Wild Turkey Master's Keep Bottled in Bond 17 Year

Oak on oak on oak

First pour out of the bottle so will save my comments until it opens up a bit. Can already tell it’s going to be a special one.

Excellent nose and palate. Sugary sweetness with great depth of flavors. Finish is somewhat flat and oaky as expected at 100 proof and 17 years. Worth the purchase.

Best taste I’ve ever had - incredible

The nose on this is fantastic! The initial hit to the palate has a slight smokey note, that almost reminds me of a peaty scotch. I am guessing this is the Wild Turkey funk most speak of and it was almost a turn off for me. Fortunately, for me at least, that fades quickly and you are left with notes of cherry, vanilla, caramel and a hint of oak. These notes linger for some time which makes for an enjoyable experience.

Pretty bold on the nose. Cinnamon and cherry, but also a little funky spice, like ginger. A sleeper on the palate... it gets off to a really slow start. For the first second or two, I don’t taste much of anything, just a little warmth, and then it starts to blossom. Stays true to the cherries and brown sugar, but it goes out with a whimper. The finish is shorter and with an herbal oak spice, but not a powerful one. It’s pleasant and has no offensive qualities but I have a hard time with the price tag on this one.

Keeping with the WT profile I’ve come to love, this is a very enjoyable pour with a good balance of spice and flavor at the 100 proof. It has a nose and initial taste that reminds me of robitussin randomly, but I really liked it. I only didn’t rate it higher because somehow I expected perfection out of it, but it’s still damn good

By now, you probably know that most bourbon drinkers are raving over this release, so I’m here to give you the perspective of a malt whisky drinker who rarely consumes anything from Kentucky other than rye. Indeed, this bottle alone cost more than the sum of all the bourbon I’ve purchased previously. I bought it because I’ve long been intrigued by the “funky” descriptor that I’ve heard associated with Wild Turkey, a flavor I associate with some of my favorite Springbank whiskies, and also because I was blown away by a sample of the legendary Cheesy Gold Foil Turkey that I got to try recently. I appreciate this is a ridiculous route into a distillery, akin to starting one’s exploration of Arbdeg with Lord of the Isles and then working through the committee releases without first tasting the perfectly good core range. My excuse is that this bottle seemed to promise more of the flavors I find in a well-aged Scotch rather than those I associate with bourbon, such as buttered popcorn, and it didn’t require me to navigate a high octane ABV. Fortunately, my instincts were correct. The nose is divine and addictive. There’s dark sugar, mint, clover honey, cherry, cinnamon and ginger, all flecked with a pinprick pepper spice that pulses to a metronomic beat between each of the competing flavors. There’s spice at the front of each sip, then tea, a dash of cherry, the dissolved sugar at the bottom of the teacup, even something meaty like chopped liver. Each mouthful is different, though the oak spice is always present. And let’s talk about what it’s not — it’s not syrupy sweet, there’s no butter and, thankfully, no buttered popcorn. The finish is drying with caramel drizzle, more tea, ginger and another hint of cherry. This is really complex and more than enough to satisfy a bourbon-curious malt whisky drinker. The only disappointment was the absence of any of the umami/mushroom notes that I associate with the word “funky”. If anyone knows of a Wild Turkey that meets that description, please share!