Wild Turkey 101 8yr Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary release

[gurgalunas]

On 4/29/2025 at 3:46 PM, Kepler said:

 

 

I believe Jazz has it correct and I was wrong.  I think it's only the private picks of KS that are going away in the US.

Sorry about that.

 

No big deal.  Made my heart skip a beat though...  I do enjoy WTKS.

[markandrex]

On 4/26/2025 at 2:13 AM, Kepler said:

Wild Turkey Kentucky Spirit     $57 to 59 (but this is discontinued in the US moving forward)

 

[Kepler]

31 minutes ago, markandrex said:

 

 

Sorry - my bad!

 

[markandrex]

Long live the flock!

[flahute]

On 4/29/2025 at 1:46 PM, Kepler said:

 

 

I believe Jazz has it correct and I was wrong.  I think it's only the private picks of KS that are going away in the US.

Sorry about that.

 

I thought I remembered Bruce saying it was going away completely so I just checked with David Jennings and he also that said only private picks are going away.

[smokinjoe]

13 minutes ago, flahute said:

I thought I remembered Bruce saying it was going away completely so I just checked with David Jennings and he also that said only private picks are going away.

So, was your memory faulty, or did Bruce misspeak?  
 

[flahute]

2 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

So, was your memory faulty, or did Bruce misspeak?  
 

Gonna go with me being an idiot, BUT, at least I checked before posting.  

[smokinjoe]

2 minutes ago, flahute said:

Gonna go with me being an idiot, BUT, at least I checked before posting.  

[Kepler]

On 5/1/2025 at 5:51 PM, flahute said:

I thought I remembered Bruce saying it was going away completely so I just checked with David Jennings and he also that said only private picks are going away.

 

Thanks for checking on this sir.  Much appreciated

[BourbonGuy]

How does the Wild Turkey 101 8yr Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary release compare to the newly released 8 Year.  I have never seen or tried the 70th Anniversary release.  But saw the 8 year old for $40 tonight for the first time.  

I asked the guy working the bourbon section and he said the 70 Annisversary was "funky" and the 8 year was "sweeter".  Hmmmm...

So I figured I come here to ask.

[flahute]

59 minutes ago, BourbonGuy said:

How does the Wild Turkey 101 8yr Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary release compare to the newly released 8 Year.  I have never seen or tried the 70th Anniversary release.  But saw the 8 year old for $40 tonight for the first time.  

I asked the guy working the bourbon section and he said the 70 Annisversary was "funky" and the 8 year was "sweeter".  Hmmmm...

So I figured I come here to ask.

I think the new one is only in a few markets as we are early in the rollout so not sure how many of us have both. I do not. I did ask one of the WT senior brand builders how they compared and he said that while different, if you liked the 70th you will also like the new one. Good news for me as I've gone through quite a few of the 70th. I don't think it's at all funky.

[Kepler]

1 hour ago, BourbonGuy said:

How does the Wild Turkey 101 8yr Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary release compare to the newly released 8 Year.  I have never seen or tried the 70th Anniversary release.  But saw the 8 year old for $40 tonight for the first time.  

I asked the guy working the bourbon section and he said the 70 Annisversary was "funky" and the 8 year was "sweeter".  Hmmmm...

So I figured I come here to ask.

 

I believe there are some comparison reviews on the internet and one of our own SB members has just posted some feedback here in the "What bourbon are you drinking" thread

 

What bourbon are you drinking Spring 2025

 

[Kepler]

I've had the WT 70th Anniversary but not the new USA WT8/101 yet.  I agree with Steve that I don't consider the 70th as having any "funky" tasting notes.

I assume the new 8 year will be available here in Texas soon enough and I can compare them myself.

[MSB]

1 hour ago, BourbonGuy said:

How does the Wild Turkey 101 8yr Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary release compare to the newly released 8 Year.  I have never seen or tried the 70th Anniversary release.  But saw the 8 year old for $40 tonight for the first time.  

I asked the guy working the bourbon section and he said the 70 Annisversary was "funky" and the 8 year was "sweeter".  Hmmmm...

So I figured I come here to ask.

I would not call the 70th funky at all. It is crisper, cleaner, more refined and just over all better. I would say it is actually sweeter tasting but maybe just because the 8yr is sorta muted and dusty ish in flavor, imo. Not saying the 8yr is bad, because it is not. I would put the 70th in the same ballpark as WTKS without doing a side by side. Just a better bourbon than the 8yr, imo.

Without doing a sbs of WT101 and 8yr, I would prolly pick the 8yr over the WT101.(this is just from memory of what I remember of WT 101, havent had it for some time.)  

With that said they are all good at varying levels and pricing. 

If you have doubt, just buy RR sib.

Edited May 3 by MSB

[BourbonGuy]

They rec'd very few Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary.  I have not seen another, except a local that wanted a lot of $$$.  The way things are going, I may never taste one.   I read they were a bit difficult to get when released and supposed to be more widely available. 

 

Funny though, the shelves were full of the 8 year.  I would assume there must be some difference as the Jimmy Russell 70th Anniversary has a list of $50 and the 8 year was priced at $40.

[Kepler]

I was fortunate enough to grab several bottles of this locally.  Obviously we all want to try unique releases like this, but my advice to those that missed out on it is don't fret too too much about it as long as you can find a standard WT Kentucky Spirit, grab one of those and don't look back.  Of course with single barrel variation they won't be the same as the 70th, but pretty close most of the time I'd say.  I'll have to do a direct comparison with WTKS myself one of these days.

