Fighting Cock Vs. Wild Turkey 101

Time for a Frugal Friday post!
This matchup is interesting because Fighting Cock was produced by Heaven Hill as a direct competitor to WT101. They are both made from the same mashbill of 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% barley, both 4-6yrs old, and are both about $20.
Fancy Glencairn thinks the Fighting Cock label is very uncivilized, and chooses the WT. Let’s see if she is wrong to judge the juice by the cover!

Fighting Cock) 103 Proof.
-The Nose has some initial ethanol that quickly reveals smooth vanilla and maple syrup, a little oak, and corn.
-The Palate continues the maple syrup and vanilla, and adds a little cinnamon spice. It tastes like Maple syrup covered vanilla-cinnamon French toast.
-The Finish is fairy short with more sweet vanilla, cinnamon, and a touch of black pepper and oak.
Overall I really like the sweet breakfast-dessert quality of this bottle. It’s not complex, but it tastes good!

WT101) 101 Proof.
-The Nose has some initial barrel char, along with vanilla, caramel, graham cracker, and hints of citrus.
-The Palate continues the charred oak, vanilla, and caramel, along with some black pepper and baking spices. There is also a hint of chocolate and stone-fruit if you dig.
-The Finish is medium, with more charred oak, caramel, and black pepper spice.
Overall this is a very good pour as well, and offers a fairly complex profile for this price range, although the flavors kind of muddle together.

VERDICT) These are both great bottles for $20. They are very different flavor profiles and I’ll probably always have both around. If I have to choose a winner though, I think the simple, but fairly unique, sweet maple syrup-vanilla-cinnamon of Fighting Cock is something I would reach for more often than the more complex, but somewhat muddled profile of the WT. I have lots of more expensive bottles that offer the flavors of the WT, but I can’t think of another bottle that tastes quite like Fighting Cock.
Fancy loses a close fight this time, but you can’t fault her for avoiding that FC label… It’s pretty bad!