330. Why Not Wild Turkey - Four Reasons to Reach for this Whiskey

Welcome to another great episode of the Bourbon Road with your host, Jim and Brian, where they talk bourbon and of course, drink bourbon. Grab yourself a pour, kick back and enjoy another trip down the Bourbon Road.

We are excited to have our sponsor Seldom Seen Farms with their bourbon barrel aged maple syrup. Kevin and his staff there do a wonderful job. We're excited to have them sign on again this year to support the Bourbon Road and we love their product. We hope our listeners will visit SeldomSeenMaple.com and check out all they have to offer. A lot of great gifts there. Bourbon aged maple syrup. bourbon barrel aged coffee, Rick house reserved barbecue sauce. You can buy it by the bottle. You can buy it by the case. You can even get bourbon maple candle and they even have maple cotton candy. Definitely, definitely check out seldom seen maple dot com. Support our sponsor. Support Kevin and his family there. They have a five thousand maple tap operation. you know, Ohio, and they're doing it right. You know, they don't just produce maple syrup. They're also bourbon enthusiasts, and we love them to death. Again, go check out Selvam Seed Maple dot com. Kevin and his staff will take care of you. Hello, listeners, and welcome again to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. And today in the studio, we have our co-host, Brian Hyde. Brian, welcome to the Bourbon Road again.

Thank you, Jim. Happy to be back.

And we have Tyler Wilson, our producer and media director. Welcome back once again. How are you doing today?

I'm doing very well. Thanks for having me, Jim, Brian.

Tyler had a busy weekend. That's a little bit about what today's show is about. We had a great weekend. We did some pours for a nonprofit and we're going to get into that a little bit. But we actually took a walk through Wild Turkey. We called it, Why Not Wild Turkey? And I think you're going to kind of lead us on this one a little bit because I'm not sure how many people you poured for the other night, but it was probably somewhere between 50 and 100 people.

Yeah, we had a good crowd come through and, you know, we set people down, go through the pores, kind of talk a little bit about each one and what people were kind of tasting, the flavor notes they were picking up. And it was kind of interesting just talking to people, all walks of life and, you know, novices to professionals in the industry.

So this was the annual bourbon event for Habitat for Humanity. And I would say most of our listeners are probably familiar with that nonprofit organization. They're a great organization that builds homes for people who desperately need them. And not only do they pay for the homes, they actually get in there and drive nails and hang shingles and paint the walls and everything to try and prepare these homes for people that are in a true need for it. So it's a great organization. It's a great cause. We're very proud to be involved. At least three events every year that they hold. We really have a good time. They're great events. This was their annual bourbon event. Do you remember what they were giving away?

Well, they had a raffle. I know for a number of Blanton's, I believe there was a gold, an original, I guess, single barrel, and there was another one in there, wasn't there?

There was. Yeah, they had three different Blanton's bottles there for going for raffle. They also had a silent auction for a lot of items that were really pretty cool. So there was great food, great music, great time. They had gambling tables there. I didn't go to the tables, did you?

You know, I never had a chance to. Once the event started going, there's a constant flow to both of our tables, Jim.

Yeah, that's true. They also had an outdoor cigar bar going on there, and Rob managed to get to that, but I never got a chance to go to it. You and I were pouring whiskey all night long. What a blast. Had a great time. Again, why not wild turkey? That was kind of our theme. And some people might scratch their head and say, why are we calling the show, why not wild turkey? Well, even though wild turkey has made leaps and bounds to overcome some of the stigma they've had in the past of being kind of a bad boy whiskey, right? Sort of a college, don't want to remember that terrible headache they had in college whiskey or that horrible night out with friends. It has come to be quite a well-respected whiskey, but there's still those that don't reach for it on the shelf because of what they think wild turkey is. And part of our goal there was to pour a series of four different wild turkey whiskies, not all called wild turkey, and see if we could change their minds a little bit. And I think we changed a few minds. Not everybody, because we actually live pretty close to the distillery.

Yeah, it was interesting. And I actually had a number of people ask me if I worked for Wild Turkey, which is fun, I guess, because I was just so passionate about what we were drinking and for the price. I mean, there's a lot of great bottles that they offer that they're really hard to beat, honestly.

All right. Well, why don't you take us through and just sort of announce up front what four expressions we're going to drink through tonight.