[IamMatt]

The 8-year is being spotted at Costco near me for $36.

[Jazz June]

A quick rundown of recent 101 proof Wild Turkey bourbons:

 

Expression	Age	Price (MSRP)
101 NAS	5yr+	$28
101 PS	7-9 year single barrels	~$70
8/101	8yr+	$45
8/101 70th Anniversary	8 & 9 year	$50
Kentucky Spirit	8-10 year single barrels	$62
Kentucky Spirit PS	8-10 year single barrels	Export only (was $62 in US)
12/101	12yr+	Export only (~$125-150 in US)

[Skinsfan1311]

On 5/3/2025 at 4:54 PM, IamMatt said:

The 8-year is being spotted at Costco near me for $36.

$44.95 at Va ABC store. Limit 1 per customer.  Mrs. Skinsfan and I each bought one. Gonna try it tonight. As I stated in another thread I hope it's $20.00 better than  the standard NAS WT101...

[Kepler]

On 5/3/2025 at 3:54 PM, IamMatt said:

The 8-year is being spotted at Costco near me for $36.

 

Not to toot my own horn, but I predicted this.  It hasn't landed here my neck of the woods yet but I figure after the initial hype dies down, there will be good deals to be had on the WT8. 

[kcgumbohead]

I stated elsewhere that I passed on 70th at 89.99, I frankly thought there would have been more of it given all the talk at lts release. Then came the announcement of 101 8yr. The more time I've had to consider it the more I think WT really shot themselves in the foot. To this point NAS 101 is considered to be 6-8yr ( with a dose of 10 from the Longbranch release era). 101 hasn't increased in price much during the boom years and I don't claim to know the target bottle price at which a legacy distillery needs to sell its flagship in order to keep the lights on, but I'm guessing the sub 25 ish range was sufficient for WT. Now with waning demand, inflation, tariffs yadda, yadda, yadda if the price needed to increase, well everything else has gone up so I'd understand it....to a point.

 

Enter 101 8yr at 40.00 SRP. We (bourbonians) know what we are looking at but the waters are clearly muddy in general consumer land. WT 81, WT 101, WT 101 8YR. What justifies the 20.00 premium for 8yr?? This seems to add un necessary confusion on an already over crowded shelf. IMO WT, if they needed a price increase should have simply restored the 8yr age statement and raised the price by? but less that 20.00. Age all that extra distillate you've been cranking out these past few years to the full 8 like it used to be and anything substandard, younger...blend that away in the 81, no one cares what that tastes like anyway!!

 

Restore the 8 yr 101 and eliminate the NAS version 101 entirely, thereby streamlining  (or maintaining) the product line instead of cluttering it up. FWIW I will not be adding any 101 8YR for 40.00, not in an era of declining demand and so much inventory aging in warehouses. 

 

FWIW I fully expect a return of the age statements that we saw vanish years ago across most distilleries in the coming months & years and they better tread carefully regarding pricing. As always the market will bear what it will but I don't see this one having a lot of legs at 40.00 once the newness wares off and inventories continue to swell. Time will tell but it sure feels like we are in a new era. 

[Kepler]

2 hours ago, kcgumbohead said:

I stated elsewhere that I passed on 70th at 89.99, I frankly thought there would have been more of it given all the talk at lts release. Then came the announcement of 101 8yr. The more time I've had to consider it the more I think WT really shot themselves in the foot. To this point NAS 101 is considered to be 6-8yr ( with a dose of 10 from the Longbranch release era). 101 hasn't increased in price much during the boom years and I don't claim to know the target bottle price at which a legacy distillery needs to sell its flagship in order to keep the lights on, but I'm guessing the sub 25 ish range was sufficient for WT. Now with waning demand, inflation, tariffs yadda, yadda, yadda if the price needed to increase, well everything else has gone up so I'd understand it....to a point.

 

Enter 101 8yr at 40.00 SRP. We (bourbonians) know what we are looking at but the waters are clearly muddy in general consumer land. WT 81, WT 101, WT 101 8YR. What justifies the 20.00 premium for 8yr?? This seems to add un necessary confusion on an already over crowded shelf. IMO WT, if they needed a price increase should have simply restored the 8yr age statement and raised the price by? but less that 20.00. Age all that extra distillate you've been cranking out these past few years to the full 8 like it used to be and anything substandard, younger...blend that away in the 81, no one cares what that tastes like anyway!!

 

Restore the 8 yr 101 and eliminate the NAS version 101 entirely, thereby streamlining  (or maintaining) the product line instead of cluttering it up. FWIW I will not be adding any 101 8YR for 40.00, not in an era of declining demand and so much inventory aging in warehouses. 

 

FWIW I fully expect a return of the age statements that we saw vanish years ago across most distilleries in the coming months & years and they better tread carefully regarding pricing. As always the market will bear what it will but I don't see this one having a lot of legs at 40.00 once the newness wares off and inventories continue to swell. Time will tell but it sure feels like we are in a new era. 

 

I hear you and you make some good points.  But I think you are over thinking it.  I also think you are underestimating how good a WT101 can be when the youngest whiskey in the batch is 8 years.  Keep in mind, with market forces come into play in the future (that you rightly expressed in your post) there is a good chance that older whiskey will eventually find its way into WT8, just like it did in the old glut period.  

 

As long as Eddie Russell is in charge, I feel an 8 year minimum WT101 has the potential to become not just a good bottle, but the best $35-40 KSBW available on the market, ... not coincidentally, the same way NAS has been that product at $20 for quite some time now.