1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year Cheesy Gold Foil Bourbon Review [In Depth]
1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year Cheesy Gold Foil
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF Details
Distillery: Wild Turkey
Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
Alcohol: 50.5%
Composition: 75% corn, 13 rye, 12% malted barley
Aged: At least 12 years
Color: 1.6/2.0 on the color scale (mahogany, henna notes)
Price: I paid around $650
From the back of the bottle
Our expert distillers have judged this Wild Turkey 12 year old whiskey to be unique in its exceptional smooth taste and character. It could only be so because the Wild Turkey 12 Whiskey is made in a small batch but once a year and then- only if it is judged of exceptional quality – set aside to age for 12 years in the barrel. It is the perfect whiskey to be savored for memorable occasions.1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF overview
It finally happened – I got a bottle of Wild Turkey 12 Year Cheesy Gold Foil from 1991, and I couldn’t be more excited.
When I previously lived in Japan in 2021-2022 the exchange rate was around 115 yen to $1, so it was tough for me to justify spending around $900 on a bottle. Even at 130 yen per dollar, my pockets weren’t quite deep enough to do that. At an insane 155-157 yen per dollar (give or take a 30 year low for the yen), that $900 bottle turned into $650, and it was finally time to buy this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very expensive, but it’s likely the best price that I will ever get.
This is my first ever bottle of Wild Turkey 12 Year Chessy Gold Foil, but it is not my first experience with dusty Wild Turkey. I’ve been so lucky to try 1994 Wild Turkey Tradition, 1995 Wild Turkey 8 Year, 2001 Wild Turkey Freedom, 2004 Wild Turkey Rare Breed, 2006ish 12 Year, and 2012 12 year. I’d like to think that I have decent experience with old Wild Turkey.
Less about me and more about the bourbon. Wild Turkey 12 Year has been an export-only bottle for decades. I think it was discontinued in the US in the mid to late 90’s because demand was so bad in the US, leaving it to be sold in Japan and a few other markets. It was not produced at all from 2010 to 2022, and now it’s back on the market in Japan, Korea, and Australia…there might be a few other countries that I missed.
The gaudy and “cheesy” shimmery gold labeled version, also referred to as “Cheesy Gold Foil” (or CGF for short), was released around 1988 to early 1994. My particular bottle is extra fancy and also sports a Duty Free Sade sticker, meaning that someone purchased it from duty free in the early 90’s, although I have no idea where on this planet. And after that, they apparently brought it to Japan and left it alone for over 30 years.
With these older bottles, the 12 year age statement is more of a suggestion than anything else. Yes, it still states the minimum age of the bourbon in the blend, but the older releases are known (and confirmed by Wild Turkey) to contain a lot of older bourbon in the blend, although the knowledge of the exact blends are lost to time.
Today’s version is likely more or less all 12-13 year bourbon, with maybe a little bit of even older stuff. It was a different game back in the 80s and 90s, when there was more old stock lying around waiting to be used, so it ended up mixed into the most expensive bourbon that they made at the time – Wild Turkey 12 Year. That sounds insane today, but bourbon wasn’t always so popular.
A word of caution if you ever are fortunate enough to have the chance to open a bottle of old bourbon – it’s often an ordeal of excitement, patience, and anxiety. You need a wine opener, clean glass container to store bourbon / larger glass measuring cup, a funnel, and a strainer with thin mesh. You’re going to be excited because it’s an opportunity to drink something old and rare, but you’re going to have to work for it.
If you’re lucky, you can open the bottle without the cork breaking and then disintegrating into the bottle (it happens). Then the aforementioned tools end up not being needed…but that is rarely the case in my experience.
If you’re unlucky (the more likely case), like I was with this bottle, then the cork immediately tears in half and the cork starts flaking into the whiskey. Then it’s your job to remove the remaining cork stuck in the top and then filter it out of the bourbon as much as you can because cork does bad things to bourbon over time. Good luck with that because it’s a harrowing experience, especially when you need to pour the bourbon into a separate glass container to strain, then pour it back into the original bottle.