Yeah, so we had a great night Saturday. We had four different expressions that we went through. We started at the lowest proof and worked our way up to the highest. So up first was the long branch, an eight-year-old whiskey, so an 80 proof. Now all these do have the same mash bill, the wild turkey bourbon mash bill of 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley. So the next one up was the Russell's Reserve 10-year. Now this is probably on a lot of your old shelves already. Definitely a favorite and I was hearing a lot of positive notes throughout the night. So it's definitely something that everybody at least is a little bit familiar with and it was fun to hear some people that hadn't had it. The next one up was the Wild Turkey 101. So this is probably or was the most affordable among the four, around the $25, $28 range. You may have drank it before in some of your younger days, and it is known as more of a party whiskey, but it was kind of fun to walk people through and get their reactions on it. And then up last was our wild turkey rare breed, the barrel proof. So at 116.8 proof, it definitely brought a lot more heat and a little bit more of a hug. But I really enjoyed the flavors on that one and kind of walk people through it.

All right. So we've got actually got the long branch in our glass right now. Why don't we go ahead and take a sip of it, try it out a little bit and talk about it. Brian, you've got a little bit of history with this one, don't you?

I do. This is one that I've had several times over the last couple of years. I definitely, definitely enjoy this one. I've loved the story and everything that has come along with it, you know, why they, they did it. And of course, you know, Matthew McConaughey's relationship with it was pretty cool, but yeah, I mean, I'll, I'll kind of tell you what I pick up right off the bat with it. So, Uh, you know, for me, it is definitely sweet on the nose. Um, and, uh, this one for me, there's the touch of nutmeg, but it's definitely a, a sweeter nose than some of the other ones that I've had, uh, for mild Turkey. So.

Yeah, for me, it's very aromatic. It's more so than some of the others. I don't know why it's a lower group, but maybe that additional water brings out those aromas a little bit more. I definitely get the nutmeg. I do think it's a little bit sweet. I've heard that this has eight-year-old whiskey in it, right? Is that correct? I think it has eight-year-old whiskey in it, but they're not saying it's eight-year-old, right? They're saying it has eight-year-old whiskey in it. Yeah, so big difference there. I think the nose is very pleasing. It's mild. It doesn't, it doesn't have a lot of ethanol to it. How are you?

Yeah, I think it's nice. Uh, the nose is, is pleasant. I could pick up some spice up front, a little bit of sweetness and like some caramel, but really that, that like mesquite finish gets me almost like a, like a barbecue chip or, or, you know, something like that. Some smokiness there.

Yeah. I tend to agree with that. Let's taste it guys. Cheers. It's light, it's not very impactful on your palate. It does have a nice sweet note to it.

A little creamy.

It is creamy, definitely. That's interesting though, to get a creamy bourbon out of something that's only 86 proof. Pretty cool. How did they manage that? I don't know. But it's, it's, it's definitely a pleasant core. I don't get an overwhelming amount of those, uh, of that sort of barbecue firewood, right? That mesquite. It's like somebody's cooking barbecue three houses down and you're just getting a little bit of it. Just a very light. Yeah.

I agree. And it's, uh, I would say overall probably, I mean, it's really just well-balanced. I mean, it's a, you've got a nice, nice nose on it. Sweet. Uh, the, the palette is, like I said, creamy, maybe a little honey. It's definitely sweet on the palette. The finish is unique because you know, you have the creamy and the sweet and it's a little dry.

Now you can get this one around $32 to $35. I'm not sure the exact price, it varies depending on the outlet, but I think Total Wine has it around $32. So it's a fair price. Tyler, between you and I, we probably served well over 100 pours of this. on Saturday. What was your take on it? What did you think in general? Let's talk about the crowd that was there and what they liked and what they didn't like with respect to the Long Bridge.

Yeah. Even the novice drinkers, experienced drinkers, I was getting a lot of similar notes after the Long Ranch. It was fun to pour that, have everybody drink it, which some would sip on it, some would just shoot it straight back, which was fun to be like, okay, well, let's settle down and sip on it and taste some notes a little bit. But I was getting comments like smooth, They really liked just the finish on it. Even experienced bourbon drinkers were a little bit surprised with it. I think that they were not expecting as much at an 86 proof and something that's got Matthew McConaughey tied to it. But even experienced bourbon drinkers were complimenting it and said, hey, you know what, for $35, $40, that's not a bad bottle and I wouldn't mind having that on my shelf. So Tyler, you're saying that we're not supposed to just shoot it? I mean, you can. You can drink it however you'd like. You may not be able to enjoy the flavors as much if you just shoot it straight back.

