101. Wild Turkey 101 - Episode 101

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank our friends at Premium Bar Products for sponsoring this episode. If you're ready to step up your game at your home bar, check out premiumbarproducts.com to choose from their wide selection of glassware, all of which can be custom engraved with your personal message or logo. And there's no minimum order. So after the episode, head over to premiumbarproducts.com and check out everything they have to offer. Now let's get on with the show. Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is The Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, another Craft Distillery Monday, a little bit special for us. Yeah, I think it's a little bit special, right? Yeah, we kind of skipped right over and failed to mention when we broke our century, when we hit 100 episodes. Is that a big mark in podcasting? I think it's a pretty big mark. I think it's a lot of work to put out a podcast. And when you hit that number 100, you probably ought to mention it. And we just flew right by. We didn't say a word, did we?

Somebody had brought it up on Instagram and said, hey, congratulations, guys, on your 100th episode. And I didn't even realize it. I just was like, hey, I'm going to get this post done and write the blog. And either the same way, we just both work in full-time jobs. doing the podcast and it's deer hunting season for me. So, you know, I'm, I'm all about that, but Hey, it's a hundred and first podcast 101, 101. So,

I would say, as Randy would say, isn't it apropos that we have a bourbon to match our podcast episode number? Heck yeah. All right.

What's the most famous bourbon? It's 101. Well, I like to think it's wild turkey 101. There's some others out there now. Is there? Yeah, there is. Oh, I didn't even know that. I just thought there was one.

Yeah, there are others at 101, but honestly Wild Turkey 101 has been around for a lot of years. I kind of cut my teeth on it in the early 80s. It's every now and then we need to come back around full circle and talk about Wild Turkey 101 again. People kind of forget about it. They think, eh, it's just that old man's whiskey or that's that biker whiskey or it's that college whiskey or, you know, whatever it is.

I think of it as a hunting camp whiskey is what I think. Hunting camp whiskey. That's a good one too. Yeah.

But at the end of the day, I think it's gained a lot of respect in the last. Since bourbon started to really get popular in the last 10 years, Wild Turkey 101 has gained a little bit of respect because people start to appreciate a fine middle shelf bourbon. And I think it's good for us to every now and then take our craft distillery Monday and focus on a big boy. And I would say Wild Turkey 101, that's a big boy. I'd say it is. You can get it anywhere, but a lot of people haven't had it because they just don't want to reach for that bottle. They don't know what to expect or they have a, a misgiving about its history or its marketing.

Or it had a bad effect on them at one time in their life.

They may have had that in college and said, I'm never drinking that stuff again.

We've all been there before.

Absolutely. Well, anyway, today we are going to drink Wild Turkey 101. This is a 2018 bottle that quite honestly, Mike, you had to dig for.

I did. My bottle collection is somewhat crazy. And I think the only time I pull this bottle out is when you say, hey, can I have some Wild Turkey? And that's when we pull it out. But it was buried in my third or fourth liquor cabinet, I would say, that I have.

behind hundreds of bottles you've got just a few well anyway wild turkey 101 this is a 2018 bottle you can tell a wild turkeys uh the age of a bottle when it was released because there's a a date code, laser etched in the back of the bottle near the bottom below the rear label. And there have been a few significant releases that you can certainly Google if you want to. A great resource for information on wild turkey is rarebird101.com. We've had him on the show a couple of times. That is kind of the central place for all information wild turkey as far as I'm concerned. So I highly suggest that, you know, if you're interested in knowing more about the Wild Turkey brand, you want to look up a bottle code, you want to know a little bit more about other Wild Turkey expressions, definitely go to rarebird101.com and check out his blog. He puts out a blog every week and it's pretty good stuff.

So we talked about this on several episodes where that distillery itself is just absolutely beautiful. Maybe not when you're driving into the distillery, but once you get up to the distillery itself sets up on a hill on top of the cliffs overlooking the Kentucky River. It doesn't get much more beautiful that not only that we got a friend that works there. Bo Garrett used to be lead guitarist for Montgomery Gentry. He's a tour guy there now. You're going to take a tour of wild turkey. You want to ask for Bo. And if you're there on the right day after all this covid stuff is over, hopefully you'll get to meet Jimmy Russell, the grand old man of Bourbon, I would say.

So Wild Turkey 101, it's considered a high rye mashbill bourbon. It's 101 proof. It averages age between six and eight years. And it's got a pretty dark color to it. It has a mixed reputation, I would say. But I would say this right now, even before our tasting and our review, don't write it off. Oh, that's most definitely.

I think even after I came back to it and visited, cause I had some bad run-ins with wild turkey in my life. And now that I appreciate whiskey more, I'll come back to this bottle. I know I'm not a high ride guy. I'm not a ride bourbon guy, but I still respect it as a good, like you said, mid shelf bourbon for a great price.

All right. Well, let's check it out, Mike. Well, Turkey has that signature nose to it that it's got that little bit of, uh, I don't know. It's kind of a, I call it a funk, but it's that, that knows that it just has that, that old smell to it. That smell of, uh, at Rick house smell.