It never gets easier for me.
The good news for me at least is that the cork was really stuck in there so nothing leaked in transit, but the inconvenient news is that I spent 15 minutes opening and straining the bottle. It comes with the territory.
Let’s open up this old time capsule and find out what’s inside in this 1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year Chessy Gold Foil Bourbon review.
As an FYI, I bought and use these Glencairn glasses for everything (they’re the best): Glencairn Crystal Whiskey Glass Set of 6, Set of 4, Set of 2, or just one. Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF smell
The first sniff is “wow”. There’s dark and creamy caramel, maple syrup, vanilla, and marshmallows, then old oak, tobacco, cinnamon, dried cherry, orange peel, dark chocolate fudge, and baked red apple. There’s a light hint of buttercream-like funk that I get from time to time.
This is not as date and fig-forward as other dusty bourbons, or as vibrantly fruity as some old Blanton’s, but this also stands out as an exceptional bourbon in its own awesome way.
I guess I’m so used to dusty bourbon being so fruity that I forgot that it can be incredibly oaky too, because 1991 CGF leans hard on oak sweetness and woodiness, but in a way that is borderline impossible to create today. There’s also deep fruitiness layered around the refined, controlled, old humidor-like oak that caresses me like I’m a baby.
After swirling and resting to settle the alcohol, I smell freshly made caramel, cherry syrup, vanilla beans, baked red apple, toffee, very refined old oak, tobacco, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and a hint of a plasticky funk. There’s some fruity pop for a moment, then the oak takes over in the best way possible.
This is dark, rich, mature, and epic.
To reiterate, Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF has so much fragrant dark sweetness, old oak, and dark fruitiness. All that old woodiness comes off as refined, expressive, and gentle dark chocolate, toffee, and tobacco. In modern bourbon, even 12+ year old ones, all that woodiness is usually a blunt hammer that can’t come close to how black tuxedo-refined the 1990 version is. Plus, CGG isn’t nutty or grassy at all.
If I have any criticism, it’s not the most bold, fruity, or vibrant bourbon.
The general dusty bourbon profile is burned into my brain from when I drank so much of this stuff when I lived in Japan (lucky me). This smells so right and familiar.
This is a masterpiece.
1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF taste and aftertaste
With my first sip, I get dense dark caramel, dark chocolate, fancy vanilla extract, old oak, tobacco, cinnamon, dark dried cherries and red apple, orange peel, and more old oak with just a hint of funky buttercream.
One sip and…oh my…this is creamy, rich, and refined magic.
Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF has tons of dark sweetness and oak, but again this is not anything like the 15+ year old oaky stuff that we get today…which feels it was burnt to a crisp in comparison.
This is one of the woodier / oakier dusties that I’ve had. There is a little bit of dark chocolate and wood bitterness, but in the way that drinking a nice cup of black coffee leaves that type of sensation.
With “chewing” I taste bold caramel sweetness, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, dried cherry, old oak, tobacco, cinnamon, toffee, mocha, orange peel, and some nutmeg with overall great viscosity.
There are moments where shimmery oak splashes across my entire palate. I mean…holy moly this is luxuriously special. While this 1991 CGF is not a fruit bomb like many of the other duties I’ve had, it instead is a refined oak bomb that can’t be replicated with today’s bourbons…even the $500-1000 ones.
The finish envelops my mouth with lengthy dark chocolate, fudge, tobacco, vanilla bean, old oak, and dark caramel for minutes at a time. No joke, the finish goes on and on for at least 3 minutes. This is Wild Turkey Cigar Blend.
After “chewing” it leaves caramel candy, vanilla bean, old oak, tobacco, dark chocolate, toffee, and dried cherry that coat my entire mouth and hold on for dear life
Is this what it feels like to smoke an epic cigar?
The finish/ aftertaste usually doesn’t matter to me unless it’s terrible or superb, and this one is superb.