I think while Turkey needed something that was in that wheelhouse in between 80 and 100 proof, they needed something that sort of sat in the 80s somewhere. And honestly, when you bring Matthew McConaughey in, there's one thing that you know, right? When you're bringing him in to speak for your brand or to be an advocate for one of your products, you know what he brings with him, right? the masses of females in the United States because he's quite a good looking guy. He's been in a lot of great movies and the ladies love him. So this bottle has been there obviously to impact the female part of the bourbon drinking world just a little bit and the male part as well because he's also played the tough guy a few times, hasn't he?

Right. And he has a great relationship with, with college, uh, athletics and, and Texas, but you know, down there and with it being Texas Mesquite Charcoals, uh, some pretty cool connections there. I'm sure all the folks in Texas really enjoyed this one.

I don't want to drive this in one direction too much, but I did want to ask the question because I had my own guests that I was pouring for and you had yours, Tyler. But what did you find with the Long Branch? Was it more popular with the ladies and the guys or was it kind of an even split?

You know what? I would say it was certainly more popular with the ladies. And it was interesting to me because I thought that, you know, it would be kind of more competitive with the Russells 10, but it was very kind of split. There was either people that were, you know, staunchly saying that, hey, the Russells 10 is better. I like it. Or there are people that like, you know what, I do like this Long Branch a little bit more, which is interesting to me because I'm more of a, I do lean more of the Russell's 10 kind of head to head. But it was interesting to see how many people were kind of drinking them both and then going back to the Long Branch and saying, you know what, I think I'm going to go with this one.

Yeah, I kind of saw the same thing. I feel like Long Branch held its own for the night. It kind of, it kind of stood there amongst other expressions for wild turkey that may have more flavor, have more proof, you know, have more age on them. and it kind of held its own in terms of votes. Did you do votes at your table? Did people pick which one was their favorite?

Yes, I typically at the end of the, you know, of the four, I would ask them, you know, which one did you like the most and kind of why. And I was getting a lot of long branch. I was getting a lot of Russell's 10, not as much 101, but the rare breed had some votes in there too.

So Brian, what do you think? Uh, 32 bucks to 35 bucks, depending on where they get in a small store and a big box store. You know, what do you think? Fair price.

I think it's fair price. It's worth every penny. Uh, it, it's just, it's solid. You know, like I said, it's, it's, it's well balanced. Uh, you really can't go wrong with it. I mean, when you look at all the prices out there, 32, 40 or $40, I mean, it's just not a bad purchase at all.

Now it's not it's not gonna knock your socks off it's not gonna blow you away it's not something special it does have that nice unique little flavor note there that you don't get anything else but. This is more of one of those pork whiskeys right you can sit out there just sit through a whole bottle wow it's gone you know.

I think it's one that if you have friends over and you don't tell them what you're pouring, they'll be surprised.

Yeah.

What they're drinking.

Yeah, I think so too. Well, I think it was a big win for the night. I think people really liked it, but let's move on to the next one. This is always a listener favorite. There's a lot of reasons why, but Tyler, what do we have up next?

So up next is the Russell's Reserve 10-year bourbon. This is a 90-proof bourbon. And again, same mash bill, the 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% barley. It's a little bit higher, but not that much more expensive. And this is one you can typically find in the store nine times out of 10, at least.

Yeah, I think this one's recently been trending a little bit more in the low 40s, like 40 to 42. But that's the way the market's going, right? We've seen it over the last couple of years that our prices are tending to trend upwards just a little bit, aren't they? And you're paying more for those whiskeys that maybe got a little bit cheaper a few years back. This is a 10-year bourbon. This is Jimmy and Eddie. get together and doing something good. Russell's has always been a really solid flavor bomb, Rick House whiskey. I think when we taste this, I think we already know, but I think when our listeners taste this compared to the Longbrae, they're going to find that it's packed with more layers and more notes. But take us through it. Let's drink it.

So compared to the Long Branch, this is have a nice kind of light amber color. It's not necessarily as dark as I think the Long Branch is a little bit darker than this one, but you've got a real nice color, you know, 10 years age. That's a great, great age for the price. I mean, you know, typically you often see like a $10 per year, so for $40, getting to 10 years, still great value. I know that this is one that Jimmy and Eddie go to as a daily drinker. I'm told, keep it in the fridge and go to it every night, which I think is really cool. To me, I pick up a lot of spice right off the nose and maybe more floral notes compared to the long branch. But just kind of immediately, I just get more floralness, a little bit more spice. What about you all?

