Wild Turkey Rare Breed Bourbon Whiskey 750ml

Wild Turkey Rare Breed was first released in 1991, largely inspired by the success of Booker Noe's barrel proof Booker's bourbon a few years earlier at Jim Beam. Jimmy Russell created Rare Breed as a way to showcase Wild Turkey's whiskey the way it comes straight out of the barrel, and it has since gone through more than a dozen batches, with the label and proof changing periodically over the decades since its debut.

Rare Breed uses Wild Turkey's single house mash bill of 75 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and 12 percent malted barley, the same recipe behind every other Wild Turkey bourbon. It's a blend of bourbons aged 6, 8, and 12 years, all matured in barrels finished with the distillery's number 4 alligator char, and bottled uncut and at barrel proof rather than diluted down to a fixed number. Because Wild Turkey enters its barrels at a relatively low proof, generally between 107 and 115, Rare Breed's finished proof, currently around 116.8, runs lower than many competing barrel proof bourbons that enter the barrel at the legal maximum of 125.

The nose brings caramel and toffee alongside bright orange zest and citrus, with seasoned oak adding depth from the older barrels in the blend. On the palate, rye spice, maple sugar, and caramel mix with leather and a hint of tobacco, carrying real intensity from the proof without losing balance. The finish stays spicy and dry, closing on oak, cocoa, and lingering sweetness that fades slowly.