Campari Group-owned bourbon brand Wild Turkey has continued its collaboration with Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey to launch Wild Turkey Longbranch.
Inspired by McConaughey’s Kentucky and Texas roots, the small-batch Kentucky bourbon is refined with Texas mesquite and oak charcoals – a method that is said to deepen the flavour and complexity of the whiskey.
This launch marks the first time Wild Turkey has unveiled a product that bears a signature of someone other than master distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell.
Wild Turkey Longbranch is the latest collaboration to come from the multi-year partnership with Academy Award-winning actor McConaughey.
McConaughey, who has served as the brand’s creative director since 2016, has worked behind the camera and in front of it in television commercials to reintroduce the world to Wild Turkey. Campari said the name of Longbranch is inspired by the friends that form the longest branches of family trees.
To create Longbranch’s flavour, McConaughey and Eddie Russell spent hours sharing notes, then, after two years of testing, perfected a proprietary process that combines two separate charcoal filtration methods to give it a “smooth and full finish”.
The first filtration process uses charcoal made from American white oak and the second uses charcoal made from Texas mesquite wood, which is said to give the bourbon notes of smoky sweetness.
Made with eight-year-old Wild Turkey bourbon, Wild Turkey Longbranch is said to have flavours of caramel, pear, and hints of citrus.
McConaughey said: “Longbranch, in its simplest form, is an extended hand, inviting a friend into your family. So the branch that was extended to me from the Russells was a long one, one that reached from Kentucky to Texas and back again. I offered the mesquite from my great state to add to their legendary Kentucky whiskey and together we made Longbranch.”
Read more at FoodBev.com: https://www.foodbev.com/news/matthew-mcconaughey-wild-turkey-introduce-new-bourbon/
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