It’s not absolute perfection because I wish that it were a little bit richer, bolder, more expressive, and more fruity. Those are exceedingly minor complaints at best though.
In a way, it feels like I’m drinking bourbon for the first time because it tastes completely different than what I’ve been drinking for a while. The oak, in all its glory, is a spectacle to taste. This is woody bourbon perfection.
I’ve unfortunately lost some Glencairn’s while in transit, and that made me very sad. So, I wised up and bought this Glencairn Travel Case that comes also comes with 2 glasses so I don’t need to worry so much about them breaking. I think it’s great, and I think you’ll love it too.
Seriously, if you already have glasses, protect them.
1991 Wild Turkey 12 Year CGF Rating
Wild Turkey 12 Year Cheesy Good Foil 1991 is a masterpiece, and it took one smell and one taste to figure that out. I am ecstatic that it survived the flight back from Japan and also didn’t go bad after all these years. Otherwise, it would have been a disastrously expensive problem.
The irony is that it probably wasn’t considered to be anything particularly special when it was available. It was “high end” bourbon, when “high end” bourbon wasn’t that popular. I cannot believe that these were on Duty Free shelves in the 90’s…it seems totally insane by today’s standards. It’d be like…Michter’s 20 Year being readily available today for $400 and people being lukewarm about it.
I won’t rehash everything from the tasting notes (and all the added commentary), but the mature, deep, and refined oak and dark sweetness are showcased front and center, and I’m enamored by the rich and expressive, yet understated spectacle that I haven’t found in modern bourbon…not even Michter’s 20 Year.
From my decent amount of experience, it’s one of the more oak-forward dusties I’ve had. Bourbons such as Blanton’s, Wild Turkey 8 Year, and Pure Kentucky 2006 are way more fruity and less oaky. Old Grand Dad 114 Lot 17 isn’t quite like this either, although it’s closer.
It’s fairly clear to me that there’s a lot of far older than 12 year old bourbon in the blend. I’m not even going to make up a number, I can just feel that it’s a lot older than 12 years.
It’s a masterclass in oakiness.
This brings me to my often-mentioned statement – they don’t make it like they used to. This is true of Blanton’s, Heaven Hill, Willett, Old Grand Dad, Old Forester, IW Harper, and likely most other bourbons that were sold 30+ years ago and still are today.
The thing is, modern bourbons directionally have these types of scents, yet they feel completely different. In old bourbon, they feel rounder, fuller, more defined, and “smoother” in a sense, while also being less burnt and dry like someone torched the wood to oblivion.
From my experience, bourbons of yesteryear generally have drastically different personalities. Old bourbons generally…
- Are more fruity, often with more dark fruit such as fig, date, and preserved apricot. These days, wine finishes are done to get those notes
- Have an entirely different type of dark and refined oakiness that’s far less dry, burnt, spicy, and in your face
- Are far less earthy, grainy, and generally unrefined
It makes me wonder if the Heaven Hill fire in 1996 was the turning point in bourbon shifting to this new, modern, and “edgy” profile. I think the shift was inevitable (for many reasons I won’t cover here), but losing those production facilities and whiskey stocks irreparably hurt the whiskey industry and enjoyers.
I think that Wild Turkey today could probably come close-ish to 1991 CGF if they tried. I haven’t had those limited vintaged Russell’s Reserves, so I can’t say if those come close. They might be able mostly replicate it if they took their best 15-20 year old bourbons (lower in the rickhouse for calmer oak) and finished them in Armagnac for 6-12 months for the extra mature oak and fruitiness. They’ve finished bourbon before, with the sherry-finished Master’s Keep Revival and rum-finished voyage, so they have the capability to do it with Armagnac too.
But at least for today, Wild Turkey 12 Year Cheesy Gold Foil 1991 is borderline perfection and I can’t help but smile when I drink this.
Meet the Author: Alex
I have far too much fun writing about whiskey and singlehandedly running The Whiskey Shelf to bring you independent, honest, and useful reviews, comparisons, and more. I’m proudly Asian American and can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Japanese.
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