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Wild Turkey’s original master distiller, Jimmy Russell, is a bourbon man through and through. This may be why he refers to rye whiskey as a “fad” and has devoted very little time to it during his tenure at Wild Turkey.
I can’t blame him though, rye whiskey has always occupied a smaller market share than bourbon. In fact, during the early days at what would eventually become the Wild Turkey Distillery (back then it was called the Boulevard Distillery), Jimmy’s bosses at Austin Nichols were sourcing rye whiskey from Pennsylvania and Maryland. The original rye whiskey was purchased from the Baltimore Pure Rye Distillery and was thought to be a mash bill of 98% rye, 2% malt. Then they switched to rye whiskey made at the original Michter’s Distillery in Schaeferstown, Pennsylvania.
That all changed around the mid-1970’s when Michter’s began falling on hard times. It also turned out that almost all distilleries in that region had shut down around that time as well. Austin Nichols had no choice but to have Jimmy produce rye whiskey at the distillery in Kentucky.
Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey Mashbill
The mashbill for Wild Turkey’s rye whiskey changed with it too. The original rye whiskey that Michter’s contract distilled for them in Pennsylvania called for a recipe that was 65% rye, 23% corn, and 12% barley. But Jimmy changed it to reflect a more “Kentucky style” rye whiskey that used a lower percentage of the spicy grain (52% rye, 36% corn and 12% barley).
After about 8 years aging in a barrel, Wild Turkey Straight Rye was released. It is commonly referred to as “Christmas Rye” due to it’s green label and red type font. Eventually, Wild Turkey 101 Rye Whiskey took over and was followed by two versions of Russell’s Reserve’s Rye Whiskey.
None of the rye whiskey that was made after Campari bought the brand was ever thought to be much over 7 years old, so enthusiasts never paid much attention to it.
In 2019, Wild Turkey announced that the newest release of their Master’s Keep series would be a blend of 9-to 11-year-old rye whiskey barrels. This would make it the oldest age-stated rye whiskey that Wild Turkey has ever released. The timing was great because rye whiskey had regained its lost popularity and fans of the brand were yearning for something like this.
Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Cornerstone Rye Whiskey – as it came to be known – likely had the full support of Eddie Russell behind it. He wasn’t as rye-skeptical as his dad and probably put these barrels back for a special occasion.
Luckily, the Master’s Keep series was the perfect reason to pull them out of the warehouses. So how would Cornerstone taste with all of that extra age? Fans gobbled up every bottle immediately upon its release. Now it’s my turn to do a review. I sampled this neat in a glencairn to find out.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Unlike Indiana ryes, the nose on this doesn’t pack a whole lot of herbal or floral notes, instead it eschews them for heavy baking spices that center firmly around notes of cinnamon. Scents of toasted nuts and sweet brown sugar combine with buttery graham cracker crust. There’s a few notes of peppery spice that let you know that it’s a rye whiskey after all.
Palate: Rye spice like spearmint, cinnamon, black peppercorns and chili powder bring on the heat and herbal traits to let you know this rye whiskey has some teeth. The oak is sweeter and seems to really get your attention while caramel candies and cacao nibs provide sweet treats to go along with it.
Finish: As soon as you swallow, two distinct notes hit right away. The first is Junior Mints and the second is black licorice. It’s unique that they seem to have been hiding in the palate the whole time but suddenly pop out on the finish, making it one of the most memorable parts about this pour.
The oak sticks around on the finish but it’s far from being over-oaked. It just comes off as really well aged. There is also some black cherry notes mixed throughout.
Score: 8/10
I had my first sip of this bottle the very day that Rural Inn received their shipment in 2019. Together with four friends, we all sat around savoring our pour. I believe the excitement of trying a highly anticipated bottle made us overly enthusiastic about what we were experiencing. I wrote down some tasting notes and quickly determined it was head and shoulders better than almost any other rye whiskey out there. However, as time went on and I had the chance to resample it, the novelty wore off.
My biggest change of heart came when I tasted it side by side with various Kentucky Owl Rye Whiskey batches. I was shocked at just how much better all of those were compared to Cornerstone. Even doing a side-by-side with a single barrel of Russell’s Reserve Rye Whiskey seemed to verify that the hype I initially gave Cornerstone was probably more than it deserved.
Final Thoughts
Cornerstone is a nice rye whiskey by itself, but it quickly loses its luster when its put up against other rye whiskies at similar price points. Drinking Cornerstone together with Kentucky Owl really made me stop complaining about how expensive the Kentucky Owl releases were (this is when their retail prices were roughly the same) because I realized just how special Kentucky Owl was.
Although I still believe Cornerstone is a great whiskey, it’s not worth the hype or the price tag. It drinks – at best – like a $75 bottle of rye whiskey.
What would $75 get you these days for rye? It could get you a 9 year old rye whiskey from MGP or a 16 year old single barrel of Alberta rye whiskey from WhistlePig. Both of those would probably have similar ratings on my rating scale as well.
In the meantime, if Wild Turkey ever wants to show rye whiskey fans that they still have the chops to make a really desirable rye, they may be better served to re-open their single barrel program for stores to pick from again (note: this is finally happening in 2024). I have a feeling that there still are many gems just waiting to be found in those warehouses around Lawrenceburg.