This just hit the liquor stores in Utah this week. I made the mistake of believing this was the 2025 batch release, but noooo.... 2023 leftovers. Really didn't want this batch given the barreling types compared to a more complex set of finishing barrels for the 2025, but I discovered my mistake too late (bottles are in locked cabinets and you can't really study them with a state employee standing there). Thanks (for nothin') UDABS and High West 😑 Tasting neat. Golden straw color and strong coating legs in the glass. Nose is vanilla, wet grain, unpicked apple orchard fruit, and spicy grass, with a little ethanol in the background. Thin, sweet, ethanol burst, and then a little tingling spice comes on in the mouth. Thin mouthfeel. Not much to enjoy on the palette. Tannic bitter oak and a whiff of char smoke in the finish is more interesting, but even that finish remains sweet and sour, with some pepper and a hint of chocolate, but overall short. An ice cube blands it out even more, leaving floral sweetness. So... I keep thinking High West's own distilate has to get better, but it doesn't. Constellation Brands bought a notable blender of MGP juice and thought it could be a real distillery. Fancy looking bottles, high prices, a new distillery, all the glamour of Park City, UT and a romantic West motif, but... it's all looks and marketing hype. Time to reset this distillery--dump the stock and start over with a new team. I want to see them succeed making quality whiskey in Utah. I was pulling hard for them in their MGP blending era, from Rendezvous Rye to Double Rye to Bourye (and Son of) to Yippee- Ki-Yay, even Campfire. Check my reviews. But so far I've been disappointed in every single bottle with their own juice in it, even when they try to hide it blending in better MGP whiskey (for example, their Rendezvous Rye with the fabulous Ed Mell painting label--side by side tasting with an older Rendezvous bottle showed just how bad their juice was making the new blend.) I was really hopeful High West might score making American single malt, something I've gravitated to in the last 3 years, but this is pretty mediocre compared to the competition. It's a 3 star, with an extra quarter star for the finish. "This is not the single malt you're looking for. Move along."
High West High Country American Single Malt (2023 Release)
About this bottle
High West High Country is the brand's American Single Malt expression which is entirely distilled and blended by High West rather than using any sourced whiskeys. The bottling is made from a blend of 100% copper pot distilled whiskey which is "distilled on the grain" — the grain solids are left in during the fermentation and distillation process instead of being filtered out. It's made with a tri-malt recipe of 85% base malt, 14% caramel 60 malt, and 1% chocolate malt. It's matured for 2-8 years in a mix of freshly charred & second use oak barrels. Available in limited quantities at the brand’s Utah distillery and Saloon locations with distribution to retailers nationwide beginning December 1, 2023. (SRP $79.99)
How it tastes
Measured across 14 flavor axes. Tap a note to find other bottles that lead with it.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 2 parsed reviews.
While grain waffle, fig jam, cedar
Tastes like this
Closest flavor profiles across the whole catalog.
