A sippin’ delight (Wild Turkey Old No. 8)

Name: grahamt

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Product:	Wild Turkey Old No. 8
Date:	30/04/01 (575 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A "premium" regular bourbon

Disadvantages: Still quite pricey over here

As many are, my first introduction to the national drink of America, bourbon, was the ubiquitous Jack Daniels. I found it less than impressive, on a par with the average blended scotch, another drink that in most cases I can pass by without regret.

Then, one day a friend introduced me to Wild Turkey. I was intrigued by the name. One taste was a revelation.

Wild Turkey is produced by Austin-Nichols & Co, now party of the French Pernod-Rickard drinks empire, at Lawrenceburg in the heart of Kentucky. They use water for the fermentation process from their own on-site well. The water is of such a high quality that it is also used to supply the town of Lawrenceburg itself.

The smoothness of the drink was unexpected. I was used to your average cooking scotch being somewhat fiery and the same was my experience with the average bourbon. However, here was a drink that was smooth and full of taste that could be enjoyed without your mouth being anesthetised.

The normally edition available in the UK (there are many varieties produced but not all are available world-wide) is an 8 year-old over-proof (50.5%) version. It is a Straight Kentucky Bourbon. The taste is rich in caramel, vanilla from the oak barrels in which it is aged and with a slight sweetness like the taste of honey or brown-sugar, though this is not overwhelming.

Much pride and time is taken in the fermenting and distilling process. The finest grains are used, corn, barley and rye, each contributing their own individual flavour. They prefer to mature to almost the final strength rather than at a very high strength as is usually the case. This ensures that a minimum of dilution is required to produce the bottled final product.

Wild Turkey is my preferred everyday bourbon, not that I drink it everyday, of course!

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