I don't know why they call this a high ride. Even on their bottleneck, it says high ride, but it's only got. 13%.

Well, I mean, it's not an extremely high right. We've, we've had some of those. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it does have a higher right content than average. Yeah. I'm getting a vanilla and oak and toffee and just the nose is very layered. It's got a lot going on a little bit of sweetness, but that rice spice comes through. I get a little butterscotch. Yeah, definitely. And that, that, I think that you always kind of get a little bit of that on a wild turkey. I think with, uh, with that funk, you know, it's got that, that older, some people like say grandma's house or something like that. It's got that, that older funk smell and it's got a little bit of that butterscotch to it.

Well, I'm talking about that butterscotch candy. You know, the one in the yellow wrapper that's been sitting on your grandparents table for about 50 years and it's hard as a rock. That's the one I'm talking about.

The one that breaks your teeth, right?

Yeah.

Wow. That is so good. You know, actually, you know, this was my daily for many, many years, but we've been drinking so many bourbons lately. I mean, we literally get just an unending flow of bourbon in to taste and review and try. And we're always looking for the next great thing to tell our listeners about. I've kind of don't have a daily anymore. It's just, it's kind of got to that point where I don't have a chance to really have a daily. And I do miss Wild Turkey 101 because it's, it's got that profile that just calls my name. Absolutely.

Yeah. I think it, this is one of those bourbons, if you think of. Kentucky whiskey or Kentucky bourbon. This is what it's going to be right here. That, that oak is coming through, not a toasted oak, but almost toasted.

Yeah. Yeah. They use the number four char on their barrels. I think occasionally a number five char is that, that dark appearance to the whiskey, even at a hundred proof, they do, they use a low barrel entry proof, which is not all that much higher than the one-on-one bourbon we're drinking right now. So they don't have to do much to it. You know, to get it back down to one on one. Let's taste this thing. Let's taste it. It's hot. It's got, it's got sweetness on the front. It's got spice on the back. And it is a hotter bourbon. So right off the bat, I'm going to say this. If you're not a person that likes a hotter bourbon, Wild Turkey's probably not going to be for you. Same thing with like an old granddad. Very similar. Old granddad even has that kind of outdated marketing, you know, that kind of people kind of overlook it now because it's been around so long. And the same thing with Wild Turkey, but they're both kind of, they've got that hotter, spicier flavor to it.

I still get some vanillas, that caramel that you would always say in that, but definitely some spice in there, almost like a Sriracha hot sauce a little bit. It's got the spice. If you love spicy food, which I know, Jim, you love some Indian food that's super spicy sometimes, I think this would be right up your alley.

Yeah, this, this bourbon calls my name. It's my profile. No doubt about it. I like. I like the balance of sweetness and spice, and it is very balanced, but I also like the way it's so layered. The longer you sip on it, you find those other flavors start coming through. You're right, vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, that toasted oak flavor. I'm even getting a little bit of hints of those like leather and older oak to it. Even though we know this is a 68 year old bourbon, I think it's, it's picked up a lot of that char.

I actually get a little bit of, just a little bit of chocolate on this and the chocolate I'm getting, I was thinking about this, what chocolate I was getting, but I'm getting a little bit of Tootsie roll. There's a little bitty tootsie roll that you get at Planet Fitness for a little treat after working out.

That's what I'm getting off of this. Now, Mike, we had this one in our Coke episode too, didn't we?

We did, actually. That was the last time we drank it.

It didn't farewell.

It didn't. Maybe that was because of the spice and Coke already has a little bit of spice to it anyways. So you put the two together and maybe they just cancel each other out. I didn't know. I mean, you got beat up on that episode pretty bad. That's all right.

Look, let's face it. You and I, we drink our bourbon neat. That's the way we'd like to drink our bourbon. Every now and then, if I'm having a glass with somebody and it's a hot day, I might throw an ice cube in it. I usually don't add water, but many people do. I do like a mule. You know, we both drink mules, I think. I had one for my birthday last night. There you go. It seems there's a stigma around bourbon and Coke, and that's okay. I mean, people get to think what they want. They get to drink what they want. Uh, but we've got a lot of listeners that honestly are gonna, gonna have a bourbon and Coke every now and then. And we want to make sure that we acknowledge them. And heck, the name of the episode was what bourbon makes Coke taste the best.

Well, that was just us being honest too. And I think any master distiller says, I don't care how you drink it. You could drink it with milk if that's the way you want to drink it, as long as you're buying it. You think they care? They don't. Right. When it comes down to it, they're a business. They want it to taste good, but they want you to enjoy it and however you enjoy it. And if you drink it with hot sauce, I mean, Hey, that's the way you're going to drink your whiskey, your whiskey, your way.

Well, in our last episode with a new riff, Jay Erisman, you know, he was talking about how he details people, you know, you drink bourbon any way you like it, just buy it from me.

Yeah.

