Wild Turkey American Whisky
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Among the more challenging aspects of bourbon’s revival is the way in which its stubborn old guardians have been proved right. None more so than Wild Turkey’s Jimmy Russell. A glance at the Wild Turkey distillery confirms that this place doesn’t abide by convention.
As other firms is tidying up their plants, the iron-clad, black-painted Wild Turkey sits teetering on the brink of a gorge, steam rattling out of various chimneys. It’s among those places which feels alive, as if the plant is humming with the measured rhythm of the staff. And, overseeing it all, is the avuncular Jimmy.
Take a walk with Jimmy through his distillery – it mayhap owned by Pernod-Ricard, but this is Jimmy’s place – and it comes alive. The swirl and changing colours of the ferment; the wheeze, hiss and whistle of the still – these is not inanimate functions, but part and parcel of a originative, living process. (more…)
