What's going on everybody and welcome back to Bourbon of the Week. My name is Chris. I'm going to be your host for today and let's skip the introductions and get right into this bottle right here.
Wild Turkey 12-Year. Obviously coming out of Wild Turkey Distillery. They discontinued this at one point. They brought it back, but you cannot get it here in the United States. You have to actually get it overseas.
I got it shipped in thanks to a friend named Scott Smart. Scott, you're the man for helping me find this. Wild Turkey is one of my favorite distilleries. 12 Years is one of my favorite age statements. So let's go over this bottle right here.
But before we get started on all of that... Time for the traditional sip. Cheers y'all. That's turkey all right. So let me preface this video by saying that I'm not usually a fan of extras when it comes to my whiskey right?
Send me the bottle of whiskey. I don't need the box and everything but this one right here. This is beautiful.
I'm going to read you the inside of this while you check out some b-roll. This says and I quote My son Eddie and I have dedicated our lives to distilling real Kentucky bourbon. You could say it runs through our veins.
We've been doing things the right way since day one, staying true to the traditions and process that have been used for over 100 years. Because good things take time, this 12-year-old bourbon is no exception. I've been told this bourbon is a bit like me, aged longer for more character. I like to think there's a story in every bottle. Feel the spirit of Kentucky with its rolling hills, rugged wilderness, and bold colors.
Taste the richer, more generous flavors you only get from a bourbon matured at the highest level of char possible. Go ahead and close your eyes, smell the bourbon first, then let the flavors roll in your mouth. That's the real way to taste the true character from this 12-year-old wild turkey Kentucky bourbon.
Signed, Jimmy Russell. Now, if you were checking out the box while I was reading that, they also have notes on the back, which gives us some tasting notes, which I absolutely love, because I'm always interested in what the distiller thinks that you should get. So thank you, Jimmy and Eddie, for that. Now, this week, we're skipping the Bourbon Bomb of the Week. And we're doing a new segment called My Thoughts on What I've Been Thinking.
If you're from the Philadelphia area, you might get the reference. But let's put this through the ringer. Price, taste, drinkability.
Let's start with drinkability. So this is wild turkey, right? 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley. The perfect mash bill, if you ask me.
Coming in at 12 years and 101 proof. This is basically your wild turkey 101 on crack. So we're going to try this out. When it comes to drinkability, we always talk about the ethanol kick compared to the proof.
How does this drink for 101 proof? Let's try it. When I first opened this bottle up and tried it, I said, and I quote, damn, that is easy to drink.
This coming in at 101 proof, while it's not the highest proof on the planet, it definitely still drinks easy for 101 proof. 13% rye might kind of throw you off on your senses thinking you're getting some spiciness, but it's not an ethanol cake. Wild Turkey 101 does one thing very well. It gives you something that's easy to drink and it's for every level, whether you're a beginner in the bourbon world or an expert, you enjoy Wild Turkey 101. This bottle right here is no exception because it's easy to drink. It's smooth.
Whether you like that word or not, I don't really care. But for 101 proof, I got to give this a very good score when it comes to drinkability. Sidebar, I just had a conversation with my brother-in-law the other night about how I can put out more content. And he said, maybe if you stop drinking three glasses in one review, you could put out more content and shoot more than one video in a night.
This isn't going to be that night. This bottle right here is fantastic. So for that, back to our drinkability. 101 proof. I got to say, Easily in the high eights, maybe low nines.
I'm sorry guys, I gotta do one more sip and this is why we drink three glasses. I'll say this, only because it's a little bit lower of a proof, I'm gonna go in the high eights. I'm gonna go like 8.87 when it comes to drinkability on this.
Fantastic when it comes to drinkability. I just know there's some higher proofed whiskeys that I've had out there that still drink very easy, so I don't want to quite put it into the nines. 8.87 is where we're gonna put it when it comes to drinkability. Let's go over taste next.
Now let me tell you this, a long time ago I was in the gaming world. Before I was into this bourbon thing, I was trying to be a streamer, right? I wanted to be a big Fortnite streamer or Call of Duty streamer and make all this money off of that. Then I found whiskey and this is my new love.