So there you go. Um, and, and I agree with that bourbon your way, but anyway, back to the wild Turkey, get us back on track here. Back to the wild Turkey. I think that this is a solid choice. You'll find yourself in a bar. You'll want to have a bourbon. You're scared that you're going to get raked over the coals and pay 20, 25, 30, 40, $50 for a pour, right? Yeah. You can just about buy a pour of Wild Turkey 101 anywhere. And it's probably, even in the more expensive bars is probably not going to be more than $10. Yeah, I'd say around six, six bucks at poor. It's a safe choice if you don't want to ask for a price list. So what's the average age of a bottle of this, Jim? You mean how old's the bourbon in it? Yeah.

It's six to eight year bourbon. That's pretty good. I think it's real good. A lot of bourbons out there are just around four to five years old.

Right. It's not a bottled in bond. Well, obviously it's 101 proof, but it is older than four years, which is the requirement of bottled in bond. So it's a little bit higher proof, a little bit older in age. It is the flagship brand of wild turkey. Um, just, just a solid pour.

What I love about it is, like I said, in me, I think this is the whiskey that's going to be at a hunting camp or you go hunting and you take a bottle with you on a trip. You know, right now it's fall turkey season. So to me, what else do you want to drink? besides some wild turkey with your turkey hunt. I don't know. I love it. It's a good bourbon mid-shelf. I think people beat it up too much. If you're listening to this and you're thinking about it, you're not going to waste your money if you buy it and sit there and drink it neat. I think a lot of problem is people shoot bourbon in a little shot glass. They shoot it back. And of course, that's not a pleasant experience with whiskey. If you sit there and sip on it though, You're going to get that better experience. To me, this has that medium to long finish. I'm starting to get that Kentucky hug coming on.

It's our match hug. Oh yeah.

No, it's a good whiskey. It's good whiskey. You can share with friends.

Absolutely. And while Turkey has, uh, currently the longest tenured master distiller, Jimmy Russell been around for a very long time. I think he's in excess of 60 years now.

And he got it, his son and his grandson, both are working in the business. It's kind of like the beams, the nose, they're doing the same thing. This two families, you can't go wrong with them. But Jimmy loves to be at that distillery. I know the COVID thing is killing him not being there, but for his safety, you know, why not?

All right, Mike. Well, cheers to 101 episodes. Cheers to Wild Turkey 101. Hopefully we've taken a few listeners and reminded them that there's some pretty good stuff on the middle shelf.

Oh, most definitely.

Where can everybody find us?

So you can find us on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at the Bourbon Road. You can look at our website, the bourbonroad.com. There's some blogs on there, some photos. You can even shop for Fragment Karen on there through our, one of our sponsors, distillery products or premium bar products.

So if you're looking for glassware, you're an individual or a small company and you're looking for just a few pieces, Premium Bar Products will make Glencairn for you. Other glassware, decanters, flasks, other bar related things. engraved monogrammed and so forth with, uh, with your name, your company name, your, your logo, your motto, whatever it might be. Uh, and there's no minimum purchase there. So you can buy one or you can buy 10.

Same thing with a distillery products. If you're a whiskey group out there, you're another podcast, you're a big. whiskey company, a distillery, you're looking for a new glassware place. Hit up Janie and her team over there at distillery products. They're going to hook you up.

Absolutely. They've been good to us and we drink from them every day. Got some fine glassware and, uh, good friends of ours. Yeah.

I got it. We have another thing on our Facebook, which is our roadies and stuff, right? It's our private Facebook group, like a family. About 1100 people in there, you know, you got to ask, answer three questions to get into the group. What are those Jim?

You got to be 21 because we're not serving children. Yeah. You got to, you got to understand that you're entering into a bourbon group and, and, you know, we expect you to play nice and, uh, and not be, uh, I don't know, pretentious, overbearing, rude.

The word is rude.

Don't be rude. We don't want you to be rude in there. We want people to have fun. We want everybody to respect each other. We do want to hear your opinion. So if you taste a bourbon and you like it or you don't like it and you want to give an honest and unbiased review of that bourbon, please do. We're looking forward to it. And you don't have to like every bourbon. Some bourbons you don't like. But don't take another person's review and slam it because you don't agree. That's just their opinion.

Yeah. I always think, I guess, be mindful of how you're writing your review. You know, if you're going to say you don't like it, just say you don't like it. You don't have to flush it down the toilet bowl or. Say it's a drain pour. Just say, hey, I might gift this to somebody else. Maybe somebody else will like it.

Yeah, I've never met a drain pour. Not yet.

Anyway, what I do got to say about the roadies, Jim, is it was my birthday yesterday and I got to say thank you for making a post and wishing me happy birthday. But the roadies, they actually made my day. So many comments and, uh, happy birthdays on there from roadies. And I gotta say guys and gals and the roadies, um, I love you. You are a family to me and Jim and we really appreciate that love that you give us. Um, so just keep up that good work, sharing your whiskey with each other and me and Jim will try to keep on doing the thing we do.

Absolutely. And look for us on the social media. Like Mike said, I'm jshannon63 on Instagram. I'm one big chief and we will see you down the bourbon road. We do appreciate all of our listeners, and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show, and if so, we would appreciate it if you'd subscribe and rate us a five-star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop in all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions. And if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.