New Wild Turkey Product Fall 2013 - Forgiven

[squire]

Forgiven should be at least as good as it's parts. If they launched it as a separate brand for $25 or less it might be a hit.

[mbroo5880i]

Forgiven should be at least as good as it's parts. If they launched it as a separate brand for $25 or less it might be a hit.

I agree. I can buy a 750 ml bottle of WTR81 for $21 and a 750 ml bottle of WT101 for $21. My way of thinking is that a 750 ml bottle of a blend of the two products should be closer to $20 to $25 than $50. I might even kick in $5 to make it $30, if they put it in a fancy bottle. Even if it were the best whiskey I ever tasted, I couldn't justify the price if I can make the blend myself for 1/2 the price.

[jburlowski]

I don't believe the marketing story about its origins.... but having tried Forgiven I can un-equivocally say that it is a mistake.

[Flyfish]

I agree. I can buy a 750 ml bottle of WTR81 for $21 and a 750 ml bottle of WT101 for $21. My way of thinking is that a 750 ml bottle of a blend of the two products should be closer to $20 to $25 than $50. I might even kick in $5 to make it $30, if they put it in a fancy bottle. Even if it were the best whiskey I ever tasted, I couldn't justify the price if I can make the blend myself for 1/2 the price.

I gave your suggestion a try today with a vatting of WT101 (75%) and WTR 101 (25%) and found it quite nice with sweet caramel notes, some citrus, toasted walnuts, and a great mouth feel. Bumped it up to 50/50 and the results were not as good, espcially the finish. Surprisingly, the 75/25 seemed much more complex. Still, I finished off the session with WT 101 because I am down to the last 10% of my WTR 101 and it may be really difficult to replace it. I like the vatting but I'm not ready to plunck down $50 for it.

[Jackinbox]

I agree. I can buy a 750 ml bottle of WTR81 for $21 and a 750 ml bottle of WT101 for $21. My way of thinking is that a 750 ml bottle of a blend of the two products should be closer to $20 to $25 than $50. I might even kick in $5 to make it $30, if they put it in a fancy bottle. Even if it were the best whiskey I ever tasted, I couldn't justify the price if I can make the blend myself for 1/2 the price.

So, I'll take that as a "No" in regards to the bottle of Forgiven that I saw tonight at a Pay-More store on the North side for $69.99? :slappin:

[HighHorse]

Forgiven should be at least as good as it's parts. If they launched it as a separate brand for $25 or less it might be a hit.

Squire, you are exactly right. In my opinion, that's exactly what it is. The parts were (according to WT) very good juice. Well aged bourbon and high proof rye as I recall. It's also been a long time since I tasted this when a rep brought a preview bottle by the porch. Rather than mingling (to use Jim Rutledge's term), these two maintain their seperate identities in the tasting. That's highly unusual in my experience. Early on you pick up the qualities of either the bourbon or the rye (It's been a while) and the back end brings out the qualities of the other. The only thing that borders on offensive in this offering is .... the price. I'd love to have this on my shelf .. or, under the desk in my garage .. but it ain't gonna happen at that price.

As is always the case .. I hope that most of your fine bourbon drinkers will give this a try and make up your own mind. Don't be put off by overly negative reviews. There's a reason wh;y tasters make their decisions and notes before discussing it among each other - to avoid influencing another's opinion.

Try it guys ... it may suck as recently noted ... but .. it may not.

[HighHorse]

I gave your suggestion a try today with a vatting of WT101 (75%) and WTR 101 (25%) and found it quite nice with sweet caramel notes, some citrus, toasted walnuts, and a great mouth feel. Bumped it up to 50/50 and the results were not as good, espcially the finish. Surprisingly, the 75/25 seemed much more complex. Still, I finished off the session with WT 101 because I am down to the last 10% of my WTR 101 and it may be really difficult to replace it. I like the vatting but I'm not ready to plunck down $50 for it.

This makes a lot of sense. I'm thinking the bourbon in the "Forgiven" is a bit better than the 86 .. but they don't come right out and say what it was. And I think the ratio is something like 68/32. I'm gonna give that a try as well ... maybe using a little KS or RR for the bourbon.

[squire]

70/30 has a nice ring to it as we have no need to match an exact proof.

[Phil T]

Saw this at several places yesterday sitting on the shelves. TPS, however, had it in their glass case. IT must be special.

[jburlowski]

While I don't believe the marketing backstory, this seems like what it is purported to be: some bourbon and rye dumped together. A good blend of the two could presumably be made but, IMO, this isn't it. The result is a sort of Frankenstein vatting.

Not undrinkable or even bad.... but, for me, mediocre at best.

I definitely agree that this isn't worth the price.

[Flyfish]

At a time when bourbons are being watered down to stretch the stocks, you have to give WT credit for watering down their bourbon with rye. Even so, the price is way out of line.

[squire]

I think I'm most disappointed by what was not done, they had the opportunity to create a quality vatting and present it as a new approach.

[sutton]

Yeah, but they watered down the rye before they used it to water down their bourbon ...

[squire]

Yeah, more missed opportunities.

[OscarV]

At a time when bourbons are being watered down to stretch the stocks, you have to give WT credit for watering down their bourbon with rye.

Good point.

I can see future WT advertising stating that while others water their bourbon down with water WT water's it down with rye whiskey.

[HighInTheMtns]

Good point.

I can see future WT advertising stating that while others water their bourbon down with water WT water's it down with rye whiskey.

"At Wild Turkey, we give water the bird!"

[Jackinbox]

"At Wild Turkey, we give water the bird!"

If that's the case, then they need to bring back RR101.

[LostBottle]

I am looking forward to the 81 proof version of this (WTF 81).

[p_elliott]

There was a bottle of the forgiven at the gazebo (not the distillery tasting) I had a pour of it. It wasn't bad but like I predicted it's not a $50 whiskey more like $20.

[doubleblank]

I tasted it at the Gazebo and generally concur. Average whiskey at best. A missed opportunity for WT. Forgiven is now.....Forgotten.

[ebo]

Good point.

I can see future WT advertising stating that while others water their bourbon down with water WT water's it down with rye whiskey.

[camduncan]

This has made its way to Australia as well..... for the grand total of $90 per bottle (Rare Breed is $73 for comparison).... I guess the timing is good as from next month it will atract the Christmas gift crowd and probably make sales look better than they would have been.

[gblick]

Still haven't seen it on any store shelves in Houston.

[Tony]

Glad I got to try this at the gazebo, I think the comments I heard most was "It's not that bad". Not really a great marketing statement.

Best regards, Tony

[joboyd]

It'll be curious to see if the sea change of opinion related to Stagg Jr. carries over to Forgiven. There was such hate toward Stagg Jr. when it was initially released, but now there seems to be a steady upswing in positive feedback toward it. To each their own. I'm an unabashed Forgiven fan.