I kind of mixed them at one point because I did a thing called tier lists. It was when I did my first wild turkey tier list and I didn't have a lot of great wild turkey products at the time. That being said, I have a big collection of wild turkey right now because it's some of my favorite product.
I will do a new updated wild turkey tier list. A lot of bigger channels took it over. and started doing their own tier list, check the receipts I did mine first, but that's neither here nor there. I will do an updated list now that I have this bottle and a couple other great bottles from Wild Turkey, but when it comes to taste on this glass right here, I do need another Wild Turkey straight up 101, not a 12-year to compare, but this glass, when it comes to taste, I'm still kind of back and forth on whether I like it or love it or if it's somewhere in between. For some reason, when I first opened this up, it didn't have the sweetness that I truly love that Wild Turkey gives me.
That being said, that is not true and couldn't be further from the truth now that I'm having my third or fourth glass of this. This right here is everything that you love about Wild Turkey 101, just 10 times better, or should I say 12 times better? Actually, probably not 12 times better, because I think Wild Turkey 101 is like seven to nine years or something like that. Don't quote me on that. But this right here, when it comes to taste, is fantastic.
Now, I will say it's nothing exceptional. If you're looking for that crazy exceptional, the best whiskey that you ever had, this isn't it, but this is giving you all of the perfection. in a glass that I love, especially when it comes to that Wild Turkey profile.
And it's giving you a 12 year age statement, which just makes it that much better because that's going to add that depth, that character, that complexity that brings this glass together so well. Let's talk about some of the notes we get. Now, I hate to sit up here and tell you about the vanillas and the caramels that you get in this glass, but the vanillas are so rich.
The caramels are like almost chewy. I feel like I'm chewing them in my mouth when I drink this. Then you get into that complexity that I'm talking about. Chocolates.
You get some citrus notes on this, like some orange notes on this. You get that depth of character when it comes to the oak presence on this. It's a sweet oak.
You get some spicy, some pepper, some allspice, all mixed up into this beautiful 101 proof that doesn't overwhelm the palate when it comes to that ethanol kick. This glass right here, I love it. It's traditional wild turkey. It's 12 years.
What else can you really expect when it comes to this glass? I'm going to say the only knock I have on this glass right here is the finish. It's not short by any means, but I have had some bourbons recently where I take one sip. If I don't brush my teeth that night, I'm waking up and it's still on my palate. This isn't long by any means, but again, it's not short.
So I'm not too upset about it. I was expecting it to be a little bit longer. No tannins, no dryness on the tongue, which I absolutely love on this.
This glass right here is something special. If you have an opportunity to buy this at the right price, which we'll talk about next. You should definitely pick it up, but let's finish this off and give it a score when it comes to taste.
Here's a conversation I've been having with myself, but I'm going to have it with you as well. This is Wild Turkey 101, but it's 12 years old. If I picked up a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 and I tried it and I said, what would this taste like at 12 years old?
And I imagined it, this is what I would imagine it tasted like. That being said, again, there's nothing exceptional about this bottle. It's exactly what you're expecting.
Some bourbons try and go above and beyond. Does that mean that this bottle should get a lesser score just because it's exactly what it's advertised as, Wild Turkey 101 12-year, or because it doesn't go above and beyond and meet or exceed expectations? Should it get an average score?
I'm kind of back and forth on it, but I think if it drinks as it's advertised, it should get a very good score for what it is. So that's what I think I'm going to give it today. One more sip, we'll give it a score when it comes to taste. I said at the beginning of taste, I don't know if I'm going to like it, love it, or if it's going to be somewhere in between.
I feel like this is falling right on the edge of love it. I don't think it's over love it, but it's right on the edge. And I'm going to give this a pretty damn good score when it comes to taste.
Let's go high eights again, like an 8.93 when it comes to taste on this. Let's get in a price right now, which we got to do some conversion rates. Cheers y'all. Now I already mentioned this, but you cannot get this bottle here in the United States.
