Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey distilled and bottled by the Austin Nichols division of Campari Group. The distillery is located near Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, United States. It offers tours, and is part of the American Whiskey Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.HistoryIn 1891, Thomas Ripy built the Old Hickory Distillery in Tyrone, Kentucky, near Lawrenceburg, on the former site of the Old Moore Distillery. After Prohibition, the Ripy family (Thomas had died in 1902) repaired the distillery and began to again produce bourbon. The Ripys sold the bourbon produced at this distillery to various wholesalers who bottled bourbon under their own brands. Austin Nichols was one of these wholesalers.The "Wild Turkey" brand is said to have arisen after an Austin Nichols executive, Thomas McCarthy, took some warehouse samples on a wild turkey hunting trip in 1940. The bourbon proved so popular among his friends they continued to ask him for "that wild turkey bourbon." Austin Nichols began to bottle Wild Turkey in 1942.The Ripys were bought out in 1949 by Robert and Alvin Gould.For three decades after introducing Wild Turkey, Austin Nichols remained a non-distiller producer—bottling bourbon purchased on the open market under their Wild Turkey brand. Much of this whiskey was purchased from the Ripys/Gould distillery in Tyrone. In 1971, Austin Nichols purchased the facility (then known as the Boulevard Distillery) and changed the name to the Wild Turkey Distillery.