McKenna)

Nose: Cinnamon, mint, lots of oak

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, oak

Finish: Medium with lasting warmth. Dusty oak, ripe red fruits, and baking spice.

Whiskey 2 (Dant)

Nose: Caramel corn, cinnamon

Mouth: Butterscotch, cinnamon, dried grains, vanilla, caramel

Finish: Medium and warm. Lingering Butterscotch and dried grains.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts:

Not to knock #2, but #1 is just so much better. #2 is just sweet and heat. Nice in a glass when watching tv or to sip before bed. But #1 is much more complex and interesting. #1 wins.

Reveal: Well, I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise, Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond is more than twice the age and over twice the price. It should have won. And it did Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond advances.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

The BourbonGuy.com "Stuck at Home" Bourbon Brackets

Wow. It seems like it has been just a moment since we last had a bracket around here. I mean time really flies, doesn't i...

What's that? Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Ok, well.

I've just been informed that it actually was only about a minute since I last had a bracket competition around here. Well, what am I still doing here then?

Oh, that's right. I can't leave at the moment. I, like many of you, are currently living under a Stay-at-Home order due to the pandemic. And though, the liquor stores are deemed an essential business in Minnesota, I'd rather not expose myself any more than I have too. Besides, when it comes to stocking up on liquor, I've been preparing for an extended stay at home for years now. 

To that end, I'm going to take the opportunity to address something that it seemed people were really looking for in the Bottom-Shelf Brackets. Parity. Specifically proof parity (I already had price parity). I had comments on more than one post that stated that certain bourbons were at a competitive disadvantage due to the wide range of proof levels amongst the competition. And while that would usually cause me to explain that the Bottom Shelf Brackets are a "what's best for the price" competition and not a "what's best" competition, this time, I had the thought of: "Well, I'm stuck here anyway." Especially when I realized that if proof was the deciding factor, then I could not only reuse a few of the bottles from the Bottom-Shelf Bracket but that I also had a lot of potential competitors in my bourbon closet.

And so I am pleased to announce the BourbonGuy.com "Stuck at Home" Bourbon Brackets. The qualification rules are simple: Be 100 or 101 proof. Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems. I had 10 qualifying bourbons in the house. I had the tough choice to make between eliminating a couple or adding a couple. When a reader donated $25 to the cause, I knew it had to be to add a couple. I called up my local liquor store and placed a delivery order for a bottle of bourbon. I also decided to let Four Roses Small Batch Select join the competition since it was only a few proof points higher. And once again, to keep it simple, seeding was done on price. The highest price equals the highest seed. After a few swaps to get rid of repeat matchups from last week, we are left with the following. I bracketed these via NFL playoff rules, meaning the top four seeds get a first-round bye. 

• Proving that price was no object in this competition, the number one seed overall is Four Roses Small Batch Select. I got this at Total Wine on my last Kentucky trip for $49.99. 

• Across the bracket from that is Division 2 number one seed Maker's Mark 101 proof. I got this at the Maker's Mark gift shop for $49.99. 

• Division one number two seed is a store pick of 1792 Bottled in Bond. I got this at South Lyndale Liquors in Minneapolis for $44.99. 

• The next one might be a bit controversial since it has been discontinued. I seeded it based on its replacement's current price instead of the price that I paid for it. Division two number two seed is Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond 6 year. I didn't have any of the 7-year around, and honestly, when I reviewed it, I didn't find much difference between the two. You can get the 7-year, when available, for around $40

• The first seed in our "Wildcard round" is division one, 3 seed Henry McKenna Bottled in Bond. I bought this at my closest Total Wine for $33.99. This was also one of the swaps that were made to reduce repetition from last week. They are going up against division one, number six seed JW Dant Bottled in Bond, which I bought at South Lyndale for $16.99. A battle of Heaven Hill Bonded Bourbons.

• Over in division two, we have number three seed Four Roses Single Barrel ($42.99 at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake) going up against Bottom-Shelf Bracket Champion Wild Turkey 101 proof ($18.49 at Total Wine, Burnsville). Let's see how Wild Turkey does against competition where it isn't overwhelming its opponent with proof.

• The final competition in division one is number four seed Johnny Drum Private Select ($33.97 at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake) versus Knob Creek Bourbon ($24.98 at Ace Spirits, Hopkins). 