So we're going to have to do a little bit of math. First things first, this is 700 milliliters instead of 700. Now, I believe there is a push in the United States to make bottles 700 milliliters. Now, I don't know if I'm for or against that. If they drop the 50 milliliters, I know they're not going to drop the price. That makes me mad.
But they also have an opportunity to bottle more whiskey, which means I might have an opportunity to get a whiskey that I didn't have an opportunity to get before. That being said, $60 US dollars for a 700 milliliter breaks down to $64.29. We'll call it $65 for a 750 milliliter bottle of Wild Turkey 12-year.
101 in Japan coming to the United States. You got to pay for shipping, but we're not taking that into account. $65 when it comes to this bottle right here. Now I'm always honest with you guys and I'm always truthful and I'll tell you what I paid for this bottle right here.
And that's $150. Now that's shipped from Japan to my door actually to somebody else's door and then to my door. So $150 doesn't seem that bad to me, especially when this is trading for like 250 ish.
I think on the secondary market, I know shared poor just came out. They were like 299.99. So 300 on shared poor. So $150 didn't seem that outrageous to me, but let's talk about it. We always go with MSRP, which again, we broke down to $65 on this bottle right here.
I don't think that's too terrible of an ask, do you? Wild Turkey 101 currently sits here in Pennsylvania at $24.99. This bottle would sit right next to it at $64.99 if it had the same distribution.
It doesn't, but if it did, which one would you pick up? I'd make old fashions with this. I'd pour this up for anybody who wanted an opportunity to drink it. At $64.99, it's going to be a great score when it comes to price.
One more sip and then we'll give it. The only hesitation that I currently have is knowing that Wild Turkey Rare Breed coming in at what? 116.8 proof sits at like 48.89. So we're talking 50 bucks for that, 64 for this.
Wild Turkey Rare Breed versus Wild Turkey 101. I don't know which one I like better, and we're going to put them to the test eventually. But for right now at 64.99, I still got to give this a great score when it comes to price. Let's go like 8.69. Gotta love that.
8.69 when it comes to price on this. Cheers, y'all. I'm going to pour up one more glass just to piss off my brother-in-law as we get into our first episode of My Thoughts on What I've Been Thinking, where we go over controversial topics here in the whiskey community, and you let me know in the comment section below if you agree with me or if you disagree.
This week, age statements. Let's talk about it. That's right. We're going to talk about age statements today.
I figure it's kind of appropriate since we're dealing with an age-stated bottle right here. Here's the thing that pisses me off about age statements. I don't mind age statements.
I went from... When I first started drinking whiskey to thinking they were end all be all, if it doesn't have an age statement, it can't be good whiskey to then thinking they're useless. Get rid of them because all you're telling me is the youngest whiskey on it to kind of falling somewhere in the middle.
And I want to know your thoughts on age statements right now. So comment in the comment section below, whether you like them, love them, or you don't care about them at all. Here's what I want when it comes to an age statement.
So this is wild turkey 12 year. If you know anything about age statements, the age statement tells you that 12 years is the youngest whiskey in this. It doesn't tell you the oldest whiskey in it. And that's where I think this system is flawed.
Let me tell you about two bottles that I just got today. This is Barrel Bourbon Company. They sent me two samples.
Make sure you click that subscribe button because we're gonna review these as well. And these are brand new coming out of Barrel Bourbon. Now, they say five years on this and five years on this as well, but they also send me these cards. And the thing that I love about Barrel is their transparency. They tell you right here, they have five, six, and nine-year-old whiskey in this one.
And in this one, they have five, six, seven, and 10-year-old whiskey in this one. So while it's age stated at five years, they have nine and 10 year old whiskey in this. And I just don't understand why every company is not telling you all the different ages of whiskey in their barrels. I'm going to give you two more examples just to prove my point here.
This is Bardstown Bourbon Company. This is their own distillate. So they only have one mash bill in this, one origin and one age, which is their own distillate that is six years old. But I used to have a discovery series bottle and it would tell you all four ages and distillates that are used in that particular blend. Love the transparency there.
