Year-end Top 10 (or Top 25) lists are like assholes…everyone has one and they are frequently full of shit. The fact remains, though, that people pay an inordinate amount of attention to these lists. So when Whiskey Advocate named “Wild Turkey 8 year old Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary” as it’s number 8 whiskey of 2024, I decided right then and there that I wanted to give it a try…despite the inexplicable naming of Jack Daniel’s Bottled-In-Bond as Whiskey of the Year a few cycles ago. No one local seemed to have it, though…until today.
My favorite liquor purveyor told me they had just gotten them in and proceeded to give me something closer to MSRP rather than the inflated price that was listed on the shelf…there are advantages to being a loyal customer, it would seem. This Wild Turkey expression celebrated Jimmy Russell’s 70 years at the company. He is still listed as “master distiller” although he doesn’t keep the work schedule he used to. His son, Eddie, and grandson, Bruce, created this 8-year-old 101-proof (of course) blend of Turkey to celebrate the man who kept the course during the times when bourbon was thought to be dead, then created Russell’s Reserve, what was one of my early favorite bourbons.
On the nose, I got notes of fruit and vanilla, and a surprising lack of alcohol vapor burn…something which I’ll attribute to the “Neat” whiskey glass I’ve been using lately. It allows you to get more aroma without getting punched in the nose by high proof vapors. Sipping the 101-proof whiskey neat I got a touch of spicy burn overlaying caramel, vanilla, and oak notes. I was pleased by the amount of sweetness and how smooth a high-proof whiskey could prove to be with sufficient barrel aging.
This is definitely another winner from Wild Turkey, an expression that is refined and more than slightly elegant. I’m hoping they continue to make this one for the foreseeable future, but I supposed it could be one of those that’s a “one and done.” So maybe get them while you can.
(And they’re all gone by this point, unless you find a store that lives under a rock! But they have released the “regular release” Wild Turkey 8 Year 101 Proof, which is not the same but should be “shelf stable” at some point in the near future. Also, I meant this to be a “Bourbon Friday” post, but hit “publish now” instead of scheduling it…so just pretend, alright?)
