High West Campfire (Discontinued)

Batch 15I11, Bottle 2609. This is from 2015, which is when the American portion of this whiskey was a bourbon and a rye that were both sourced from MGP (unlike the new recipe that features some High West distillate). The Scotch portion is undisclosed, though it's speculated that it could be Bruichladich, as Campfire was inspired by a trip to the Islay distillery. At any rate, it's an interesting idea. Let's see what an American-Scotch hybrid has to offer. Nose: Extremely oaky. Most closely resembles a bourbon, and actually reminds me a lot of something you'd get with the Jim Beam Small Batch Series. Peanut brittle, cola, caramel. Rye spice is a layer behind, adding bready and black pepper notes. Dill as well. A third layer back, I can detect a bit of malt and even a touch of smoke. Something akin to spearmint--tough to place the origin there. The more it sits, the greater the rye notes shine through. I also get some pineapple, orange, and roasted nuts. Interesting and layered nose. Good stuff. Palate: Vanilla, caramel, and... peppermint? Definitely going to chalk that one up to the Scotch presence. Plenty of oak and baking spice--clove, nutmeg, allspice, black pepper. More peanut brittle and cocoa, now with milk chocolate. Big black cherry and blackberry fruit notes. Some dill, malt, and smoke to round it out. Solid palate. Finish: Moderate length. More of the peppermint. Oak, black pepper, clove, nutmeg. Dill. Roasted nut and black cherry. A puff of smoke to round it all out. A bit uneventful, but it's consistent with it's true to the nose and palate, both of which were very good. Experiment well done. They definitely had something with the MGP bourbon + rye and (unnamed) Islay malt combination. Fast forward to 2020 and these are all but gone. The current recipe features High West's own distillate in addition to the MGP/Islay. After trying this, I'm very curious to see what HW distillate will add to what I already deem to be a rock solid composition. 4/5. This is a well-crafted blend. High West took a risk, and it paid off. At $63, I feel the same way about my purchase. Outside of the 2018 recipe, there's really nothing to compare this to. But I'll say that it's some damn fine stuff, and if you can still find it, it's definitely worth a shot.

Smokey with a hint of peat. Can really taste the rye on the finish. Definitely a unique bottle.

Nose: smoke, caramel, vanilla malt, spice, slight honey and grass Taste: the smoke is far more underwhelming on the palate than the nose. It's there as wood smoke but immediately opens up to balanced notes of honey, vanilla malt, baking spices, and a slight herbal/botanical note. The finish is a malted barrel spice. Final notes: on the sweeter side but has nice barrel notes and complexity to avoid being one dimensional. If you are a fan of any of the ryes High West has to offer you will be a fan. It simply adds a new dimension with the peated scotch and bourbon blended together for a very balanced and enjoyable whisky to sip alone or with a earth and spice heavy cigar.

Interesting but this tastes confused to me. If I want something peaty I’ll choose a scotch. The smoke took over the bourbon and rye for me.