12 Things You Didn't Know About Wild Turkey Bourbon

Even if you're the biggest fan of Wild Turkey Bourbon, there's probably a lot that you don't know about the company, its beverages, and history. We can't exactly explain why, but the more you know about the bourbon you drink, the better it somehow tastes. Since Wild Turkey is already one of the best bourbon brands out there, it's only up from here. Right?

Wild Turkey Bourbon has been around (by name) since the 1940s, with its distillery located on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Because of its long aging time and the deeper char of its barrels, it's known worldwide for having a deep color with a flavor that's smoky and has notes like vanilla, caramel, and toffee. Beyond what you probably already know if you've ever tasted Wild Turkey Bourbon, we've uncovered stories behind the name, some of its beverage creations, as well as interesting bits of its history. We've also got the scoop on the role real turkeys have played in its history, as well as its pop culture ties.

There's always more you can learn about one of your favorite whiskey brands. So, pour yourself a shot of Wild Turkey and settle down for a bit of information you likely didn't know about this well-loved bourbon.

If you've ever wondered how Wild Turkey Bourbon got its name, there's a story to be told there. And, yes, it does relate to real wild turkeys. The creators of Wild Turkey Bourbon were the Ripy brothers, who first opened up a distillery in 1869. However, the Wild Turkey Bourbon name didn't come along until 47 years later 1940. Another distillery the family opened in 1891, the Old Hickory Distillery sold its products to wholesalers to label with their own brands. 

One such wholesaler was a man named Austin Nichols. It was one of Nichols' company executives, Thomas McCarthy, who came back with the idea for the Wild Turkey Bourbon brand name after an annual hunting trip with some of his friends. When the group was out hunting wild turkey, the executive passed around some samples of the company's bourbon to his friends. The friends started referring to the bourbon samples as "wild turkey bourbon," and the rest is history. The name stuck, but it wasn't until 1942 that the company started bottling Wild Turkey Bourbon labeled for sale.

The Old Hickory Distillery (which eventually became Boulevard Distillery) changed hands to Robert and Alvin Gould in 1949, and Nichols was still buying his Wild Turkey Bourbon from them for a while. However, Nichols ultimately purchased the distillery for himself in 1971 and changed the name of the distillery to Wild Turkey Distillery, which it has remained ever since.

The ingredients in Wild Turkey Bourbon aren't just any ingredients. Sure, the company uses water, grains, yeast, oak barrels, and time to make its bourbon, just like every other bourbon maker out there. However, it takes great pride in the quality of those ingredients.

First of all, Wild Turkey Distillery uses water that comes solely from the Kentucky River. Part of the bourbon's flavor is due to the fact that the water filters naturally through limestone, adding minerals while filtering iron and other impurities. Limestone-filtered river water has a high pH, which helps with the fermentation process. Speaking of fermentation, the strain of yeast that Wild Turkey uses is the same one it's been using for 60 years, which keeps the flavor consistent. Something else of note is that Wild Turkey has always used non-GMO grains. It's only one of only three bourbon makers who make this claim (the others being Buffalo Trace and Four Roses).

Wild Turkey ages its bourbon five years or more, rather than the minimum required two years. As for the barrels, they're a No. 4 char, also known as "alligator char," which refers to the interior charred surface having a shiny, yet rough, texture with a pattern like alligator skin. No. 4 charred barrels take 55 seconds of charring to achieve their texture, which is longer than No. 1 through 3. The resulting bourbon has a deeper, spicier, smokier, more vanilla flavor than those aged in barrels with less charring.

With a name like Wild Turkey Bourbon, you can bet plenty of people have tested to see how well it pairs with turkey. Not only does the name insinuate that it would be a perfect match for the roasted bird, but it actually is. Of course, some varieties work better than others.

If your turkey happens to be for a holiday meal, Wild Turkey Bourbon's caramel, vanilla, honey, and orange notes will suit it just fine. With its vanilla and caramel flavors, Russell's Reserve 10 Year Old Bourbon (which is made by Wild Turkey) is another bourbon contender, and one of the most popular Kentucky Bourbons. Plus, the company has a non-bourbon whiskey, Wild Turkey 101 Rye, that pairs nicely with the bird, with its smoky, toasty grain, and spicy flavors. So, if you're deciding on which bourbon to buy the next time you're preparing turkey, let the name of the brand be your guide — at least in the case of Wild Turkey.

Jimmy Russell started working for Wild Turkey Bourbon all the way back in 1954, when he was just 18 and doing menial tasks like sweeping the floors. However, 2024 marked his 70th year working for the company. He became Wild Turkey's third Master Distiller in the 1960s and has never relinquished the title. Nobody in the world has been a Spirits Master Distiller for longer.