Then you have something like Russell's Reserve 13 year here, which has an etched in laser code on the side where you have to go online, check it, find somebody who happens to know the exact mash bill on that, the exact age of every barrel used. And you find out that this particular batch two has 20 year old whiskey in it. And I don't love older whiskey. I would not have bought batch two. All right.
I would have bought the bottle because it was MSRP. But don't get me wrong. If I knew there was 20 year old whiskey in it, I might not have had the same expectations I had. thinking it was only 13-year-old whiskey.
I can guarantee you there's older whiskey in this than 12-year-old whiskey, and it just bothers me when it has a 12-year-old age statement. I do understand that that's the youngest whiskey, so at least you know there's nothing younger in there. But at the same time, I also want to know what's older in there to get a general idea of if I'm going to like it, love it, or if it's going to fall somewhere in between. So again, this is just me ranting for this particular topic right here. Let me know in the comment section below if you love age statements, hate age statements, if you do wish they were more transparent.
like Barrel Barbecue Company and Bardstown Barbecue Company, or if you're cool with just a straight up 12 year old age statement and not knowing anything else about the particular whiskey in that particular bottle. Let's get back to our score. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem here.
This bottle comes in at an 8.83, which ties the number one spot with Green River. Now, normally if you tie the number one spot, or even if you beat it, I have to taste them side by side to make sure that you deserve to be there. So we have to decide.
which one of these is going to be number one and which one is going to be number two. So let's pour them up real quick. This is a like third time ever here on Bourbon of the Week.
We're going to try this next to Green River. I'm glad I poured up a little bit more. I'm actually glad I still have some of this whiskey left.
This is Green River Bourbon. This is coming out of Owensboro, Kentucky, the 10th oldest distillery in Kentucky, recently bought out by Bardstown Bourbon Company, a company that we talked about in this video already. We have that versus the Wild Turkey 12-year. New winner versus old winner. New logo versus old logo.
Let me know in the comment section below which one you like better. And let's try these out. Price, taste, drinkability, very quick. We're just gonna try them and see who deserves to sit atop of the list here in 2023. Cheers, y'all.
I mean, that's just so damn good. I think the biggest issue is going to be going from 101 proof to 90 proof. But again, we're talking $65 versus $35. Let's get into the Green River now. I mean, that's just so close.
So the mash bills on these are a little bit different. This is 70% corn, 21% winter rye, which leaves us with 9% malted barley. This is obviously the 75, 13, 12 that we already talked about. Right now, taste-wise, I feel like I'm leaning towards the wild turkey, but drinkability at 90 proof, this is just very hard to beat.
And then you're talking about $35 versus $65. I don't think it's far off when it comes to price. I think right now we could take taste out of the equation and just give the nod to Wild Turkey 12 Year. Compared to this, it tastes a little bit young, but I will say this right here, again, for that price point is a very good bottle of whiskey.
Just next to this Wild Turkey 12 Year, it doesn't really compare. So we're giving the nod to taste to the Wild Turkey 12 Year. By the way, Dave, this is three and four. When it comes to drinkability, I have to give the nod to Wild Turkey again. I got to say, I was expecting this to taste like water next to this glass right here.
Still fantastic when it comes to drinkability, but remember, this is just a 90 proof, which means this is two and O, and when it comes to price, $65 is not a bad ask for this at all. I might still give the nod to this when it comes to price. One more sip, and we'll see if it's a three O at the end of the day. I mean, I think we got to do it.
It's the knockout. It's a 3-0. It's wild turkey 12-year all day over this Green River.
We already reviewed this. I will still tell you this is a fantastic bottle of whiskey, but you're talking about a wild turkey product that's 12 years old that you can't even get in the United States for $65 versus this coming out of Green River, which is a newer whiskey on the market. Still a fantastic pour. If you have an opportunity to try this, definitely do. But right now it's 3-0 wild turkey and I'm not questioning that at all.
But hey, that's where we're going to leave you for today. If you made it this far in the video, make sure you click that like and that subscribe button. I would greatly appreciate it.
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Stay healthy. Stay happy. Stay pissing off your brother-in-law by drinking four in one video. Cheers, y'all. Damn, that's good.