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Fellow Drammers!
We welcome our next author, David Jennings, on Sunday, November 29th at 3pm EST. He is the author of “American Spirit”, the definitive Wild Turkey book by possibly the world’s biggest Wild Turkey superfan. It’s a quick, fun read, I read it in 90 minutes on the plane the other day. Anyway, everyone is encouraged to buy the book on their own ($9.99 at Amazon for the ebook, or you can get the physical copy at MascotBooks.com for $19.95). And we’ve put together an optional 5-whiskey set of rare Wild Turkey bottlings that we’ve been collecting at auction since 2017:
1970s or 80s Austin Nichols 8yo Wild Turkey. This special Wild Turkey from the “glut era” is so revered that it has a whole section dedicated to it in the book (see page 147). 8yo age statement Wild Turkey debuted in the 1940s and was a staple of the American whiskey market until Pernod Ricard dropped the age statement in 1992 in favor of putting “Old No. 8” on the label instead (a sad development, as David notes). So these older 70s and 80s bottles from the European export market have become highly prized, and we secured this bottle at auction back in 2017, saving it for a rainy day. 101 proof.
Wild Turkey 13yo Distiller’s Reserve. Also not available in the US, and it also has a dedicated section in the book (page 138). Up until 2013, there was a 12yo export-only Wild Turkey release. It was discontinued apparently because keeping a steady supply of 12yo (with consistent quality) was becoming difficult. But after they discontinued the 12yo, they introduced a presumably smaller release 13yo for the Japanese market, which remains popular there to this day, and we managed to secure a bottle. 91 proof.
A RareBird101 Single Barrel Pick. Hard to imagine anyone who would be better at picking WT barrels than David himself, so we’re very happy that he has generously let us buy a special barrel pick he did that he thinks is particularly spectacular. An 8yo Kentucky Spirit 101 proof, “Russell’s Renegades, RareBird101 #183”. Here’s what David had to say about it: “Each time I taste this bourbon I find something new. It makes me appreciate what Wild Turkey can accomplish at eight years and 101 proof even more. No, it’s not dusty 101/8. It is, however, remarkably tasty and notably finessed over modern Wild Turkey 101. As such, I have no regrets opting for Kentucky Spirit over Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel. Not a single one. At 101 proof this whiskey proves sweeter and far more balanced – flavorful without distraction, if you will. As I’m sure you can tell, I’m quite smitten with it.”
Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon - Fat Washed by Yours Truly! This is a fun little tie-in. Aaron Goldfarb, author of “Hacking Whiskey” was the last Drammers Book Club author we welcomed (last month), and he also wrote the foreword to this book. He mentioned he would try to join for this discussion as well, so we thought it would be fun to try one of his experiments on a Wild Turkey expression. So, yours truly will attempt to fat wash a Wild Turkey 101 bourbon, using Benton’s Bacon or (if any of our chef-y friends know of a place where I can get it) duck fat.
Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon - Normal. And as a point of reference in our comparison, we’ll try the normal version of Wild Turkey 101 to see how it compares to the fat washed variety.
That’s our lineup! We hope you can join us, for a fun, Thanksgiving Sunday book discussion with David, and we hope you’ll buy his book to go along with it! Cheers!