• And finally, we have division 2 number four seed Old Forester 100 proof ($24.99 at Total Wine, Burnsville) versus Very Old Barton 100 proof (purchased for $12.99 at a Total Wine in Kentucky).

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I think this is going to be a fun competition. Once again, I'd like to thank reader David Brown for helping with the cost. It would have been a much smaller competition without his help as I would have probably made the decision to go down to eight contestants instead of going up to twelve without that support.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2020: The Championship Rounds

Well, here we are folks. We’ve come to the end of the Bottom-Shelf Bourbon Brackets for 2020. We’ve had a lot of good competition to this point and a lot of good discussion in the comments. It has been a fun year…if only we weren’t all stuck at home under Stay-at-Home orders.

I want to thank you for checking in this year. I know that there is a lot going on in the world outside our homes. It is a little scary. The cabin fever sets in easy. I’m pretty sure that my dogs are still not sure why my wife has been staying home. One has taken to following her around and making sure that she is always in sight. I think she is worried. And to be honest I’m guessing that we all are, at least a little bit. So it’s nice to have a bit of diversion.

So let’s get down to business. I hope you’ve been playing along. If not, there is nothing stopping you from going back and seeing if you get the same results. I did my best to try to get bottles that have a good chance of being in most well-stocked bourbon collections.

Round 2a: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Maker’s Mark

Nose: Whiskey Two has a much sweeter nose, almost a caramel bomb, compared to Whiskey One, which is more nuanced.

Mouth: Whiskey One shows more oak on the mouth, whereas Whiskey Two tends toward grain by comparison. Whiskey Two is sweet and minty, while Whiskey One is sweet and spicy.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is a hard match-up, and honestly, I keep going back and forth as to which I like better. When I taste Whiskey One first, I get a sharpness that I find just a tad unpleasant. Then when I move to Whiskey Two, I find it's sweetness to be a nice relief. If I taste Whiskey Two first, it feels a tiny bit unimpressive. But when I then move to Whiskey One, the sharpness is gone and I am impressed with the baking spice on display. These two whiskeys complement each other very well. Gah! It's so hard! But I think I'm going to have to go with the spice on Whiskey One.

Reveal: Whiskey One is Wild Turkey. Whiskey Two is Maker's Mark.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: There is a good explanation as to why this was so hard. I'm a Wild Turkey fanboy but also a Maker's Mark Ambassador. I love both of them. In the end, it was the oak and spice that nudged Wild Turkey 101 into advancing to the Championship. The rye bourbon beat the wheated one. I should have seen that coming.

Round 2b: Knob Creek Bourbon vs. Old Forester 100 proof

Nose: Whiskey One is like walking past a Cinnabon, where Whiskey Two is more floral but with a hint of dental antiseptic.

Mouth: Whiskey One is all orange peel and baking spice with some peanut thrown in on the finish. Whiskey Two has an excellent mouthfeel and is full of mint and caramel. Both of these have a nice finish.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: These two are very different experiences. On Whiskey Two, the finish is an extension of the mouth. Rich and minty and lasts a good bit of time after you swallow. With Whiskey One, once you swallow your mouth notes go away to be replaced by the finish notes. And those sets of notes only have a little overlap. It's like "spicy orange peel, swallow, spicy peanut." Whiskey Two wins this one easily.

Reveal: Whiskey One is Knob Creek, Whiskey Two is Old Forester

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I was not shocked by the reveal. The antiseptic note on the nose of Two and the peanut note on the finish of One was pretty much a dead giveaway that Two was Old Forester 100 and that One was Knob Creek. What I didn't expect was how much more I was enjoying the Old Forester than I was the Knob Creek. In my internal ranking of bourbons, I’d always thought of Knob Creek as “Higher End” than Old Forester. But that’s why I do these blind. Old Forester 100 advances to the Championship.

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Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 proof vs. Old Forester 100 proof

Nose: The noses on these are very similar. Whiskey One is drier, and Whiskey Two is a little richer and is sweeter.

Mouth: Whiskey One shows more oak and has a warmer finish. Whiskey Two has a lot of baking spice and honey. The spice follows along to the finish.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Whiskey Two has a wonderful mouthfeel when compared to Whiskey One. The fact that I am enjoying the flavor more is just icing on the cake. Whiskey Two wins this one easily.

