Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Rye

Nose: Cinnamon, licorice, vanilla, apple, orange, honey, rosemary, and almonds. Smells like a nice rye. Palate: Vanilla, butterscotch, orange syrup, lots of cinnamon, pepper, and clove.

Wild Turkey Premium Tasting

Do you ever wish you had the ability to wave your hand over a bottle and magically refill it? If you only had that power for one bottle, what would it be? For me, it might be this one. That doesn't mean this is the best whisky I've ever had. But it may be the most satisfying. The best one I could see myself turning to frequently. Possibly the best rye I've ever tasted. There's that, and it's relative rarity. When I got this, pickings were slim. There were six bottles left in my county, and I haven't seen it since then. I opened this on Thanksgiving. The night was mostly made of turkey dinner and wine. But my family was coming to our house. My wife was cooking. We were entertaining, and I figured I'd offer a Wild Turkey to go with the turkey, even if only my dad took me up on it. And it was good. I knew that then. But I didn't write a tasting because I wanted to wait. I wanted to let it simmer, I wanted to savor. Last week, I wrote up a tasting on Glenlivet Caribbean Rum Cask, and I mentioned my tasting of that came after a tasting of this Rare Breed. I've also talked of come-down whiskies in my review tastings, whiskies you turn to after you've had your best, whiskies of high but lesser quality you turn to so that you don't depleted your finest stock. Well, some whiskies are come-down whiskies and some are opening acts, and I'd say that Glenlivet is more an opening act. How do I know? I had it tonight before the Rare Breed instead of after, and I enjoyed it more than I did last week, when I wrote up my tasting. Last week the Glenlivet after Rare Breed was like seeing Procol Harum after a set by Zeppelin. This week, having the Glenlivet first and then the Rare Breed was like seeing the Foo Fighters open before seeing Nirvana with a resurrected Kurt Cobain. You feel me? I flipped the script, and between the acts, I had two squares of 85% Lindt's dark chocolate. So, I'm not saying that enhanced the experience, but it might have. I nursed the whiskies tonight. I'll tell you that up front. And this one, this Rare Breed Rye was one I savored with every whiff, every sip. On the nose was rye spice, milk chocolate, mint, and the mixture at times reminded me of peppermint patties with maybe a touch of candied orange. As we move to the palate the rye spice and mint continued mixing with touches of orange peel, lemon menthol, and pine. The finish is long and peppery and spicy, and exactly what you're looking for on a long winter's night. And oh my god, if I could I'd make this my infinite cask. I haven't indulged in too much of the 101 Rye yet. My dad had a bottle and I tasted it, but it was at the tail end, and I'm not sure it was a fair representation. Does the 101 compare to this at all? Overall, the evening was great. On top of this, we had the Christmas tree lit, and as I nursed this, I watched the first Christmas Chronicles movie on Netflix with my kids. I love my kids and I love Christmas, and honestly, you can judge me how you will, but I love Kurt Russell (he really throws himself into the role of Santa), seeing as my formative years were spent watching John Carpenter films and Overboard on HBO. The Rare Breed was really just the cherry on top of that ice cream sunday, and oh, what a topping it was.

Nose: Hot in a good way, not complex but very well-balanced rye Palate: robust, buttery, has some age Finish: medium-long, warm hug, sweet You can tell that it’s a low rye mash bill by how well-balanced it is, which I personally prefer as a bourbon guy. I’m a huge fan of Rare Breed bourbon and this rye version absolutely lives up to its sibling!

Heavy rye taste, vanilla frosting, spices, pepper and cinnamon aftertaste.