Wild Turkey, for me, tends to be a little funky on my palate. I do like Rare Breed, despite the little bit of funk. The Russell’s Reserve 2002 limited edition was amazing. My opinion is that chill filtering does terrible things to Wild Turkey bourbon.

But, Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel is 110 proof and non-chill filtered! And, yes, the title to this piece is pretty silly; a winged flightless bird doesn’t really soar at all. But, this is really good bourbon.

On the nose there is vanilla and floral notes. Mouth watering. On the palate, the tongue gets coated with vanilla and maraschino cherries, with a wonderful thick mouthfeel. Baking spices give this bourbon a cherry pie finish.

Delicious.

The cherry notes are very reminiscent of the cherry notes you will sometimes find on Knob Creek Single Barrel store picks. Overproof (but not cask strength) Single Barrel bourbons are really some of the best values in American whiskey.

A little trivia about Wild Turkey: a lot of folks in the bourbon world eschew whiskies bottled by non-distiller producers, or NDPs. NDPs buy and sometimes blend whiskies from distillers and bottle them under their own brand name. The Wild Turkey brand was originally owned by Austin Nichols, a grocery company. They purchased bourbon on the open market but bought a lot of their product from the Ripy/Gould distillery, and Austin Nichols bought the distillery in 1971 and renamed it Wild Turkey. But, from 1943 to 1971, Wild Turkey was an NDP whiskey brand.