A maximum of 10 points will be available for each distillery visit…with 2 points available for “presentation” (basically the first impression the place puts on based on the sites, sounds, friendliness, etc), 3 points for the “experience” (whatever tour or tasting we did…which can include just doing a flight at the bar), 3 points for the Gift Shop (this will encompass all the gift shop has to offer EXCEPT for the final category), and 2 points for bottles exclusive to the distillery.
We started Day 2 of our October trip to Kentucky by taking the hour-long drive out to Lawrenceburg to do an official visit to Wild Turkey. We had stopped there while driving by back in April and lucked into pulling in while Master Distiller and Bourbon Legend, Jimmy Russell was in the house, posing for pictures, and signing bottles. It was a real pleasure meeting Mr. Jimmy who seemed to have good memories of visiting Chattanooga, even mentioning Bea’s Restaurant, an institution in this city for over three-quarters of a century. I had hoped to run into him again in October, but…he keeps his own schedule for when to come in these days and it just didn’t coincide with when we were there.
PRESENTATION
I first visited Wild Turkey all the way back in 1994…the first distillery visit I’ve ever done. I visited again with friends in 2010. And the difference between that first visit, the second visit, and the overall look and feel of the visitors center today is such a stark contrast that it really goes to point out how much the bourbon industry has changed over the last 30 years. The first time I came it was very much a “working distillery” that you could visit if you really had to…no tastings, no landscaping, no real visitors center. The second time, the visitors center was a great idea and taking shape, but I don’t think they were charging money for tours still…and there was still no tastings. Now the visitors center is a spectacular piece of artistry inside and out, with really nice landscaping, a bar, the gift shop, and a nice view of the bridge across the river.
2/2
EXPERIENCE
The Wild Turkey Production Tour was really just that…a tour of all the available production facilities. Instead of walking to the factory as in the past, these days they take you from the visitors center to the factory on a nice shuttle. There are some steps to get to the second floor to see the working fermentation tanks, but nothing too harsh. We got a look at the room where quality control does its work and there is a nice display of vintage bottles and decanters on the way out of the production floor. After taking a bunch of production-oriented tours, I will say that this one was very nice, but really held no new information for distillery veterans. At the end of the tour, we got to sample a few of their products…Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, 101 Rye, Russell’s Reserve 10 Year, and Longbranch, as I recall. All in all, a good intro to the brand for beginners, but not as exciting for me…although it was nice to compare past experiences with the current one.
3/3
GIFT SHOP
The Wild Turkey Gift Shop was one of the most disappointing experiences we had on the bourbon trail…they had plenty of apparel items that looked cool, but seemed to be sold out of all sizes except small, medium, and 2XL. I found one sweatshirt that was my third choice available in a Large and did buy it, but I might have bought two or three items if they had more sizes available. There was quite a bit of regular-production product on the shelves, including Rare Breed and Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel, and the prices were typical of distilleries…just a little above the norm to give the impression that they aren’t really trying to compete with local liquor stores. There were some “hard to find” bottles on sale that were actually just Turkey juice with vintage labeling on them to honor some long-gone brands…but the fact that they are just regular Turkey meant that I didn’t really want to spend $50 on a 375ml decorative bottle.
1/3
EXCLUSIVES
None. Zero. Zip. Nada. Yeah, this was the second distillery on the trip that just had nothing in the way of any distillery exclusives, which was really disappointing, especially since they absolutely have the capacity to do such a thing. It’s really mind-blowing to me that they look at all the other distilleries in Kentucky, many of which have exclusive offerings, and say, “Yeah, No…we don’t need to do that…we’ll just stock up the shelves with the cheapest thing we sell!” Not even the chance to buy some Master’s Keep or something considered at least a little allocated. Sad
0/2
I love Wild Turkey Bourbon, especially Russell’s Reserve and their new 101 Proof 8-Year. The distillery itself is a beautiful thing (and with more construction ongoing, it could be even better in a year or two). But it was overall disappointing since there just weren’t good chances to take pieces of the memory home in terms of merch and exclusive whiskies.
Total 6/10 – The lowest score so far? Sad! Really…if you are a Turkey fan, you absolutely should go…just don’t get your hopes up in terms of seeing Mr. Jimmy in person or about getting something exclusive to take home with you.
