About Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a true American icon and embodies a real tradition of rustic craftsmanship of the highest quality. Despite the name, bourbon is a unique American whiskey that was recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1964 as "America's Native Spirit."

Thanks to this revolutionary American spirit, Kentucky became the whiskey-brewing capital of the U.S. The Whiskey Rebellion in the late 1790s drove many distillers of Irish and Scottish descent from the Northeast U.S. to Kentucky after they lost the fight against the hated whiskey tax.

Bourbon County, named after the French family Bourbon for their help in the fight for independence from Great Britain, was a logical place for the displaced distillers to resettle. Located on the Kentucky River, which runs all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, this was an ideal logistical center. The area also had an abundant supply of crystal-clear, limestone-filtered water and corn, which became the main ingredients for bourbon whiskey.

An Anabaptist minister, Reverend Elijah Craig, is usually credited with making the first bourbon in 1789 from water, corn, rye, malted barley, and other grains. At the time, it was common to char barrels to make them suitable for subsequent use. These charred barrels were then used to store the bourbon. Interestingly, this led to the discovery that the charred barrels give bourbon its characteristic color and rich flavor.

Approximately fifty years later, the foundation for the Wild Turkey Bourbon Distillery was laid when brothers James and John Ripy arrived in Kentucky from County Tyrone, Ireland, and opened a grocery store there. The Ripy's settled at the base of the towering limestone cliffs along the Kentucky River in the shadow of what is now called Wild Turkey Hill and named the piece of land 'Tyrone'. The maze of log cabins became the location of their first distillery with the capacity to grind one hundred bushels of corn per day. Around the same time, Austin, Nichols & Co. began a grocery wholesale business dealing in various types of tea, coffee, and of course, spirits.

By 1873, the Ripy's had a new distillery built. The capacity increased to 600 and eventually to 1200 bushels per day. 'The whiskey made by the Ripy Distillery has been tested and endorsed in almost every village and hamlet in the country,' proudly headlined The Anderson News – a boast that came true in 1893 when Ripy's whiskey was selected from over 400 other whiskeys to represent Kentucky at the upcoming World's Fair.

The business continued to grow steadily until the onset of Prohibition (18th Amendment) in 1919, when American distilleries were forced to close. Many would never reopen their doors, but the people of Kentucky remained enthusiastically loyal to their pride, the American spirit.

During Prohibition, the Ripy Distillery restricted itself to the production of medicinal alcohol, which was sold by Austin, Nichols & Co. The distillery struggled to survive until the U.S. Congress put an end to Prohibition in 1933 with the 21st Amendment.

As a result of the end of Prohibition, the distillery was completely modernized. Six years later, Austin, Nichols & Co. sold the grocery wholesale business to fully focus on wines and spirits.

In 1940, the head of Austin, Nichols & Co., Thomas McCarthy, unintentionally came up with the Wild Turkey Bourbon brand name. McCarthy was an avid sportsman and invited his friends every year for a turkey hunt on an estate in South Carolina. McCarthy, who was asked to bring whiskey, took a sample of the undiluted 101 proof batch from the warehouse. The following year, his friends insisted that he bring more of 'that wild turkey bourbon.' McCarthy, a businessman with a background in marketing, realized he had a successful product in hand and marketed the whiskey as Wild Turkey Bourbon. Our bourbon has remained unchanged since then.

It took until 1964 for the U.S. government to recognize bourbon as a distinctive American product with a motion passed to legally protect it. As a result, bourbon is by definition a purely American drink, distilled in an American process. Aging in charred barrels, the unique process that gives bourbon its rich amber color and subtle vanilla flavor, was an American invention.