Reveal: Whiskey One is Old Forester 100, Whiskey Two is Wild Turkey 101.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I'm not going to lie, I was kinda rooting for Old Forester on this one. If only so that we'd get some new blood in the winner's circle. But here we are again, even when we increase the selling price of the competition Wild Turkey 101 is still king of the inexpensive bourbon scene.

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I think it might be time to retire the old bird from competition. But before we do, let's really throw some competition at it. Since I'm stuck in my house until at least Easter, let's raid my closet for as many 100-105 proof bourbons as I can and see how the bird holds up when it can 't overpower the competition with higher proof. Check back next week to see who the competitors are!

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2020: Round 1: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Four Roses

The time is finally here! Let’s get down to the competitions. Round 1 of the 2020 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets opens with Division 1 Number 1 seed Wild Turkey 101 versus Number 4 seed Four Roses. 

This is a battle of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky’s favorite sons. First up is the flagship product of the Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and tonight’s favorite. It is a two-time winner of the Bottom-Shelf Bracket contest in 2017 and 2019, winning both times it has appeared. Please welcome to the stage: Wild Turkey 101!

And their opponent is the entry-level release at the cross-town Four Roses distillery. Coming in a whopping 21° proof deficit. Please welcome fan-favorite mixer and wearer of the beige label: Four Roses Bourbon!

We strive to have a clean competition so these were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal and may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time.

Whiskey 1 (Four Roses Bourbon)

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint Candy, Cinnamon.

Mouth: Cinnamon, Caramel, hints of generic fruit.

Finish: Gentle and short. caramel and cinnamon.

Whiskey 2 (Wild Turkey 101)

Purchase Info: $18.49 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV.

Nose: Brown sugar, caramel, a yeasty smell kinda like fresh-baked bread.

Mouth: Warm in the mouth with toffee and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length. Warm cinnamon and nutmeg.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 1 has a cooler and thinner mouthfeel than whiskey 2. Guessing that the relative proof is showing its hand here. The flavor profiles are much more similar than I had expected but whiskey 2 is the clear winner.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: No upset tonight folks. The higher seed (and higher proof) wins in this one. Wild Turkey 101 wins the Battle of Lawrenceburg and is moving on to Round 2.

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

7th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: The Not-So-Bottom-Shelf Edition

So, wow. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, huh?

A couple of weeks ago, I got the bright idea that I wanted to up the level of competition this year on the Bottom-Shelf Brackets. At the time it wasn’t for any real reason, I just thought it might be fun. Over the previous six years, we’ve explored the best of worst that bourbon has to offer. And, if we are being honest, some of the worst of the worst as well. This year, I had the idea to do something a little different.

In the past, I’ve had a definition of “bottom-shelf” that ranged from $15-$18 (or under) per 750, $20-$24 per liter and $35 per 1.75 liter. That definition got me a lot of entries by Heaven Hill and Jim Beam but only a couple from any other distilleries. I had one year where half of the entrants were Jim Beam products and another where half were from Heaven Hill. So this year I decided to limit each distillery to one entrant.

Of course, not all distilleries have products that meet the definitions that I had defined for “Bottom-Shelf.” So what was I to do? Well, for this year, I’ve decided to throw out any pretense that this is a competition between “bottom-shelf” bourbons. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to go all-in and jump to the top of the price point. I mean, this is still a contest about being frugal.

That and I have to buy all of these things and I am still a freelancer…

So, here are the new rules:

1. One entry per distillery

2. Purchased for under $25. No matter the size. No matter if it was on sale.

3. Available in the Twin Cities metro area.

That’s it. As a general guideline, I tried to find the “best” offering from each distillery at the price point. Once I purchased all the entrants, I needed to seed them into brackets. For that, I usually use proof and stated age, but since all of these are non-age stated, I went by proof and then flipped a coin when two were the same proof. In order to maintain balanced divisions, I alternated which division chooses first, so Division One got to chose first on the first round, but Division Two got to choose first on the second round, then One on the third and back to Two on the fourth.

So let’s meet the competition in this “Not-So-Bottom-Shelf” Bracket, shall we? It should come as no surprise that I was able to find entrants from Jim Beam, Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, and Barton 1792. Each of these has produced winners in the past. In fact, some of those past winners are represented this year in Division Two, number four seed Very Old Barton 86 proof and Division One, number one seed Wild Turkey 101 proof. But I was a bit shocked to find that the Heaven Hill entry was Division One, number two seed Elijah Craig and that the Jim Beam entry was Division Two, number one seed Knob Creek. Though I’ve been able to find Knob Creek for about $25 for a while now, so it really shouldn’t have been that surprising. Rounding out the rest of our entrants from Division One are number three seed Makers Mark and number four seed Four Roses. In Division Two are number two seed Old Forester 100 proof and number three seed Buffalo Trace.

