High West Valley Tan

Enjoying my first ever glass of this whiskey. A buddy brought this over from Utah and I had never heard of it. Always up for something new to try. Nose - very odd like the color. It’s ripe, salty yet lightly sweet, a bit of fruit, slight ethanol burn. Taste - starts very very light as the color suggests. Roll it on the tongue a few times and some of the flavors slowly start coming. Honey and oats sum this one up with a lightly peppered and citrus finish. Very unique and easy to sip neat. Overall - it’s enjoyable and very unique. Balanced but I wish there was more to it. I do like the fact that it seems to be limited to the state of utah making it a cool bottle where I’m at in the southeast US.

2018: Light, needs more time in oak to age and deepen. Light color and taste, but an interesting run by HW aging their own juice. 2025: revisited an open bottle. Light straw color and little legs. Tropical fruit, banana, musty grain, thin and astringent. I think I was generous because of the novelty of HW's own distillate in 2018, but that has faded. They have proved over time they are good at blending MGP juice, but not so much at distilling their own at a MGP-quality level, especially given the prices they charge. Sorry. As Porter Rockwell (the guy pictured on tge bottle) toasted Mark Twain, "Wheat!"

I tried this at the High West distillery in Park City. Park City is really scenic, and if you happen to be there, High West is worthwhile to stop over and sample some of their wares. I tried this just for the uniqueness factor---it's only available here at the distillery. Between this and the 14 year old Light Whiskey, this was far less complex. It tasted younger than it's claimed 3 years. Sweet sugary smell on the nose. Taste is a bit sharp and astringent. I needed water to smooth it out. This was priced at $40.

Have a generous friend who has a few of the harder to find bottles of things and I saw this one in the collection so I asked for a dram knowing I like HW products. This one to me was I put it bluntly.... quite a let down. It was very uninteresting and pretty bland. It tasted very young with too much bite. Unfortunately I have to give this one less than 3 stars which breaks my heart knowing how much I enjoy the HW products.

Batch 2 has a nose that is sweet with oats, ripe apples, fresh sweet bread, touches of brown sugar and cherry with a bit of apple cider vinegar. The palate is rich with yeasted sweet bread as the apple cider vinegar coats the mouth with some astringency as burnt sugar and floral notes come behind. The finish is long with astringent ripe green apple keeping the mouth tingling as the sweet notes fade.

Nose: similar grain smell one you get past the ethanol you can pick up fruit maybe like taffy the tasting notes at the distillery specifically highlighted pineapple but its faint and I dont get it every smell Palate: tastes like grains like stale cheerios Finish: grain gives way to light oak but it's super light