Of all the major Kentucky whiskey producers, Wild Turkey has perhaps had the most unconventional attitude toward rye over the course of its existence. Long associated with bourbon, the company has actually produced rye whiskey almost as long … but in its earlier days, Wild Turkey sold sourced, mature rye it was picking up from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Even after the company’s production was centralized in Kentucky in the 1970s, rye whiskey was just never really an integral part of the Wild Turkey identity–certainly part in least to the fact that Master Distiller Jimmy Russell was never much of a rye whiskey fan. It was just a minor part of the Wild Turkey story, which is what makes the evolution to the newly released Master’s Keep Triumph Rye Whiskey such an interesting one.

Ultimately, it was the incoming influence of the second and third generation of Russells that built Wild Turkey into a legitimate rye whiskey producer. In the 2000s, Jimmy’s son and current co-Master Distiller Eddie Russell first went to bat for rye by putting his name on Russell’s Reserve 6-Year-Old Rye in 2007, followed by Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye in 2015. This evolved into the first limited edition rye release in the form of 2019’s Master’s Keep Cornerstone Rye, which coincidentally enough was also around the time that Wild Turkey limited release began to be hunted by bourbon collectors with the same intensity as bottles from the likes of Buffalo Trace. The interest in rye has only grown stronger due to the newer influence of Eddie’s son Bruce Russell, who is reportedly even more passionate about rye whiskey than his father. And given that Bruce Russell is now clearly on the road to being the next Master Distiller, as evidenced by last year’s Wild Turkey Generations release, his preferences loom large as a potential preview of how the company will continue to treat the rye demographic in the future.

Master’s Keep Triumph has an easy selling point for whiskey geeks: It’s the oldest age-stated rye released by Wild Turkey to date, at 10 years. It’s easier to find comparable age stated ryes these days on package store shelves than it once was, but anything with a double digit age statement is still a relative rarity from Wild Turkey–particularly in the form of rye whiskey. Note that as always, the “10 years” denotes the youngest whiskey in the blend, as portions of this release are reported to be up to 12 years of age. It weighs in at 52% ABV (104 proof), with a high MSRP of $275, unfortunately indicative of the modern era of the Campari-owned distillery’s very expensive limited edition releases.

So with that said, let’s get to tasting this Wild Turkey rye as it ventures out into uncharted waters.

On the nose, I’m immediately enjoying the interplay here between fruity, herbal and vanilla-type notes. There’s plenty of herbaceous, slightly grassy, rye, joined by a lighter floral vanilla, charred oak and pepper grinder, but also a fruitiness that puts me in mind of fresh figs and a little dried fruit as well. As it sits in the glass, I find the overtly charred woodiness softens and transitions into something more evocative of coffee roast and toastier oak impressions, with more baking spice coming to the front. Overall, it’s a lovely combination of sweet and spice.

On the palate, the same holds true. I expect that some whiskey geeks will tag this as having a definite “bourye” feel to it, as the sweetness and oak character are certainly evocative of a bourbon/rye blend. I’m getting plenty of fruit and baking spice here, with lots of dark fruitiness, slightly vinous currant and red licorice up front immediately, along with dark honey sweetness, espresso roast and a big charge of spicy oak. It has a complex spiciness that starts out more on the herbal end, with greener rye spice, fennel and pepper, and then transitions to sweeter, toasty baking spice notes of cardamom, cola and brown sugar. The oak brings both char and mild roasty astringency, and also savory notes of maturity with flashes of tobacco.

My immediate impression here: This is really interesting stuff, appreciably complex and layered in its flavors. It’s easily the most mature-tasting modern rye release I’ve sampled from Wild Turkey to date, and a great indication of how the distillery’s treatment of rye whiskey has been quietly maturing over the last decade under the watchful eye of Eddie and Bruce Russell. It’s a great indicator that Wild Turkey has a promising future ahead of it as a standout producer of Kentucky straight rye whiskey. Fans of rye whiskey and the distillery will both want to go out of their way to add it to their collections, even though the price point will likely sting.

Distillery: Wild Turkey (Campari)

City: Lawrenceburg, KY

Style: Kentucky straight rye whiskey

ABV: 52% (104 proof)

Availability: Limited, 750 ml bottles, $275 MSRP

Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident beer and liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.

