Wild Turkey delight
STRENGTH is a vexing question when it comes to whisky. Despite the fact that cask-strength malt and Bourbon are now categories in their own right, there actually aren't that many brands which can cope with the extra whack of alcohol.
They may appeal to hairy-chested drinkers who equate high strength with some warped view of manliness, but you'll more often find that the head-spinning effect of the alcohol simply overwhelms the flavour.
One of the few brands that can cope with high strength is Wild Turkey. In fact, it's one of the few whiskies in the world that revels in it. Thankfully, Campbell Distillers (0181-568 4400) has finally come to its senses and decided that from now on the main Wild Turkey sold on the UK market will be the eight-year-old 101 (50.5% abv).
This masterpiece of the whisky-maker's art hails from one of the world's strangest-looking distilleries - a blackened, iron-clad heap of buildings that teeter on the brink of a gorge. If Tom Waits was to sing about a distillery, this would be it. The ramshackle appearance hides the fact that everything here is tuned to make high-quality, high-strength, old-fashioned Bourbon.
For example, Wild Turkey uses more rye than the other Bourbon brands, giving the whiskey a refreshing jab of flavour. Master distiller Jimmy Russell also insists on distilling to a lower strength than any of his rivals. By doing this he captures more of the deep, rich flavour compounds that appear towards the end of distillation - and then, by not reducing the strength to the standard 40% abv, he preserves them in the bottle.
No surprise, then, that Wild Turkey is the biggest, boldest, most complex brand, with a nose that mixes Seville orange, tobacco, spice and mint, and a rich palate that reveals ripe fruits, honey and vanilla. Drink it straight, on the rocks, or use it to give a weighty note to a Manhattan, Old Fashioned or Sazerac.
Campbell, it would seem, has fallen in love with high-strength drinks. Wild Turkey 101 follows closely on the heels of a new cask-strength malt from Aberlour - a'bunadh. The name means "the origin" in Gaelic, but also sounds like anything you try to say after a couple of drams of this wonderful, but exceedingly dangerous, malt.
It's a seductive dram which sidles up to you, whispering everything is going to be just fine, before clobbering you over the head half-an-hour later. Like Wild Turkey it carries its strength in a graceful manner, adding to the complexity of its flavour. It's an essential addition to any serious malt range. n
by Dave Broom
