I have an unopened bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon that I bought in college in the early 1980s, stuck in a box when I graduated, and came across in a closet in my mother’s house after she died ten years ago. I have it on a bookcase in my office.
I am pretty sure that 40-year-old Wild Turkey bourbon still tastes like crap.
There is a world of difference between a distillate stored for 40 years in a barrel vs. a glass bottle. You are correct that it probably still tastes like Wild Turkey.