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From the limbo of publication week for her new book, Jennifer Lucy Allan returns to Rum Music with a selection of chaotic harmonica incursions, frantic recorder flourishes, raw and serrated hurdy gurdy, and much much more

A little late on this edition of Rum Music because it is publication week for the book I’ve been working on the last couple of years: Clay: A Human History. Publication week is a strange time – lots of nebulous tasks that don’t add up to a proper list of things to do, the feeling of being on call, for something that is by now old to you, but brand new to everyone else. The book leaves your brain officially and escapes into the world and the excitement of writing it is made fresh again. Eno read this one, and apparently immediately went out and bought some clay, so please do let me know if the same thing happens to you, as people buying bags of clay would be an unintended yet dreamy outcome from this book.

I had leftovers from that project that connected this life (writing on music) with that life (writing on clay) and so I decided to make a zine while the book was at the printers. I say zine, but I got ahead of myself and it turned out to be five zines interviewing five artists and musicians about clay and ceramics in their work, along with nine images and eight fragments, all hand bound and boxed in a screenprinted archive-grade folder, put together with the help of collage wizard Mark Edwards (one half of DR.ME) up at the Islington Mill. We spent about a week printing, folding and stapling. It was a very grounding experience, coupled with mild RSI.

I also wrote a new essay for the sleevenotes of Blume’s reissue of this essential compilation of New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media, which had a subtitle added for its second pressing – Women In Electronic Music. It features a clutch of the greats – Laurie Anderson, Annea Lockwood and Pauline Oliveros, among others, and I wrote quite a personal essay about these women being part of my listening history, and about what it means for me to be able to write about them, and with them now.

Not much I come across has a Still House Plants feel, but this collaboration between singer and musician Theodora Laird recording with bass player Caius Williams tickled that memory, possessed of something like SHP’s intentional looseness and space, buttressed by playing from within a lineage of free improvisation. The bass playing is just terrific, particularly on opener ‘Dummy’, where it is gnarly, growling and keening as it is bowed and slapped. It is the rough that plays off the smoothness of Laird’s vocals (which also appeared on Loraine James’ For You And I) which have a plainness that suits the songs’ in-the-room silences and pauses. They are songs, I guess, sparse and elegant, and not tidied up too much. I am glad they are not cleaned up to studio slickness, with the room still audible, they are possessed of an entrancing immediacy and intimacy.  

More on Theodora Laird, Caius Williams

This release out of The Netherlands had me at the track title ‘Who Doesn’t Love A Potato?’, and held me with the chaotic harmonica incursion on ‘Strings Attached’ – you’ll think you’ve got two tabs playing at once. Goldblum are a duo of Marijn Verbiesen (aka Red Brut, and in Sweat Tongue and JSCA) and Michiel Klein from the four piece Lewsberg. The way in which the collaged loops of sound clunk around one another is as if trapped between transitions: they stick then chug, or bend as if deformed by being by a window in hot sun. ‘Fake Ears’ gives me the same feeling as one of my favourite albums of this type, American artist Joseph Hammer’s I Love You Please Love Me Too, in which a loop of the sung phrase “…the water stops…” snags and repeats. It’s nearly annoying, the next phrase never arrives, but in its repetition breaks some structural expectations and transcends irritation to become psychedelic music for thresholds between one state and another. Goldblum does the same, in nonsensical, fairly inexplicably appealing music which I’ve been drawn back to again and again this month. 

More on Goldblum

The opening minutes of this release sound like a lost Wuppertal support set in the 1970s, but this album is actually made by two arts students from China much more recently. The duo consists of Jun-Y Ciao and Tao Yi, who were studying together in Germany at the time. The initial sonic onslaught is caustic and eventful, leading into some happily frantic recorder flourishes that begin from about halfway through track one, the instrument squealing under the blasts of breathy energy coming from Ciao.

More on MTDM

I first heard of TOMO early last year, when I saw him playing in a hurdy gurdy duo with Keiji Haino in a tiny venue called Fourth Floor in Tokyo. That was amazing, but this solo album, on the wonderful Knotwilg, is a beast. There are some comparisons to be made with Yann Gourdon, the way both lean into the raw and serrated density of sound it’s possible to generate with a hurdy gurdy, drawing in then distorting traditional forms as on ‘Awkward Bourrée’, (a Bourrée being a traditional French dance). ‘Wheel of Life’ is more lyrical and sparse, sounding in passing moments like Henry Flynt’s ‘You Are My Everlovin”. Don’t sleep on this, it’s gone straight to the top of my (surprisingly large) experimental hurdy gurdy pile. 

