Tasting list: Modern Wild Turkey 101, Dusty WT101 from 1986, RR13 batch 1, RR15.

I threw a modern WT101 into the blind just to see if that dusty WT101 is as magic as they say.

All of the samples are poured blind and randomized. They are rested for 15 minutes and then I go back and forth between them. Ratings are based on a scale of 20% nose, 50% palate, 30% finish.

Unveiling: A=RR13b1, B=101'86, C=WT101, D=RR15

Review of A: guess=RR13 ✅ Nose-Wow. This is the smell you want every bourbon to mimic. It's caramel, creme brulee, sweet molasses, cloves and a hint of something herbal. Even a bit of wood in there. 9.25/10

Palate-Medium mouth feel, similar notes to the nose but less sweet. A touch of spice when you get in there. Not a whole lot going on beyond the classic wild turkey notes. 8/10

Finish-big finish. Fruit-ish flavor of WT, the spice lightens up, the sweetness comes forward. Even a little butter shows up. Long lasting and sweet until the end. 9/10

Rating-8.5/10

Review of B: guess=WT'86 ✅ Nose-funky, almost herbal and mushroom. Tangy and kind of savory. Mothballs? Somehow unsweetened caramel. 7.5/10

Palate-medium to light mouth feel. Lots of butterscotch. Reminds me of a makers mark mixed with a wild turkey. Not spicy but pretty herbal.

Finish-very funky but it brings a refreshing fruit note that was missing until now. Not spicy at all, but not quite sweet either. 8/10

Rating-7.5/10

Review of C: guess=WT101 ✅ First of all, this is extremely light compared to the others, like a gold on the color scale. Nose-artificially sweet. Corn syrup. Some funk and herbs like a chamomile tea. 6/10

Palate-slightly sweet, more fruit flavors. Makes me think of those all natural fruit gummies that were not the same as the good fruit snacks. No spice. 6.5/10

Finish-Sweet, sugary and a touch of plastic. Some fruit tang in there and very crisp and shorter than the previous two. 7/10

Rating-6.5/10

Review of D: guess=RR15 ✅ Nose-butter, caramel popcorn, white sugar, a hint of tangerine citrus notes. Exceptional nose but a bit worse than glass A. 8.75/10

Palate-best mouth feel, a bit dry and peppery. The tangerine and wood notes are prevelant in with some sweetness though again not particularly sweet. 8.25/10

Finish-Pretty much non existent. It carries the palate flavors exactly so you almost can't tell it's there. Goes away quickly. 6.5/10

Rating-7.75/10

Thoughts: Well on the plus side, I got them all right. It was pretty clear which ones the middle two were as they had distinctive notes and coloring compared to the two older aged stated. I had heard the RR15 had a weak finish so once I tried the finish of D, I was pretty much certain which was which. I like the WT flavors although I really expected more variance between these pours than showed up. The 13 and 15 had almost the exact same notes just with different ratios and I was convinced the dusty turkey was going to have some rich depth I hadn't had before. It did have a heavy amount of almost savory mushrooms but for me that is more interesting than delicious.

Overall: Man idk if it's just me but WT is using like 1/2 of the flavor wheel and not really bringing out any heavy hitter flavors (I can post the flavor wheels if any are curious). I could clearly tell these were all WT (except maybe the dusty that could have convinced me it was old MM) because it's always WT flavors and it's always balanced but gentle. The nose on the older stuff is incredible but man palate and finish are pretty mid or even low tier for a limited release. I did a control sample of JDBSB and michters BSR afterwards and they had so much more going on in the palate than any of these and more finish than any but the RR13b1. Even excluding price, none of these would make my top 10 list for the year. Which is crazy because color and nose wise I was sure to have 2/4 in my top list because they look and smell incredible. But unfortunately the palate and finish are the most important elements for me and these were all limited in those categories.

If these were regular releases or lower priced I suppose they would make sense, but truthfully these aren't moving mountains. Pretty similar flavors can be had with a good private select RR. Because of the lack of variance, I would probably just try to get a pour before going in even for MSRP.