High West High Country American Single Malt

Vanilla, oak, smokey. A light campfire. Good

High West has done such an outstanding job sourcing and blending whiskies that its transition to incorporating its own distillate risks disappointing fans of its sourced rye products. Its single malt, however, arrives without any such baggage, providing a blank canvas for High West to demonstrate its distilling chops. This first release of its own juice is a blend of two- to eight-year-old spirit made using the complex combination of barley and barrels detailed in the Distiller description. I wanted very much to like this but it’s rather disappointing given the caliber of the brand and how long it has been working on it. This tastes like something from the early days of American single malt, out of step with the leaps in quality of the past 12 months. The nose has the wet cardboard aroma characteristic of some younger malts. Things improve on the palate, which has a hint of chocolate and a sprinkle of peat, and the finish has a decent length, but the best I can say about this overall is that it’s not unpleasant. It pains me to write this review as I’m a fan of the brand and was really looking forward to this release, but I think they need to go back to the drawing board on this one if they’re to compete in a market awash with good whisky.

Aroma is softly fruity and heavily malty with light notes of those gummy orange slices candy as it opens and has a slight roasty note to it like almost-charred-mallows or light coffee; Palate has a beautifully farmy character to it I’m enjoying that gives it an earthy tone and helps offset the young, but not crafty, notes; Finish is warm, fruity and farmy with a touch of rustic charm.

Smoky

Subtle qualities of scotch. Very disappointed in how light it tastes. Not worth the money.

Very soft - mouthfeel reminds me of the St. George single malt with but with a touch more honey and cream. Big whiff of smoke on the back end.