Editor’s Note: This whiskey was provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. This in no way, per our editorial policies, influenced the final outcome of this review. It should also be noted that by clicking the buy link in this review our site receives a small referral payment which helps to support, but not influence, our editorial and other costs.
In the world of 21st century marketing, there is often little certainty as to the veracity behind the claims companies make regarding the origin of their products. Marketing execs are keenly aware of the power of myth-making and its centrality to how we view and find order in the world of mystery around us. And in the world of culinary and distilling arts, few mythological origin stories are as exciting to entertain as that of the ‘happy accident’ that somehow propels progress.
With the latest release in its ‘Master’s Keep’ series, this one subtitled ‘Unforgotten’, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky distillery Wild Turkey offers a product every bit as enthralling and vibrant as the legend of how it came to be. Whether apocryphal or not, the way Wild Turkey tells it, sometime back in 2010 a crew member accidentally married a parcel of young rye whiskey with a barrel of mature bourbon. Master distiller Eddie Russell tasted it and found, as he said reflecting on the moment years later, “It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before, and I knew we had stumbled upon something special.”
Wild Turkey would go on to do a limited release of the results of that initial ‘blunder’ under the moniker of Forgiven. After releasing a second batch the following year in 2014, the brand is now revisiting the practice, this time releasing Unforgotten as a blend of 13-year-old bourbon and eight and nine-year-old ryes, for the seventh iteration of its highly lauded Master’s Keep Limited Edition series.
Begun in 2015, the Master’s Keep series is a near annual, extremely limited special bottling series that thus far has produced some of the finest expressions Wild Turkey has released. What makes Unforgotten particularly captivating is the distillery is simply not known for their blending prowess, having remained almost steadfastly committed to pure expressions of either bourbon or rye.
To enjoy this beguiling blend of bourbon and some of the oldest rye they have ever released is like watching an aging superstar athlete add a dynamic new wrinkle to their repertoire so as to keep pace with a game starting to evolve beyond them.
Clocking in at a robust but well-balanced 105 proof, the gorgeously bottled and packaged Unforgotten underwent secondary maturation in rye casks, giving it an added depth and elegant spice feature that integrates harmoniously with the bold, deep char confectionery notes for which Wild Turkey has long been known.
This stellar release is a welcome addition to the Master’s Keep series, which itself seems on its way to becoming the benchmark for Wild Turkey’s evolving explorations of what its limestone filtered waters and pre-prohibition era rickhouses are capable. Unforgotten also likely ensures that master distiller Russell and his team will be revisiting future potentials of that long ago happy accident time and again.
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Tasting Notes: Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Series Unforgotten
Vital Stats: 105 proof (52.5 ABV). Mash Bill(s): 75% Corn 13% Rye 12% Malted Barley (Bourbon)/ 37% Corn 51% Rye 12% Malted Barley (Ryes). Age: 13-year-old Bourbon, Eight and Nine-year-old Ryes. Price $200 per 750ml.
Appearance: Lovely waves of amber and copper with a medium high viscosity.
Nose: The nose doesn’t leap out at you as aggressively as Wild Turkey often can. Rather, Unforgotten teases out playfully, leading with caramel and honey undergirded by subtle stewed pear and peppery notes of caraway and cinnamon. Time in the glass saw the caramel retreat and the honey notes become more prominent around a gorgeous lemon curd bouquet. After several hours in the glass, the fruit subsided and the wood came to the fore, with the oak and vanilla wrapped in a gently smoky cloud of leather.
Palate: Caramel dipped dried fig and dried apricot flavors, redolent of a gourmet fruit cake, leap out and then give way to some sweet oak and subtle anise before those caraway notes that so playfully dotted the nose linger on the palate with a hint of chocolate and tannin.
If there is any place where I found myself wishing for more it was the finish. It is not clipped by any means, and is in fact medium-long, but with each sip I kept finding its last notes slipping away from my palate sooner than I hoped, like a charming date who abruptly exits dinner in the middle of an enchanting conversation.
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