Russell learned how to make bourbon at the hand of Bill Hughes, the company's first Master Distiller, and hasn't changed his methods in all those years. While he hasn't diverged from the basics, he's innovated in several ways, trying barrel-proofing and single-barrel aging. He's also responsible for several of the company's classic flavors, like Wild Turkey 101, which is one of the best bourbons you can buy under $50, as well as one of the top bourbons to use when baking. To mark his 70th year with the company, he launched a limited-edition Wild Turkey Jimmy Russell's 70th Anniversary 8-Year Old Bourbon in 2024.

If you're a big whiskey and bourbon fan, you probably know that there's a very strict definition of what whiskey or bourbon must contain to carry the name. So, the idea of a bourbon liqueur may sound at odds with that, but Wild Turkey made it happen. Whiskey legally has certain requirements, such as a specific amount of alcohol per volume and needing to be aged in oak barrels. Bourbon has further requirements, like how its grain content must be at least 51% corn. Plus, it has specific alcohol level content regulations, must carry out its aging process in charred new oak containers, and must be created in the U.S. However, if you sweeten bourbon, it becomes a liqueur, which is a sweetened alcoholic liquor.

Wild Turkey's Master Distiller, Jimmy Russell, is credited with being the first to create a bourbon liqueur in the 1970s: Wild Turkey American Honey. There are a variety of flavored bourbons out there, which many whiskey purists turned up their noses at. However, the simplicity of adding honey to bourbon may be worth a try. In fact, it's been a way the company has attracted customers who don't generally gravitate toward regular whiskey. This 71-proof bourbon is extremely smooth and bright, with a sweet honey finish. The company even made another version of this popular flavored whiskey, adding ghost peppers to the honey and calling it American Honey Sting.

A huge fire decimated a large portion of the Wild Turkey Distillery in 2000. It didn't burn everything, but it destroyed some bourbon-aging facilities, lots of bourbon, and affected the surrounding area in a big way. One of the facilities that burned down that afternoon was a seven-story rickhouse — a warehouse where the company stored its bourbon barrels while the liquor aged. That building alone held over 17,000 bourbon barrels. With so much fuel for the fire, the building was consumed in mere minutes. The fire in the rickhouse spread to the forest surrounding it via flames and a river of burning whiskey that flowed out of the building. The equivalent of at least 3,400 barrels of whiskey continued flowing to the Kentucky River, a few hundred feet behind the facility, which carried the whiskey away downstream. Firefighting efforts turned to keeping other warehouses safe, as well as the city water plant across the street.

It took days to get the fire completely under control, using 750,000 gallons of water to do so. Around 20,000 people had their water supply cut off because of the contaminated water supply. Fish were affected, too. Despite oxygen being pumped into the river, 228,00 fish died. While it took nearly a year for the company to recover, some good came from the incident. For one thing, when the company rebuilt, it took advantage of being back at square one to modernize some of its facilities.

There's a pattern to making bourbon, and a lot of the methods and ingredients haven't changed in years. However, there have been a few accidents that have led to some interesting creations. Back in 2009, Wild Turkey only made its rye twice a year. So, when an employee slipped up and put a six-month supply of high-proof rye on top of bourbon, where it wasn't supposed to go, a bit of panic followed. However, Master Distiller Eddie Russell (son of Jimmy Russell) tried to calm the situation by suggesting that they keep the mistake and see how it turned out. The resulting whiskey turned out just fine. The company named its bourbon and rye whiskey combo Forgiven and offered it as a limited release.

While the employee who made the rye mishap was forgiven, his mistake wasn't necessarily forgotten, since it worked out so well for the company. Building on the forgiven but not forgotten concept, the company created a new whiskey called Master's Keep Unforgotten. Unforgotten combines 13-year-old bourbon with 9-year-old rye. And there are more bourbon and rye whiskey combos to come.

In 2016, actor Matthew McConaughey started his six-year tenure as the Creative Director for Wild Turkey. In case you were wondering, McConaughey's Southern drawl isn't from Kentucky — he's from Texas. However, his parents met at the University of Kentucky, so he has ties to the state. Plus, he's a bourbon enthusiast, and when he first met the Russell family, he really hit it off with them. Being an actor and at home in front of the camera, McConaughey appeared in many Wild Turkey ads. Plus, he hosted several charity events with the company.

