I had told myself I would pass on this bottle based on the price and past performance of Wild Turkey limited releases but I have to admit I was intrigued by the story on this one. I’m not usually the fan of older hyper aged whiskeys but after hearing that it was barrel strength and aged in cool locations my interest was piqued. I was still skeptical of the price vs. value proposition though so I rounded up our local whiskey group and we all chipped for a group split. I don’t like to post reviews after one pour but I know a lot of people are on the fence about it so I thought I would get this out there now.
43.4% ABV; Aged 17 years; $150
Notes: The nose is sweet, woody, and rich. It definitely smells the age but not as musty as I expected. There is just a little furniture polish. Overall a really great nose. The mouthfeel is very chewy considering the low proof. I suspect that is the lack of any filtering? The taste is heavy on vanilla with just a little light spice and lots of woody dark sweet flavors at the end but no hyper-age oak funk. This is way better than I expected for the proof and not as funky as I expected given the age.
Thoughts: I can’t get over how much this reminds me of the bourbons I’ve had that were bottled 10 - 20 years ago. This is easily the best Wild Turkey I’ve ever had. That’s not saying much though because other than 101 recent standards are pretty low and I’ve yet to have any of the older legendary bottles like donut or cheesy gold foil.
Verdict: I like it. I'd probably go B if I had to rate it. My advice, split a bottle with a few friends.
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