W.B. Saffell is the third release in Campari’s The Whiskey Baron’s series and as far as I can tell the first one that Eddie Russel was involved it. The first two releases, Old Ripy and Bond and Lillard were not big hits but this was one supposed to be different plus it was NCF, 107 proof and contained 12 year old Wild Turkey so I had to grab one, also it had a turkey on the label so that was cool.
W.B. Saffell
Age: Blend of 6, 8, 10 and 12 year
Abv: 107 proof
Color: Deep gold
Price: $40.99 for a 375ml
Neat
Nose: Spicy with oak and rich caramel notes with some faint vanilla
Taste: Warm baking and holiday spices, rich caramel and clear, but not bitter, oak notes. A very nice mouthfeel.
Finish: Long with baking and rye spices throughout balanced by sweet vanilla and more subtle oak.
Conclusion
This is very clearly Wild Turkey but also very good Turkey. I’d say it’s almost on par with Master’s Keep Decades but more on the spicy side of the Turkey profile. I really enjoyed that it had a lot of flavorful spice but wasn’t hot. I usually don’t love overly spicy whiskey but this bottle nailed it.
I probably won’t pick up another bottle of this one but I’ll definitely grab the next release in this collection assuming it also has decent specs.
On a side node this was a lot better than the last blend of 6-12 year old bourbon with a fancy label, bird and high price tag so it had that going for it.
TL;DR: Very good spicy turkey bourbon, a little pricey, glad it came in a 375
8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time
Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase
Scale
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