r/bourbon•9 yr. ago

Draft Wild Turkey Timeline

About a week ago, there was some discussion of the creation of a more in depth Wild Turkey timeline. In response to that discussion, I spent the past week creating such a timeline. I chose to focus on the 1990s and after because this was likely to be of the most use to others.

Most of the entries below link to the source for the information, but I couldn't find good single sources for a few of the entries. The entries that contain a "c" before the year are my best guess (e.g., c.1999).

Please let me know if you see any mistakes or if you think something else should be added. One area that I'm still working on is dating the label changes for WT12 (see below).

Year	Description
1971	Austin Nichols purchases the Boulevard Distillery
1980	Pernod Ricard purchases Austin Nichols
c.1990	WT Cuvee Lafayette 12y/101° launches in France
1991	WTRB launches (Batch W-T-01-91)
c.1991	Wild Turkey Kentucky Legend NAS/101° released in Duty Free
1992	WT 8y/101° loses age statement in U.S., becomes "Old No. 8 Brand": WT8/101° continues to be exported and an embossed "8" is added near the shoulder
c.1992	WT 12y/101° label changes from "CGF" to "split-label" in U.S.
1992	1855 Reserve launches (Batch W-T-01-92)
1994	WTKS launches (with pewter top)
1994	WT Tradition NAS/101° replaces WT Kentucky Legend NAS/101° in Duty Free
1996	1855 Reserve discontinued (Batch W-T-01-96)
c.1998	WT Kentucky Legend Single Barrel 110° ("Donut") released in Japan
c.1998	WT Stampede NAS/105° replaces WT Tradition NAS/101° in Duty Free
1999	Label of WT changes to depict a left-facing full-color turkey in profile
c.1999	WT 12y/101° discontinued in U.S.; WT 12y/101° continues to be exported and label changes from the split-label to psuedo-split-label
1999	WTRB label changes to include a turkey
2000	Bottling moves to Lawrenceburg, IN
2001	WT RR 10y/101° launches
2001	WT 17y/101° released in Japan
2002	WTKS cap changes to dark wood without Wild Turkey logo
2002	WT Freedom NAS/106° replaces WT Stampede NAS/105° in Duty Free
2004	Barrel entry proof increases from 107° to 110°
2005	WTKS cap changes to dark wood with Wild Turkey logo
2004	WT Tribute 15y/101° released in U.S.
2004	WT Tribute 15y/110° released in Japan
2005	WT Heritage Single Barrel 101° replaces WT Freedom NAS/106°
2005	WT RR 10y/101° replaced by RR 10y/90°
2006	Barrel entry proof increases from 110° to 115°
2006	WT Master Distiller's Selection 14y/107° released in Japan
2007	RR Rye 6y/90° launches
**c.2003-2006	WT 12y/101° label changes from psuedo-split-label to uni-label
2007	WT American Spirit 15y/100° released
2007	Bottling moves to Fort Smith, AR
2008	WTKS cap changes to light wood
2009	Gruppo Campari purchases Austin Nichols
2009	Russel's Reserve label changes to tall and narrow brown labels
2009	Wild Turkey Tradition 14y/101° released
2011	Label of WT changes to depict a left-facing brown & white sketch of a turkey in profile. The name "Austin Nichols" is moved to the small print at the bottom of the label
2011	WT 81° replaces WT 80°
2012	WT Rye 81° launched
2013	RR SiB launches
c.2013	Export WT 12y/101° discontinued
2013	WT 13y/90° launched in Japan
2013	Bottling returns to Lawrenceburg, KY
2013	WT Forgiven Batch #302 released
2014	WT Diamond Anniversary released
2014	WT Forgiven Batch #303 released
2015	Eddie Russel named "Master Distiller"
2015	Label of WT changes to depict a left-facing black & white sketch of a turkey in profile.
2015	RR label changes to "rustic" label
2015	WT Master's Keep 17y/86.8° released
2015	RR SiB Rye launches
2015	RR 1998 15y/104° released
2017	WT Decades released

Posted Mar 14, 2017, 1:17 AM UTC · edited

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