High West Campfire (Discontinued)

Smoky, spicy, bit sweet. Great finish that is sweeter than the taste going down. Had it at Varnish on King after a job interview that may or may not have gone boobs up. Closer to a 3 than a 2. Enjoyed it

High West gets props from me for two things - striking, bold, imaginative approaches to their craft, and their unique melding of American distilling styles with Scottish precision of blending. This is the answer to the question of what would happen if you started randomly combining all of the whiskies in your collection together, except instead of a random hodgepodge of bourbon, rye, and scotch, you get this. The nose hits elements of all three - vanilla, caramel, and dry oak wood, rye spice and peppermint, and scotch fruitiness and campfire smoke in the background. The palate is no big surprise after nosing about - a big, bourbony opening of vanilla and caramel corn is split wide open by a spicy, minty middle and a fruity, campfirey ending that lingers on and on as all of these diverse elements converge. It's brash and bold, and a real one of a kind.

Still prefer Rendezvous Rye.