Wild Turkey's cheapest pour is priced exactly right

It sets the tone for the whole range, too. Wild Turkey's standard proofs are priced like the everyday pours they are, while the premium labels carry nearly all the markup. The Wild Turkey shelf sits around $75, which tells you where the distillery actually lives: this is honest, spicy, high-rye Kentucky bourbon sold mostly at everyday money, with a couple of dressed-up bottles at the top for people who want more and will pay for it.

Take that litre first, because it is the quiet star. The 81-proof is $72, and the bottles the model rates closest to it sell for about the same, roughly $72 as well. In plain terms it is priced bang on its room, and you are getting a full litre at that. It is the gentlest Wild Turkey, lower proof and easygoing: caramel and char, a light rye spice, nothing hot or demanding. As a house pour or a mixer it is hard to argue with, and at a litre for seventy-two dollars it is the one I would put on the shelf without a second thought.

The 101 is the bottle most bourbon drinkers mean when they say Wild Turkey, and it is barely dearer than fair. At $75 it runs about 9% over the roughly $69 its neighbours cost. That extra proof earns its keep: more smoke and cinnamon, butterscotch underneath, a baking-spice warmth and a clove note on the finish. Nine per cent over the room for a bourbon this characterful is the kind of premium you stop noticing after the first glass. If you want one Wild Turkey that shows what the distillery is about, this is it, and the markup is small enough to wave through.

The Rye is the third of the everyday bottles, and it asks a little more. At $75 it carries about 17% over the roughly $64 of its neighbours. It is the spiciest of the lot, as a rye should be: pepper and cinnamon up front, dried fruit and a touch of honey softening the back. Seventeen per cent over its room is a real premium, though not an outrageous one, and rye drinkers who want that peppery kick rather than the sweeter bourbon profile will find it worth the few extra dollars. For everyone else the 101 next to it is both cheaper against its room and the more versatile pour.

Then the two premium bottles, where the sums change gear. The Rare Breed is $110 against roughly $61 for its neighbours, about 80% over. It is a barrel-strength blend of several ages, and a highly regarded one, but I will not put a tasting note on it, because no review I trust describes this particular bottle and I am not going to invent one. What I can say is where the model files it: deep in the same high-rye bourbon family as the rest of the range, priced at nearly double its nearest company. You are paying for the strength and the reputation, not for a different spirit.

The Kentucky Spirit single barrel is dearer still. At $157 it runs about 107% over the roughly $76 its neighbours cost, more than double. It is a single-barrel bottling, and it drinks like a richer, more concentrated version of the house style: spice and sweetness together, rye and cinnamon, caramel and honey filling it out. It is a genuinely good bourbon. It is also priced like a special-occasion one, and the gap over its room is the widest in the range. This is the bottle you buy because you want a single barrel with your name's worth of attention paid to it, not because the numbers tell you to.

Line the five up and the story is clean, which is rarer than it should be. The three everyday bottles sit at or just over their rooms: the litre dead on, the 101 nine per cent over, the rye seventeen. The two premium bottles carry eighty and a hundred-and-seven per cent over theirs. There is no murky middle and no bottle that looks like a trap. The distillery charges honest money for its honest whiskey and keeps the premiums where you can see them, on the bottles that advertise themselves as premium. You always know which kind of Wild Turkey you are reaching for.

So, buying. For a house bourbon and the best value on the shelf, the 81-proof litre at $72 is the call: priced right where its neighbours sit, and a litre of it. For the definitive Wild Turkey experience at a premium small enough to ignore, the 101 at $75 is the one to reach for. The Rye at $75 is for drinkers who specifically want the pepper and will pay a modest premium for it. The Rare Breed at $110 and the Kentucky Spirit at $157 are for people chasing barrel strength or a single barrel and happy to pay well over the room for the privilege, which, to be fair, is exactly what those bottles are for.

Buy the everyday Turkey with confidence. Climb to the premium shelf only when you actually want what is up there.