Is Wild Turkey Generations Bourbon Worth $450?
Wild Turkey Generations
I recently got to say hello to Jimmy Russell in person for the first time in, by my count, about eight years. Jimmy is arguably the living legend of Kentucky bourbon. Having started working at the Wild Turkey distillery in 1954, he’s still showing up to work damn near 70 years later. His son, Eddie — like Jimmy, a Wild Turkey master distiller and a member of the Bourbon Hall of Fame — pretty much runs the show at Wild Turkey nowadays, but Jimmy still does his part. I was at the distillery to taste their new Wild Turkey Generations bourbon, featuring whiskeys selected by Jimmy and Eddie, along with Bruce Russell, Wild Turkey’s associate blender and Jimmy’s grandson. If there’s another example of three generations of the same family having a hand in the same whiskey, it hasn’t crossed my path.
Meeting a Legend, Again
Jimmy has met pretty much everyone tangentially associated with the world of whiskey during his career, so when I saw him again I was under no illusion that he’d remember me. Our previous meetings were few, and the man is pushing 90, after all. But when I shook his hand and said my name, he looked at me and said, “Tony Sachs… why do I know that name?” There was only one reason I could think of, and it wasn’t that my write-ups of his whiskeys had etched themselves indelibly on his brain.
A First Meeting
Jimmy Russell hanging out with the SAHD
In May 2011, I was a part-time drinks writer and a full-time stay-at-home caregiver for my daughter, who was not quite a year old. After having to bail on multiple Wild Turkey tastings with both Jimmy and Eddie for various baby-related reasons, a persistent and well-meaning publicist suggested I bring the kid down to his office to have lunch and a tasting of the Wild Turkey portfolio (for me — milk for her) with the great Jimmy Russell himself. It seemed like… well, a weird idea, but one I wasn’t about to turn down. Jimmy was and is a charming guy, and he and my daughter got on like gangbusters. She sat on the floor with a clutch of toys, some of which were provided by the PR folks, while Jimmy and I ate sandwiches and drank bourbon and talked Wild Turkey. I recorded the festivities for an article I planned to write about… well, what it’s like to drink bourbon with the then 76-year-old master distiller who made it and a 10 month old baby (who, for the record, tasted no whiskey. As for me, it was the first time I’d gotten tipsy while on daddy duty). But her babbling and occasional squeals of delight almost totally drowned out Jimmy, to the point where transcription was impossible. And within a few days, the publicist — or more likely his bosses — decided that maybe it wasn’t in Wild Turkey’s best interests to have an account of our afternoon in print, delightful though it was. So the whole thing was scuttled. But a dozen years later, Jimmy Russell remembered me. My daughter, alas, remembers nothing of the meeting, but fortunately we have photographic evidence that it happened. I hope she’ll understand the significance of the event when she’s tasting her first Wild Turkey whiskey, sometime in 2031 (not before, dear, if you’re reading this).
Eddie Russell, Jimmy Russell and Bruce Russell
Wild Turkey Generations
But back to the whiskey at hand. Wild Turkey Generations is not only the brand’s first tri-generational bourbon, but it’s also the highest proof whiskey they’ve ever released, clocking in at a walloping 60.4% ABV. It’s a blend of four bourbons, each of which speaks to the preferences of a different Russell. Jimmy prefers the type of stuff he distilled for decades — 6-12 years old, with a big, bold flavor like what you’ll find with the flagship 101 expression. He’s represented by a 9-year-old bourbon, selected, I believe, by Eddie and Bruce but OK’d by Jimmy himself. Eddie’s the one who took Wild Turkey into the modern era, with his focus on maturation and taste for older whiskeys. What had been essentially a one-trick, 101-proof pony proliferated wildly, spawning the Russell’s Reserve and Master’s Keep offshoots, to name just two. That 15-year-old in the blend? All Eddie. Bruce is more rye-focused, but he says his taste in bourbon skews closer to Jimmy’s than Eddie’s. The 12-year-old is his pick. And Bruce and Eddie independently found a 14-year-old bourbon that they both loved — and both get credit for including in Generations. In fact the bottle features the signature of each.
Wild Turkey That Doesn’t Taste Like Wild Turkey
Put the blend together and Generations actually does not taste like classic Wild Turkey, or any WT expression I’ve ever tried. Up front it’s all fruity sweetness, dominated by candied cherry notes, with the rich caramel notes I was expecting replaced by butterscotch and nougat. But lest this bourbon turn into a dessert-y confection, around mid-palate the dry oak and spice start ramping up, helped along by the high proof. By the finish, redolent of baking spices, vanilla, and oak, it’s closer to what you’d expect from a Wild Turkey, even if the curiously prominent cherry notes still linger throughout. This is one of those sneaky high-proof whiskeys, where if you didn’t know the ABV when you drank it you’d be shocked when you finally looked. Or you’d be on the floor, having consumed it a little too liberally. In other words, Generations goes down ridiculously easy for a 120-plus proof bourbon.
Is it Worth the Price?
Wild Turkey Generations
At $450, Generations is the most expensive Wild Turkey bottling ever released. And if that means more money is going into the coffers of the company that makes it and secondary market flippers make less than they hoped, that’s fine with me. Still, that’s a pretty big ask for a whiskey that, while delicious, isn’t representative of the distillery at all. But if you’re a fan of bourbon history, or the Russell family — who’ve made a fair bit of that history themselves — then it may be worth forking over the coin. A mere 5,000 bottles exist, and if purchasing a whole one is a little steep, finding a bar that sells it by the pour is highly recommended.