An American invention

Bourbon was created in 1789 by the Baptist pastor Elijah Craig, in the Kentucky region in the United States. The drink only acquired its present-day name in 1940.

In 1940, Thomas McCarthy, one of the managers of a Kentucky bourbon distillery, was invited to a wild turkey hunt. For the occasion, he brought along some bottles from his private supply to drink with his friends. They enjoyed it so much that they named the whiskey "Wild Turkey" in memory of the turkey hunt.

Due to its high alcohol content, 50.5%, Wild Turkey is also known as "101 proof". A measure used in the United States, proof = 0.5% alcohol.

Exceptional maturing

The "Bourbon" appellation is strictly controlled by production regulations - a genuine gauge of quality.

Wild Turkey is made from a minimum of 51% corn, with the addition of rye or wheat, together with barley malt. The corn used is cultivated specially by Wild Turkey to obtain a grain combining mellowness and fullness. The water added to the grain seeps through limestone rocks close to the distillery.

The cereals are mixed, milled and fermented, then put into new casks. The yeast used for fermentation is made at the distillery, using an exclusive secret recipe. Wild Turkey is distilled twice, in copper column stills then in pot-stills.

Its maturing, for a minimum of 8 years, is exceptionally long for a bourbon: it takes place in charcoal-burnt white oak barrels. After two years' ageing, Wild Turkey is tasted every year, until it reaches full maturity. Kentucky provides the ideal climate, hot and wet in summer and very cold in winter, significantly speeding up the maturation and alcohol evaporation process.

Wild Turkey bourbon is the work of the Wild Turkey distillery's famous master distiller since 1954, Jimmy Russell.