Wild Turkey Rye 101

The nose matches the lower rye, high corn mash bill Wild Turkey offers, sweeter and fruitier than most ryes, but still delivers anise and mint typical of higher rye content whiskeys. Palate follows suit with sweetness and cherries, but also brings on a solid cinnamon and pepper with herbs, mint and anise on the finish. A solid budget rye. Try the Russell's Reserve Single Barrel for a superior version of a lower rye Nashville rye.

Nose: apples, oranges, banana Palate: eucalyptus, caramel, spice Finish: moderately long, toffee, clove Definitely on the lighter, fruitier side of the rye spectrum. Would be a nice rye to sip in the warmer weather.

Rating: 12/23 I've heard that this is much better, but I hated the regular Wild Turkey Straight Rye (10/23). Well, hated it too strong of a term, but I'd sooner dump it down the drain than absorb its alcohol and calories into my body. Fingers crossed for this one. Unlike the regular Wild Turkey Rye, this is produced at the Wild Turkey distillery instead of being sourced from MGP, so I'm hopeful that it will be quite different. N: Light. Mineral, herbal, vegetal, some smoke, earthy, a touch of lemon and green apple, a little of that sdavoriness of young distillate that borders on meatiness. Honestly, I'm not enjoying this nose. P: Kind of light, especially for its proof. Tart with rye spices (ehite pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger), minerals, and bitter herbs. Then some clean water sweetness comes out. There's some alcohol harshness and a little of that youthful alcohol savoriness. Occasionally, I get a light corn sweetness backing holding it all up. There's eventually a light layer of dry wood too, with definite tannins. Oh, there's some sweet vanilla in here too. Also some green apples. As I continue sipping this, I appreciate it more, but I'm having trouble getting past its lightness, roughness, and lack of any awesome flavors. F: Tannic with clean water, lingering harshness, a bit of savoriness mixed with spices, vanilla, and green apple. - Conclusion - This is young with plenty of flaws, but it's not bad. I don't really like it though and it suffers as a mixer because of its lightness. Unfortuantely, I'm not really sure what to do with this. Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon (14/23) stands out from this because it's richer and fuller. And even that isn't a very rich or full dram. This cannot be better than a 13. Doing some more side-by-siding, this is at least a 12. So that makes it either a 12 or 13. If I had to pick right now, I'd go for the 12, unfortunately. I almost gave this the 13, but that harshness keeps it at a 12.

Rye, fruity, spicy, vanilla, caramel, quite a kick