Wild Turkey launches #Nevertamed Bourbon Tour

A Wild Turkey “distillery on wheels” launched last week. The bus-sized replica of the Visitor Center in Lawrenceburg is taking a bourbon tour on the road, offering fans of the spirit education and tastings.

“I’ve fallen in love with bourbon and Kentucky,” says Andrew Floor, vice president of marketing, dark spirits, at Campari America. “On a personal level, I’m on a quest to ensure that Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is established as the pinnacle of American whiskeys.” Seeing bourbon enthusiasts and bartenders at the Visitor’s Center triggered the idea, Floor says. “If people who go there fall in love with it, how can we take that experience to as many people as we can around the country?”

The answer was a 50-foot bus offering education as well as a mobile bar, lounge and tasting room. “One of reasons people fall in love with Kentucky is it’s so informal,” says Floor. “We’ll show you some things and answer questions, then move to the back for a tasting. You’ve heard about it, now let’s taste it, let’s see the difference in bourbon and rye, in products aged eight and 12 years, see the impact the barrel makes and difference in mash bills.”

Throughout the seven-month tour, which includes stops in Dallas, the Kentucky Derby Fest-a-Ville, New Orleans, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, father and son distilling team Jimmy and Eddie Russell will make special appearances.

The #Nevertamed Bourbon Tour also serves as a platform to introduce a new lineup. “Wild Turkey Master’s Keep is Eddie’s first official product as master distiller,” Floor says. The 17-year-old bourbon hits shelves this August. “It’s kind of his baby. After a 34-year apprenticeship, he’s finally saying, ‘This is me.’ ”

Also new: Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye, “an elevated, concentrated expression of what rye is all about,” according to Floor, and Russell’s Reserve 1998, a very small quantity from barrels set aside the year Russell’s Reserve launched.

More information: www.nevertamed.com/#the-tour.

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