Yeah, I would agree with that. One of the things that kind of stands out and one of my favorites is a little bit of leather. I like everything with leather, tobacco, those types. Oh, there's something else. I can't put my finger on it quite yet, but Jim.

Yeah. I think the vanilla really stands tall in this one. Uh, you know, there's vanilla flavors in every single bourbon out there. And the same goes for caramel. You're going to find caramel and vanilla in every bourbon. And certainly the, the Russell's 10 has it, but it's like more concentrated, even though it's only a 90 proof, those flavors are a little more concentrated. On the nose. I mean, you get a gingerbread cookie, a little bit of gingerbread.

That's what it is. Graham cracker, maybe a little graham cracker.

Yeah. Yeah.

I pick up a little bit of Oak. Um, as I swirl it, just, you know, not super strong, but the vanilla definitely in some little bits of Oak.

Let's taste it. Cheers guys.

Cheers.

Yeah. The oak is definitely like all, all in that, right? It's all in oak. Um, very nice flavor. Rick house aroma that right kind of pops up on the back end.

I get a little on the palette, but I would agree. It definitely jumps out on the finish. Do you guys get the, the leather tobacco on the finish as much as I do?

I don't pick up as much leather. I do pick up a little bit of the tobacco. I get more of the rye spice, not so much, but a little bit of it, but really the oak just kind of hits me as the finish hits. But I can pick up a little tobacco there, but not so much the leather.

For me, it's more of the oats, a little bit of leathery tobacco, but not a great deal of it. The spices on this are just wonderful. They're really, really good. And I want to say it's like toffee and gingerbread cookies, a little bit of citrus in there, but it's kind of way in the back. You just barely notice it. One thing I will say though, and it's surprising to me, is that that long branch had a better mouth feel than the Russell's 10 year. But I love the Russell's 10. I would much rather drink the Russell's 10 personally. But where did that, where did that mouth feel and creaminess come from in the long grades? That's kind of interesting, isn't it?

Yeah, it is interesting. And a lot of people were telling me that, and the way they described it was they thought it was smoother. They're like, oh, that kind of tasted smoother. And I think that's kind of what they were alluding to was the creaminess of it. And it just had that little bit of a mystique hint to it. Whereas with me, at least the 10 years, more of like your average or what you expect more with a bourbon, more of that rye, that oak, that just really, I don't know, it's a great bourbon in me. I love it.

For 40 plus, this is a wonderful find. If you can get your hands on it, and you can, it's out there. It's pretty much available to everybody. Ten-year-old Russell's, it's just a great bourbon. Can be a little dry on the back end. Brian, I'm going to agree with you that you start to pick up a little bit more of that leather as you analyze the finish, as it sticks with you a little bit longer.

And I agree with Tyler, you know, when you look at a 10 year, uh, that's, that's very solid like this. I mean, that's, that's a great price point.

I wonder why it gets overlooked. Sometimes, you know, it's always on the shelf. You can always get it. Sometimes you can't get the single barrel version of it. Right. Sometimes you won't find the Russell's single barrels because they get snapped up pretty quick, but the Russell's tens always sitting on the shelf. Always a great crowd.

And I hate to say the dirty word in bourbon, but if it ever goes allocated, we're in trouble.

That's for sure.

Might be one of those ones you want to grab a few just in case.

Well, and honestly, I had a lot of the ladies tell me that were more into the wine drinkers. They said that they really enjoyed the taste of the Russell's Tenure and also the Wild Turkey 101. And I don't know, maybe there's a lot of similarities with wine. I don't drink a lot of wine, but the ones that did told me that those two in particular, they really appreciate it.

That's interesting.

Definitely very interesting.