More on TOMO

Killer out-folk medievalism from morc tapes here, it brings together lots of sound I love, and gives me that feeling of being music from a past on a different timeline. It contains lots of types of playing that I love – there’s a wide-open type of guitar work that reminds me of Jon Collin (but which I think is actually the sound of his home-made dulcimer), and sharp sometimes discordant pipe sounds that I presumed were Wojciech Rusin’s 3D printed pipes but are actually Vandewolken’s own hand-made flutes, based on traditional Dutch instruments. Linus Vandewolken is not his real name, but the moniker of an artist named McCloud Zicmuse, who has also released on Shelter Press.

More on Linus Vandewolken

I interviewed Tomoko for my book on clay and kept her in the fanzine bundle as well. Her work uses a lot of feedback and hydrophones submerged in ceramic bowls filled with water. It’s an instrument inspired by the Carnatic jal tarang – a series of small bowls filled with water to give them different pitches. In this release for GRM, she focuses on a related technique she calls fortune biscuits. Biscuit refers to the still-porous bisque or biscuit fired clay, the fortune refers to the chance operations of this material placed in water, and the sound you hear is from bubbles emanating from the clay in the water. It doesn’t sound like an earthly material though, or even particularly watery (especially in comparison to some of her other work), and instead is crackling and fizzing, like white noise or micro-percussions on metal. Its opening burrs operate at frequencies I find have quite impressively disorienting psycho-acoustic effects, making my skull tingle behind the eyes. It is engrossing in headphones, although was originally intended for the GRM’s Acousmonium, and I would love to hear the many channels of this soundscape for the hadal zone rendered spatially in the concert hall.

More on Tomoko Sauvage

AOB

I managed to write a whole entry on just the first track from this forthcoming release before I could even get hold of the rest of it as an advance promo, after becoming instantly ensconced in the first moments of Allan Gilbert Balon’s ‘Stella Maris’ from The Magnesia Suite. It is a recording of organ and voice made inside a church, its architecture responding to the singer with a sweet surrounding cumulus of resonance and delay. These acoustics are such that the church becomes a third instrument, or an outboard, lifting some louder, or higher pitched intonations into the heavens, an effect exaggerated by the recording, which is made at a distance. The voice when it soars to meet the rafters is just exquisite. The rest of the album is out in September, including a deluxe edition which comes with a handmade score, a sculpture, and a short film, but I couldn’t hold off writing about this till then. 

Cheers to S for alerting me to the reissue of CHBB, a Liaisons Dangereuses side project that previously existed across some unobtainable cassettes by Beate Bartel (also of Matador, Neubauten) and her LD bandmate Chris Haas (DAF). Here they are brought together onto a single LP. It’s meaty.   

On that note, there’s also more Sprung Aus Den Wolken out:

Jenifer Lucy Allan’s new book Clay: A Human History is published tomorrow (25 July) via White Rabbit, and available here.

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BARDSTOWN, Ky. (July 24, 2024) – Award-winning 15 STARS announces today its newest limited release – Three Kings Fine-Aged Whiskey. This whiskey is a unique blend of premium wheat, rye, and bourbon whiskeys aged 11 and 15 years. 15 STARS is also releasing an updated version of their debut Timeless Reserve expression, now the 13 Year Old Timeless Reserve Fine-Aged Bourbon, a blend of 13 and 15-year-old bourbons. Beginning today, both releases are available for purchase in select retailers across the country as well as online via 15STARS.com.

“We believe with the release of Three Kings that this is the first time someone has ever crafted a blend like this—balancing these three whiskeys, wheat, rye, and bourbon together,” shared Ricky Johnson, co-founder of 15 STARS. “The Three Kings expression truly exemplifies what we strive to accomplish as a brand—always innovating and thinking out of the box to create the very best tasting whiskey we can for enthusiasts across the country.”

Bottled at 107 Proof, aged 11 and 15 years, Three Kings unites the three styles of whiskeys to create an expression that is beautifully balanced and brings forth the best qualities in each component. With notes of baking spice and ripe fruit from the bourbon and wheat, the rye portion is revealed with a hint of ground pepper. On the palate, the expression opens with a dessert sweetness of persimmon pudding and candied fruit, yet remains balanced with an added depth of vanilla and nutmeg gradually emerging to toasted oak, and finishing with dark fruit and honey, giving way to deeper notes of cocoa bean and seasoned oak that remain long after the sip. Winners of the John Barleycorn Awards Blender of the Year in 2023, Ricky and his father, co-founder Rick Johnson, demonstrate their expertise as master blenders with Three Kings.

