You've made it to the Wild Turkey Distillery! This particular distillery has roots from all the way back in 1855, when Austin Nichols began selling alcoholic beverages as a wholesale grocer. This led him to begin a business which would go on to own Wild Turkey.

As far as the name Wild Turkey, it came from a hunting trip in 1940. During this trip, a distillery executive was sharing his bourbon with some friends on their annual hunting trip. The group was hunting for Wild Turkey, which inspired them to name the bourbon after it.

In 1954, Jimmy Russell joined Wild Turkey. He is still with the company today, and is the third in line of distillers of Wild Turkey. He learned the craft from Bill Hughes, the second Wild Turkey master distiller, and Ernest W. Ripy, son of the original distiller. Jimmy has preserved the Wild Turkey tradition for over 60 years, and has never wavered on quality, giving him a legendary status in the bourbon community. In fact, bourbon makers at times call him "The Master Distiller's Master Distiller." In addition to Jimmy, his son Eddie has also achieved the title of master distiller. He joined Wild Turkey in 1981, and was inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame in 2010. Only a year later, he created a new Wild Turkey, intended as a perfect mixing bourbon, Wild Turkey 81. Eddie achieving the title of master distiller makes him and Jimmy the only active father and son master distiller duo in the world.

As far as the making of Wild Turkey, the water used comes from the Kentucky River, and is naturally filtered through limestone, removing iron, along with other impurities. They also use an original yeast strain, which they claim gives the bourbon its signature flavor, and all of the ingredients are GMO-free. As you may know, bourbon is required to be aged in chared oak barrels, and Wild Turkey only used barrles with a No. 4 char on the inside, the darkest available, and generally considered to be the best, as it adds more flavor, and gives the bourbon a deeper color. Finally, Wild Turkey is always aged at least 5 years, though often 6, 8, or even more, despite the fact that the aging requirement for whiskey to be bourbon is only 2 years. Overall, Wild Turkey is a beautiful distillery well-worth a stop on the bourbon trail (all informaation couretsy of wildturkey.com, image courtesy of Craiglduncan at English Wikipedia / CC0).