Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit Single Barrel Bourbon

Very smooth. A little light mouthfeel. Caramel and then just a bit of spice.

Cinnamon, smoke, and sugar. Hot/slight burn on the nose

Basic. A bit hot at end

Rating: 13/23 I've heard that this is quite nice, but I've also heard that Wild Turkey Rare Breed 116.8% is better value (true in most cases, to be honest) and that this is essentially just a barrel pick of Wild Turkey 101. I haven't done the research, but if this comes across as just a Wild Turkey 101 barrel pick, I'm going to be quite disappointed considering that this costed three times the price. On the note of barrel picks: this is a Total Wine barrel pick. So it's a barrel pick of barrel picks. Should be exquisite. N: Sweet, spicy (cinnamon and other woody spices), fruity (mild cherry with a bit of orange), floral (vanilla and faint roses), woody (with some nice depth), fruity ( a nice balance of cherry and orange), light but mature. Honestly, this reminds me more of Russell's Reserve than of Wild Turkey. There's some nice balance and solid complexity here. It's enjoyable just to sniff, so I'm pretty confidant that this will be better than Wild Turkey 101. P: Kind of light with a spicy (cinnamon, ginger, clove, black pepper) burn to it with a floral sweetness. There's some wood too. It isn't too aggressive, but it is quite present and comes out more with water. I'm struggling to find this enjoyable. Russell's Reserve 10 is actually a bit fuller and more mature. My immediate impression is that Russell's Reserve 10 is better. This tastes much more youthful, less complex, and less balanced. It isn't as rich as Wild Turkey 101. The alcohol flavor shows through here a lot more too and there's that same burn that's a bit more than I'd expect for the proof. Old Tub seems more balanced with less burn and alcohol flavor. It's also smokier and less floral with less fruit. Keep in mind that they're only 0.5% ABV apart. F: Floral (faintly fruity) with a bit of tartness. Light, but a decent amount of wood. Minor heat. Numbing. Clean, but forgettable. - Conclusion - When I smelled this, I though that the haters had to be wrong. Then I tasted it. What a huge disappointment. This tastes like it wants to be a light, elegant dram, but it completely fails at that. I would take Old Tub (14) or a regular bottle of Wild Turkey 101 (also 14) over this. So this isn't going to be higher than a 13. Buffalo Trace (12) has more wood, but this has a cleaner profile with more complexity. I think I'm actually looking at a 13 here. It could be a 12, but I think a 14 is unlikely. It's pricey, but the quality isn't there. And I usually have such faith in and respect for Wild Turkey. Maybe I should throw some wood chips in and try to blend the rest of this bottle.

Great value for this much flavor!