All right, guys. Well, I poured a little bit more Russell's 10 on my glass than I should have, and I don't want to do anything but sip on it. So why don't we take a short break? And when we come back, we've got two more expressions to watch. Folks, we definitely encourage you to check out seldomseenmaple.com. That's seldom seen farms. Kevin and his staff there are doing a fantastic job. And like we said at the beginning of the show, you know, they've got a 5,000 maple tap operation. They're a first generation farmer with a passion to produce the very best maple products available. They've won so many awards and they have a very special unique aging method for their syrup and for the barrel aged coffee. They provide quality at a very affordable price. They're not a maple factory or a co-packer. Kevin and his staff there are farmers with a passion for maple. Like I said before, Kevin is a bourbon enthusiast. He's not just a paid sponsor. He's a friend of the show. He's a roadie and he loves helping roadies get down the bourbon road. Make sure you check out seldom seen maple.com. You know, they're constantly producing great. bourbon aged maple syrups using barrels from the very best distilleries. They also return those barrels to the distilleries afterwards. Distilleries like New Riff, Leapers Fork, Treaty Oak Distilling, The Bar Distillery, Pine Bluffs Distilling, Mystic Farm and Distillery, Jay Riger, so many more to come. Kevin and his staff there just spreading the love, spreading the maple syrup, making it happen. And you know, at the end of the day, those barrels that age that maple syrup get refilled with some wonderful bourbon and make some great maple finished bourbon whiskey. How awesome is that? Definitely check out seldom seen maple.com. Get yourself. All right, this is a weird fact. I have actually finished my Russell's tenure. Well, not really. One last sip, guys. Cheers.

Cheers.

Now that we're done with that. All right. So, Tyler, what do we have next on our list?

So up next is actually the number one selling product from Wild Turkey. Something that probably all of our listeners have had at one point and it's very popular out there. It's the Wild Turkey 101. Now this is a blend of six and eight year. It's got the same mash bill as the others, the 75, 13, 12. Now, this is going to be the most affordable of the bunch. It's 101 proof. And this is just something that a lot of people seem to be familiar with.

Yeah, so I'll jump right in here and tell you on the nose, you're going to get a little more ethanol on this one, more so than the other two. And I actually love this one. I really do enjoy the 101 quite a bit.

You know, Brian, the funny thing is, I bet I heard that 20 times out of the 50 or 60 people I served the other night was, wow, it's burning my nose a little bit. That one's got a little more alcohol on it. That one's got more alcohol. And it does. It does, right? Because they just drank 86 and 90 proof, and then they jammed that glass up in their nose and sniffed on 101.

Yeah, and I tried to warn drinkers a little bit. I said, you know, 86 to 90 is not that big of a jump, but we are going to jump, you know, another 11, but it's not just the proof. It's kind of the flavor of it too. You know, it really hits you with that spot, that rye, the spices up front. I mean, you get some of that. I get a little bit of oak, you know, right after drinking it too. But, you know, it's just like the flagship of wild turkeys, the wild turkey 101. Brian nailed it. I mean, you're going to hit that ethanol, but you usually, you know, have a fun night when you get that 101 bottle going.

That's right. I'll tell you guys, I've got a great story on 101 and it was at my wedding reception. We had some folks drive up from Arkansas. They went to Wild Turkey. They did all the fun stuff there, had a great tour. They got their own bottle of Wild Turkey 101, brought it to the reception. And I feel kind of bad. They didn't realize that everybody in Kentucky was going to drink the whole bottle. So they had a great visit. They brought the bottle over to the reception, went back home empty handed. We all had a great time.

One of the reasons that Wild Turkey has that, or at least Wild Turkey 101 has that kind of bad boy reputation, or the college hangover reputation, right? If you're a college kid, if you're going to UK, Brian, and you're trying to go out to the liquor store one night and get yourself something to drink and you're looking across the shelves and you say, okay, $22, 101 proof, I can do math. That's the best proof for dollar that I can get out there, right? Except for maybe, you know, Bacardi 151, right?

That's right.

So it's a very popular grab when you're trying to tie one on, right? But there's a ton of flavor in it. It's a really good bourbon. I know you said that it's kind of blended six and eight-year burdens, right? But I don't think a batch goes out that doesn't have some older burdens in it because they're always trying to mingle a little bit of that older stuff in there to try and keep their inventories in check, right? You know, sometimes they'll put a little 12 year in there. They just do. And you can taste it a little bit of variation from batch to batch, not too much because they try to hold that profile. But while Turkey 101 is a fine or a whiskey for 22 to $25.

Jim, would it be safe to say that, that a lot of these expressions that we've had, they would lean more towards, uh, bourbons that have, uh, you know, kind of an older. profile to them. You know, whereas you get a lot of bourbons that you taste and they have that young feel to them, you know, two or three years, but I feel like a lot of the wild turkey expressions really do dip into the older, the more traditional flavors than what a lot of these other folks do.