I can’t wait for this one. It should be fun!

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Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: The Championship Rounds

Well, it's finally here. The championship rounds. We are down to the last four bourbons. In Division 1 we have Old Grand Dad Bonded facing off against Larceny. And in Division Two we have Old Forester Signature 100 proof up against Wild Turkey 101.

Division 1: Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Whiskey 1) vs Larceny (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Both noses are sweet, but Whiskey 2 is showing a bit more graininess. I’d say this is a bit of a draw on the nose. Neither is particularly better than the other. On the mouth however, Whiskey 1 pulls way ahead. In comparison to Whiskey 2, Whiskey 1 is an explosion of deliciousness. It is the hands-down winner in the one.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: To be honest, I’m a bit shocked on the results here. I expected Larceny to put up a bit more of a fight. And even though, I knew that Old Grand-Dad might have more flavor due to the proof, I didn’t expect it to necessarily have a better flavor. And yet it did. This is why we do these things blind, to eliminate the preconceived notions. Old Grand-Dad Bonded advances.

Division 2: Wild Turkey 101 (Whiskey 1) vs Old Forester Signature 100 proof (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose on Whiskey 1 is sweeter and shows more baking spice. The nose on Whskey 2 is more tannic. Reminds me a bit of a glass of Lipton’s iced tea. Whiskey 1 follows the nose and is sweet and spicy. The mouth on Whiskey 2 is also more tannic but is sweet as well. These are both nicely complex bourbons in the mouth. I like the finish on Whiskey 1 better. It is a spice bomb which i love. Whiskey 2 has a fine finish, it follows the mouth but at this point it feels like just “more of the same.” It doesn’t really stand out or distinguish itself. Honestly, these are both delicious and it is super close, but I think that spice-bomb of a finish pushes Whiskey 1 ahead ever so slightly.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I’m honestly surprised at what happened here. I would have bet money that Whiskey 2 was Wild Turkey. But once again, this is why we do blind tastings. I think either of these would have been a winner with a different opponent or on a different day (and I guess they were to get here) but today Wild Turkey 101 advances.

Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 (Whiskey 1) vs Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 1 has a sweet nose where Whiskey 2 is reminding me of rye bread. Whiskey 1 is sweeter on the mouth while Whiskey 2 is drier and much spicier. This is super, super tough. Finishes on both are great. It comes down to the fact that Whiskey 1 makes me ever slightly happier.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I did this same matchup on three different days. It was that close. OGD and 101 each won one of the first two. On the third round, I gave up on analyzing the notes and just asked myself, “Which of these makes me happier when I drink it?” And that one was Wild Turkey 101.

Lessons learned

So was I shocked by anything this year? I mean, besides the fact that you guys have a much more high-end bottom-shelf than I do? Yeah. I actually was. I continually gave Old Grand-Dad no shot in it’s matchups. I wasn’t sure what would happen versus Beam Bonded, but I expected it to lose in every matchup after that. I just think of Old Grand-Dad as dry and ever so slightly dusty and grainy. Every time I drink it, I am reminded that it isn’t, but I can’t get that impression out of my head. I mean it won the whole thing last year and that didn’t help. And it was a tie-breaker game away from winning this year. And it lost to another former winner (2017 Wild Turkey 101 was the Champ). I think I need to reassess my thoughts on OGD Bonded and try to remember that it really is a very good bourbon.

I was also a bit shocked that the two finalists were ones that would have fit in my normal pricing rules. Those being 2.4 cents per milliliter or less (which works out to $18 per 750, $24 per liter or $40 for a 1.75 L handle). In fact, I can get a handle of Wild Turkey for just under $30 locally. And the fact that they beat out bourbons that sell for $25 per 750 mL? That’s a bit shocking as well. But it does show one of the guiding principles of this site: you don’t need to spend a lot to drink well.

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I’m off to Las Vegas for a well earned vacation next week so no posts. But I’ll be back a week from Tuesday with my review of Legent from BeamSuntory.