Not only did McConaughey aid in the creative side of marketing, but he also helped to create the company's Longbranch Bourbon in 2016. Drawing on McConaughey's Texas heritage, they conceived of a bourbon with the flavors of oak and Texas mesquite charcoal. He then took the Longbranch name an hour outside of Austin, Texas, where he opened up a bourbon-themed luxury glamping resort called Longbranch Ranch, with plenty of opportunities for sipping bourbon, fishing, hiking, and musical entertainment. While it was still open in 2023, it eventually closed and the property sold.

Does bourbon go with music? Wild Turkey thinks so. Thus, it has launched several music initiatives for emerging artists, its fans, and music lovers in general. In 2020, Matthew McConaughey helped Wild Turkey put on a Local Legends program to focus on those keeping the music going virtually during the emotional early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. McConaughey was also the brains behind Wild Turkey's 101 Bold Nights program, wherein non-profit record label, Spaceflight Records, helped pair bold emerging artists with a mentor. Those interested could try to win a mentorship through a contest conducted by uploading an original song or performance to social media. The third annual 101 Bold Nights was in 2024, even though McConaughey was no longer in the role of Creative Director.

In 2023, the company began its Trust Your Spirit music program in partnership with iHeartMedia. The program is designed to help promote emerging musical artists doing things their own way, being bold with their stories, and giving back to their communities. The program includes a competition, donations to non-profit music organizations, concerts (including benefit concerts), the inclusion of a Wild Turkey Lounge at various music festivals, and the launch of Wild Turkey's 101 Bold Radio station. And of course, there's plenty of bourbon to go around at these events. Some of the better-known musical artists involved with this endeavor include Shakey Graves and The Black Keys.

When a bourbon brand has been around as long as Wild Turkey, it's bound to find its way into pop culture. You're likely to encounter mentions of the brand everywhere from film to music, specifically song lyrics. ZZ Top sings about driving under the influence of Wild Turkey and other whiskeys in "Arrested for Driving While Blind." The song goes, "When you're driving down the highway at night and you're feeling that Wild Turkey's bite, don't give Johnny Walker a ride 'cause Jack Black is right by your side. You might get taken to the jailhouse and find you've been arrested for driving while blind."

There have been some Wild Turkey sightings in movies. It shows up in the drug-and-alcohol-fueled mayhem of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." The real Hunter S. Thompson (who the movie is primarily about) was a big fan of Wild Turkey Bourbon. Difford's Guide quotes Thompson, a Kentucky native, as drinking Wild Turkey "like some sort of sacrament for — I mean, constantly — for I think fifteen years." Wild Turkey also makes an appearance in Tarantino's "Death Proof," where Jungle Julia yells out to the bartender to order six shots all at once.

U.S. presidents have been ceremonially pardoning turkeys prior to Thanksgiving possibly as far back as 1863, when President Lincoln saved a Thanksgiving turkey from the holiday table. Being named after the bird, the Wild Turkey Distillery thought it prudent to try to connect itself to the spared bird in some way.

The way the turkey pardon generally works is that the National Turkey Foundation donates a turkey to the president, the president pardons it, and then it goes on to live out its life. Sometimes, they get important jobs like being the honorary grand marshal of a Thanksgiving Day Parade or touring schools.

The story goes that Master Distiller Jimmy Russell wrote a letter to then-President Barack Obama in November of 2012 on behalf of the bird the president intended to pardon. The idea was that the company wanted to conscript the pardoned turkey to come work for them as a "spokesbird" for the company. With a newly-expanded facility, the turkey would have plenty of land for roaming. Unfortunately, there's no indication that Wild Turkey Distillery was granted a pardoned spokesbird for itself.

The Wild Turkey Distillery has been owned by Campari Group since 2009. Campari Group has a global sustainability strategy and embraces a variety of responsible practices. It's committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, while immediate goals include using more renewable electricity and reducing water usage. It also seeks to be responsible when sourcing its ingredients. Wild Turkey has enacted several specific practices to become more green and sustainable over the years.

To reduce how much water it uses, Wild Turkey recycles the city water it uses for its cooling system, rather than using river water. Plus, it no longer returns its water to the river at higher temperatures. Rather than relying on gas for heating its boiler, it now uses wood waste, which doesn't necessitate as much energy. Its lighting system has increased energy efficiency, with lights programmed to go off when not being used and more energy-efficient lights.

Wild Turkey also recycles waste items that the company generates beyond the normal paper and cardboard recycling many companies do. For example, Scotch producers buy the barrels Wild Turkey discards each year so that the barrels can have a second life aging scotch. Plus, all the used grains it has leftover from the bourbon-production process is still useful. Once processed, the leftover grain can be turned into food for cows.