Yeah, I think folks at Wild Turkey take advantage of their rick houses. They have some amazing rick houses that are many floors high. And they have some, you know, over in Jessamine County, they have Tyrone warehouses there on the river in Lawrenceburg. And, you know, they're able to use those rick houses to kind of manipulate that flavor a little bit. You heard the story about the wild turkey funk, right? And the wild turkey funk is not something you put your finger on, but it's that that flavor you get when you drink wild turkey that only they have. That's that essence of being in the rick house. Walking the first flow in the rick house and going in between the ricks and the barrels and you just get that smell and it just makes it into the bottle somehow. I'm not sure how they do it but they certainly do it and it's an amazing thing and you get it in a $25 bottle of whiskey and that's cool. I've always been a fan.

It's hard to beat the Wild Turkey 101. And something else that I think is kind of interesting is it comes out of the barrel at 109 proof, and then it's kind of diluted down to the 101. So I think that is part of the reason it kind of maybe gets more of that barrel heat and some of those flavors there.

Yeah. You've seen a lot of other companies come out with 101 proof bourbons, right? So you kind of wonder, where does that 101 come from? Back in the day, a long time ago, when your barrel entry proof was much lower, that was barrel proof. That's what came out of the barrel in the old days. Now, things have changed. Barrel entry proofs have gone up. There are some changes in the industry that led to that, but 101 needs to be proofed down now, like you said. But before, that was what it came out as. That's why they called it 101, right? Pretty interesting stuff.

So I'll say on the palate, definitely still, I mean, like we've said on the other two, a little spice, a little rye, you know, jumping out to you a little bit on that. Baking spices, I think is fairly safe to say.

I think a little bit of toffee always makes it into a wild turkey pour. I always manage to find a little bit of toffee. There's a hint of that kind of toffee in them. I love the spice of it. There's always a bit of that baking cabinet in there. The finish is always nice. It's always pleasant. It's not always long, but it's always pleasant. And that's what I like about it. My first wild turkey 101, I've told the story many times, but it was an 81-101 when I was 18 years old. at 18. But yeah, wild turkey 101 was my thing way back then and I still drink it today. X number of years later.

Tyler, what do you pick up on the finish?

So to me, the 101 is kind of like a spicy oak kind of bomb. Maybe not a bomb, but I got a lot of spice and oak on it. And like Jim said, it's not necessarily a longer finish, but I do notice a little bit of a sharper heat almost. Um, it's just kind of like, it was kind of interesting as we, as we go across the tasting, it's like, okay, the, the long branch. Yeah. Okay. That's got a nice punch to it. Then the, the, uh, the Russell's 90 air, the 90 proof Russell's 10. And then a lot of the people that had the one-on-one, it was like, that was the first time they're really like, Oh, wow. Okay. Now, you know, we're drinking some whiskey now. Well, immediately they'd say fireball and I'm like, yeah, you know, it's not as sweet You know as some fireball like cinnamon whiskey, but yeah, okay. It's got it's get ready for the barrel proof, you know Spicy dry oak.

Maybe is that a good good way to describe what you're saying? Yeah, I'd say that's fair.

Yeah, I get some rye and the baking spices and then you know smoke and yeah some dry oak definitely

So for me, Wild Turkey 101, here's where it stands for me. It's everywhere, on every single shelf, in every single state in the United States, and most countries in the world. You can find a bottle of Wild Turkey 101. If you go into a bar and you're worried what they're going to charge you for a whiskey, because maybe you're not wanting to pay $20 for, right? You could always order a Wild Turkey 101 and be sure you're going to get a good whiskey, and you'll probably pay five to six to eight There you go, good price, guaranteed. You can put a little water in it, you can put a little ice in it, you can add it to Coke or Diet Coke, you can add it to ginger ale, you can make an old fashioned out of it. It's so versatile and it's inexpensive. And for me, that's why, you know, I might have hundreds of bourbons on the bourbon road bar downstairs, right? But I've got a handle of wild turkey upstairs all the time. What a tricky one.

It's, it's one that my bar will never go without. And I know we don't have this one tonight, but I will say, if you see the wild Turkey, one-on-one ride, pick it up, give it a shot.

That's a good one too. No doubt about it. Yeah. We didn't have the Russell's right either, but both of those are fine rise. And that's another thing that Walter does well or the rise and they don't have a lot of them, but they do them well. Well, Tyler, what do we have next on our list?