Three Kings Fine-Aged Whiskey – Aged 15 and 11 Years ($179 MSRP / 107 Proof)

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In addition to the Three Kings release, the 13 Year Old Timeless Reserve Fine Aged Bourbon, bottled at 103 Proof, is also available today for purchase. Longtime fans of 15 STARS may recognize the Timeless Reserve series from when the brand first launched in 2022. Now updated with an age statement of 13 years, from the blend of 13 and 15-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskeys, the Timeless Reserve evokes memories of fresh dessert with a nose of caramel, vanilla bean, and cherry but with an added herbal depth of roasted peanuts, dried tobacco leaves, sassafras, and old wood. The palate is that of creamy sweetness with vanilla extra and molasses, complemented by fruity notes of orange, apple, and dried banana and held up with a strong, earthy backbone of oak and leather. The mature and sophisticated pour finishes with notes of caramel, leather, dark chocolate, and seasoned oak. The previous iteration of the Timeless Reserve was met with much acclaim as a Best in Class finalist at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022 and featured in Fred Minnick’s Top 100 Whiskeys of 2022 list. The refreshed celebration of the inaugural debut release is sure to see similar fanfare.

“Timeless Reserve was our debut expression when 15 STARS was first available on shelves,” adds Johnson. “It has remained a favorite of ours over the last couple of years and we are so excited for this opportunity to revisit the expression with this updated age statement.”

13 Year Old Timeless Reserve Fine-Aged Bourbon – Aged 15 and 13 Years ($279 MSRP / 103 Proof)

About 15 STARS

15 STARS Fine Aged Bourbon crafts award-winning whiskey with a singular focus on creating luxury blends from their highly aged whiskey stocks. Founded by father and son artisan blenders, Rick and Ricky Johnson, the brand has received over 100 of the world’s most coveted whiskey awards since its debut in 2022, including several “best in class” awards. 15 STARS distills over a dozen different whiskey mash bills in Bardstown, KY, some of which include unique specialty heirloom corn (black, red, white, and blue) that the family grows for its gourmet specialty popcorn business, Black Jewell Popcorn. The 15 STARS portfolio of limited-release fine-aged bourbon is available at select retail locations east of the Rocky Mountains, as well as online at 15STARS.com. The name 15 STARS pays homage to Kentucky as the 15th state with Kentucky’s recognition on the second US flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes which was authorized by President George Washington in 1795. For more information visit 15STARS.com or follow on social at @15STARSbourbon.

Clemenger Group’s Traffik has unveiled a five-meter-long music installation with 61 speakers and 7500 watts of power to launch the new Vodka Cruiser flavours range.

Dubbed The MixMachine, the unique installation came to life with the help of production powerhouse Made and was centre stage at the flavours launch.

The MixMachine mixes Vodka Cruiser flavours with soda water using vibrations from the music via the built-in speakers.

Traffik creative director Mark Held said: “Everyone knows and loves Vodka Cruiser as a pre-mixed drink. We needed to highlight the new format.”

“And 12-inch sub woofers did the job just perfectly.”

Made This head of creative technology Marie-Celine Merret Wirstrom said: “To materialise the concept, we used cymatics – the study of wave phenomena for sound and their visual representation.

“To get the effect we wanted, we took a lot of time in research and development with all the subject matter experts collaborating very closely. When you blend science, technology, and creativity, a lot of interesting things happen, and this mixing machine was truly one of a kind and a dream project to work on.”

The night was complete with guests being treated to DJ sets by Ayebatonye, Benson, and Winston Surfshirt.

Vodka Cruiser marketing manager Monique Di Gregorio said the creation of the MixMachine installation helped demonstrate just how versatile the new Vodka Cruiser flavours range is.

“Remixed by Music was the perfect way to celebrate the new range of Flavours with our fans, elevating drinks with fun, flavour, and colour,” she said.

Credits:

Client: Vodka Cruiser

Creative and production lead: Traffik

Specialist production and Content: Made This

Influencer + PR: Mango

Cymatics/sound design: Electric Sheep Music

Specialist fabrication: Yipee-Ki-Yay

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Rosie Drew is the senior reporter at Mumbrella. She joined in May 2024.

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