New Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Revival Bourbon Gets The Sherry Cask Treatment

The Wild Turkey distillery in Kentucky, helmed by the father-son distilling duo of Jimmy and Eddie Russell, has been releasing over the last several years a range of higher end bourbons known as Master’s Keep. These limited edition expressions, Master’s Keep and Master’s Keep Decades, have showcased what older whiskey from here can be like as a premium offering. Now they are back with a third bottling, these time having been finished in ex-sherry casks from Spain.

The new Master’s Keep Revival bourbon, according to those behind it, takes bourbon blended together from whiskies aged 12 to 15 years and finishes them in ex-Oloroso sherry casks Eddie Russell himself sourced after traveling to Jerez, Spain recently. The casks in question, in order to pull through a richer flavor with stronger notes of fruit, had to once have held liquid for at least 20 years. This is said to have proved somewhat difficult to find.

Revival is said to be inspired by the limited-release Wild Turkey Sherry Signature; a product Jimmy Russell introduced in the early 2000’s that featured sherry-infused, 10-year-old bourbon finished in an Oloroso sherry cask. Eddie used the Sherry Signature taste profile to guide him to older bourbon that, after resting in sherry casks, brought out top notes of fruit that blended with the vanilla and caramel of Wild Turkey. His “revival” of Sherry Signature was the impetus for the name.

“Master’s Keep Revival is a Bourbon I am proud to put my name on,” said Eddie Russell in a prepared statement. “Jimmy and I have our healthy differences in how we drink Bourbon and how we make Bourbon, but I really enjoyed being able to take something my father created decades ago, which was maybe a little ahead of its time, and put my own stamp on it for today’s Bourbon connoisseurs and treasure hunters. I think it will be a nice addition to any collection.”

Plans call for just the equivalent of 1,600 cases of this 101 proof bourbon to be made available nationwide, at a price point of around $150 a bottle. Limited official tasting notes suggest “a nose of cherry pie, raisins, citrus, nuts and a touch of oak. It delivers soft and creamy hints of spice and sweet tropical fruits, balanced with long and lingering notes of honey, spice and dried apricots.”