Wild Turkey 8 Year 101 Proof (Old Label)

1978

Very sweet and alcoholic on the nose. Taste has vanilla sweetness with just enough oak and rye to keep it from being overpowering. The rye lingers briefly on the aftertaste.

Hot. But flavorful

I’ve been waiting to try my first dusty wild turkey, and here she is. Someone sent over this sample and am excited to check it out. This one happens to be from a 1991 bottling at 101 proof and is an Italian export. I will be comparing it to a modern 2020 101 equivalent. The nose is sweet and rich with slightly dusty corn, dried cherries, a little cooked plumbs, oak, milk chocolate, baking spices, brown sugar/maple syrup, and a light leather note. The color is noticeably darker on this one compared to the 2020, and the nose is fairly different. The ‘91 is a lot less spicy on the nose. The palate is sweet and very oily with corn, light oak, dark fruit, caramel, a floral note and some nice baking spices. The 2020 has more pronounced spice and dark fruit, as well as that wild turkey funk, which I surprisingly didn’t pick up on the ‘91. But the ‘91 has a noticeably thicker mouthfeel. The finish is on the shorter side of long with a nice initial spike of old leather and then fades into sweet corn and some lingering spice and some vanilla. The 2020 might be slightly longer of a finish with a lot more spice until the very end. This was a fun comparison. It’s clear how things have changed over the last 30 years at Wild Turkey. The ‘91 had a darker color and much thicker mouthfeel than the modern one, but I think I prefer the modern profile. The 2020 has a more prominent nose and has nice spice, dark fruit, caramel sweetness throughout and some nice Wild Turkey Funk. I guess that would be the only thing I was surprised/let down by on the ‘91, the lack of the funk. I was under the impression that was a classic part of their profile. Maybe it was just this ‘91 batch. Either way, I enjoyed it, but I think I’ll save my pennies for now and utilize the modern offering.