So the last one on our sampler platter here is the The rare breed. This is the barrel proof. This is 116.8 proof. And, you know, same mash bill, that's 75% corn, 13, 12. Now, something really interesting, and I think it's awesome that I learned recently about wild turkey, is that 90% of the corn that goes into wild turkey is actually grown in Shelby County, Kentucky. Which i found to be really fast and awesome like that i am a big you know i'm born and raised in kentucky and i support kentucky so that's awesome to hear. Now this one is a little bit more i like to say robust it does have a little bit more of the hug in the heat on the end of it but to me this is my favorite of the four i just find it has a lot more flavor up front to it and i really like the sweetness that it brings.

I would agree with that, but the nose, you've got the, the caramel, the, the toffee, uh, I guess maybe a little more citrus than we've had on some other ones.

Yeah, I think that definitely, I think when, when, when they prove down the wild turkey expressions, I think that citrus tends to get lost a little bit. And when you get the higher proof of turkeys, you'll always pick up that citrus a lot of bit more, a little bit more. There's been 11 batches of rare beans since 1991, and always interested to see when that next batch comes out, to see how it might differ from the last. It's been amazing. Now, they had some changes in packaging over the years, and Brian, I think you mentioned that, but it's always been a barrel-proof wild turkey whiskey, and I love it.

So Jim, of the four, I know you went through a number of samples the other night as well. What is your preference of the four of these? What is your go-to, I guess? Is there a winner?

Yeah, so for me, it depends. So if you want me to pick a daily drinker out of the four, I'm going to pick Walter P101 because I'm always price conscious. And if I'm going to mix it and I'm going to share it, And, you know, depending on the, you know, if it's 100 degree day in the summer and I just got off the lawnmower cutting grass, I might throw a couple of cubes in there. It's going to be Wild Turkey 101. But if I'm wanting to sip a finer whiskey, if I'm wanting to really enjoy a flavorful, bold pour, it's going to be the Russell's Tenure. every now and then I have rare breed, but I'll be honest with you, I don't reach for it that often. And it's not because it's a bad whiskey, it's just because there are so many great whiskeys out there at Barrel Proof. I have a few others that I would rather reach for, but that's just me. Other people may reach for the rare breed. The Long Branch, not usually on my bar, but that's just me. I do like it. I will say this, from the table, from all the 50 or 60 people that I've poured for, I think the majority of them were either Matt McConaghy fans or Jimmy Russell fans, one of the two. So it was either Russells or Long Branch. There were a few 101 people and there were a few rare breed people, but for the most part it was either Long Branch or Russells. What about you, Tyler?

Yeah, I was going to say the same. It seemed like maybe Russell's 10 slightly edges out the long branch, but there was probably 50%, 35% and then, you know, 10 and 5 for the others. What about you, Brian? I mean, I know you like more of the higher proofs, but would you lean more towards the rare breed of the few?

So I will say that I'm kind of along the same lines of Jim. Uh, I really do love the one-on-one, uh, one-on-one is, has always been one of my favorites. So that's, that's something that I will always have 100% of the time. Um, but honestly, even though I'm a higher proof guide, I really enjoy the long branch. Um, It's, it's hard to believe I'm saying that, but I really do. I'd probably go one-on-one long branch and then rare breed. And then the 10 year.

All right. All right. All right. Well guys, this has been a ton of fun. I've really enjoyed this, even though Tyler, you and I. Or an uncountable number of these the other night and talked to so many people about them. It was nice to sit down, just the three of us and go through these four bottles together. Absolutely. I think they're all good choices. I mean, why not buy any one of these, right? I mean, they're all fairly priced. They all offer something just a little bit different. I think it wouldn't hurt you to have a bottle of each one of these four on your bar. It can buy all four of them for about 150 bucks.

And that Jim, I'll say that's one of my favorite things about wild Turkey is that you really can get Some, some just normal everyday drinkers. You can get some really nice bourbons if you want to take a step up for prices that are, that are affordable. They're always on the shelf for the most part. You know, it's easy to get, uh, and, and honestly, you can't say that for. for every distillery out there, every expression out there, but Wild Turkey makes some great, great bourbons and whiskeys and they're generally a great price and easy to get.

