A beautiful, lovely rye, leaning toward the softer end of the rye spectrum, and not going overboard on the barrel-influence because it was aged in re-used barrels (this juice was no doubt destined for Canadian whisky blends before High West rescued it). Creamy, honeyed, vanilla, and melon on the nose. Caramel and slight, soft wood. Baking spices--gentle clove, rye bread, caraway, slight pickle. The taste is equally creamy and soft, with more melon, ginger, vanilla, honey, wood-smoke, caramel, slightly tart apple, and baking spices and brining spices. Tremendously flavourful while being very balanced, very restrained, and very elegant. Slight dry, citrus pith, woody barrel finish. All things being equal, this is undoubtedly a five-star whiskey. And yet I can't say it's an absolute must-try either, because it's fundamentally no better than the much more widely available High West Rendezvous Rye (different than, but certainly not demonstrably superior to), a whiskey that's more widely available for a quarter of the price.
About this bottle
You have to give it to the folks at High West; conventional they are not, at least with regards to their whiskeys. First of all, take this 21 year whiskey. In Scotland, that age on a whisky is no big deal; here in the States, a rarity. Second, it is aged in used and not new barrels, so it isn't a "rye whiskey" but rather a whiskey distilled from rye; a technicality. This is near extinct so if you spy a bottle in a bar or retail shop, our advice is: buy buy buy.
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 14 parsed reviews.
I have had the 21 year and it was devastatingly awesome. On the same trip to Utah I snagged a bottle of midwinters night dram at the distillery whichbibwill actually rate a 4. This is from act 1 released last year. Real dark fruit and tobacco spice and much sharper than regular rendezvous. Act 2 this year has some toffee notes to back up its spice, I assume finished for more than two summer months the second time around.
When I saw this sexy little thing at Butcher and the Rye in Pittsburgh, I just knew I had to have it. Big and bold, spicy yet smooth... This was everything I could've wanted and more. Red fruit. Horehound candy. So much spice! If I were to drown in this bottle, please: do not resuscitate.
Just a fantastic dram. A bit on the gentle side due to the lower rye content but a definite must try for any rye fan. I immediately picked out vanilla with sift wood notes.
Very smooth, an excellent sipper. Fortunate enough to have bought two bottles before it sold out everywhere. Spicy, yet sweet, but light in the tongue with no booze burn
Mmmm, delicious and rich, tobacco flavor and aroma, perfect hint of cinnamon, fruit and vanilla
8 more reviews were collected for this bottle. The longest ones are shown first.
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