I’m gearing up for my annual holiday trip back to Park City, Utah sop it’s time to start reviewing some High West! Unfortunately the distillery opened when I was in high school so I missed the early years but my folks used to get me bottles for Christmas and birthdays and the like when I was in college. Those early bottles of Rendezvous Rye and A Mid Winter Night’s Dram were a big part of what brought me over to bourbon and rye from the scotch world. I picked up a little bottle of Rendezvous Rye Batch 16E12 at Oak Liquor Cabinet today so let’s get to it.
Review
Age: 6-16 years
Abv: 92 Proof
Color: Amber
Mashbill: Blend of two: 95% rye, 5% barley malt and 80% rye, 10% corn, and 10% barley malt
Price: $54.99
Neat
Nose: Delicious sweet vanilla and clove
Taste: Not as spicy as I expected and surprisingly sweet with caramel, vanilla and allspice notes
Finish: Long lingering rye spice and clove with just a hint of dill
On a rock
Nose:
Taste: The herbal and spicy notes are more present over ice with clove and dill notes taking the center stage and sweet vanilla in the background
Finish: Very similar to the neat finish with the same rye spice, clove and dill notes but also with a bit of vanilla.
Conclusion
This is a 2016 bottling so it’s old MGP and Barton blend. I haven’t had much of Barton’s rye lineup(other than High West) though I am at fan of their bourbons, especially the 1792 lineup. It still has that dill note I associate with MGP ryes but it is definitely toned down compared to bottlings that are 100% MGP which is an improvement imo. If you can get your hands on one of the older High West bottles definitely grab it. Also I’m a big fan of 375ml bottles so I can try more things so I’m very happy to see High West releasing a lot of their lineup in little bottles as well.
8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time
Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase
Scale
You can also follow me on Instagram(@atxbourbon) or reddit to keep up with these reviews and my other whiskey-centric adventures.