Absolutely. Well, Tyler, thank you for walking us through these four tonight. We certainly appreciate it. We know you had a great time the other night pouring whiskey for all those people. And we'll definitely get you to do it again, because yeah, I think you have a smile on your face for four hours.

Yeah, absolutely. And thanks for having me again here tonight. I had a blast on Saturday. It was a lot of fun just kind of walking everybody through it. And then one thing I like to do at the end was I was like, hey, you know, all these bourbons have the same mash bill. They're all made with the same ingredients. And I was just kind of fond to see people kind of realize that, hey, there's a lot more complexities and things like that that go into bourbon than maybe they realized.

You know, this was the annual Bourbon event for the Shelby County Habitat for Humanity project and we're always happy to be part of that. Now listeners on March 11th, 6 p.m., they're having their annual banquet. It's a big deal. They're having it at the Shelbyville Conference Center. It's on a Saturday. You should plan for it. It's going to be a great event. They're going to have musicians. They're going to have lots and lots and lots of bourbons on auction there. They always have three or four 50 foot long tables full of bourbons and other bourbon related gifts.

It's always great.

you know, they'll have very nice dinner and a lot of fun. So check out Shelbyville Habitat for Humanity. Definitely check them out and help out if you can. It's a great cause and you might get one of those great bourbons out of that auction. It's always fun. Guys, we appreciate you being on. We had a wonderful time tonight drinking through these four whiskeys. Finishing up with that rare breed, my goodness.

The great, great weight in the night, but I would agree, Jim, uh, definitely, definitely a good night drinking some, uh, great expressions here and, and leaving with a smile on our face. That's right.

Well, Brian, where can people find us on the internet?

So guys and gals, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and even tick tock. You can also find us on our private Facebook group with around 3000 of our really good friends where we like to share pictures and videos and all of the great things that we're able to taste and enjoy with each other. So it's the bourbon roadies, right? That is correct. The bourbon roadies.

So how do they find the bourbon roadies? Just what do you just go on Facebook and type in the bourbon roadies and it'll come up and ask you to answer three questions. So what are those questions?

That's it. That's what you do. And we're going to ask you, are you 21? Are you of legal, legal drinking age? Do you like bourbon and do you agree to play nice?

We don't let any rudeness into the group. If you come into the group and you attack somebody for what they're drinking, or you shame them for drinking from the bottom shelf, you won't stay in the group very long because we just don't like that. Everybody gets to drink what they want. You know, some of us can afford to drink from the top shelf and some of us can't. And you know, that's just the way it is. Just drink bourbon, right? Just drink bourbon.

That's right. And Jim, one more thing. We also do not tolerate selling bottles. That's right.

They'll come in the group to sell. They'll come in the group to ponder your wares without checking in with the admin staffers. We definitely like to keep a tight rein on the group. That's why we're 3,000 members and not 30,000 members, right? Because we don't allow a lot of that stuff. So it's a great place to be. There's a lot of friends in there. You'll have a great time. We do a show every single week. Every single week we'll have a master distillery. We'll visit a distillery. We'll drink through a number of expressions. Sometimes we'll have a country music artist on or a chef or an author. It's always an interesting show. We always drink whiskey because that's what we do on the show. This is a whiskey drinking show. But check in with us every single week. And Brian, what do they have to do to make sure they don't miss a single episode?

If you want to stay up to date on all of our episodes, you can check us out on iTunes, you can check us out on YouTube, Google, Spotify, and all you have to do is look for that subscribe, follow, plus sign, and just click on those buttons and you will get notified every time we have a new episode coming out.

We love our listeners, we love to listen to what you have to say. Definitely give us a review. Pop into Apple Podcasts and give us a review. Let us know that you liked the show, you enjoyed listening. Let your friends know that you like listening to the Bourbon Road. We love to hear those things. But if you've got an idea for a show, if you've got an idea for a guest, or a topic, or maybe in your hometown, you've got a distillery that's doing it right, and got some really tasty stuff, and you want everybody to know about it, just reach out to us. You can head our website up to bourbonroad.com, we've got a contact us page, send us a message. We're very responsive. You can always come to us and message us on Instagram or Twitter or YouTube or any of the outlets that we're on. I think we're pretty responsive people. We'll get back with you. That's what makes this show great. Our listeners make this show great. Well, it's been an awful lot of fun tonight. Thank you guys for being on the show with me. I really appreciate it. Listeners, until the next time, we'll see you down the bourbon road.

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