High West Rendezvous Rye

Bottle opened on 21st wedding anniversary for a celebratory dram. Nose: mint, molasses, vanilla. Palate: low viscosity, crisp clean mouthfeel (the young rye?) but at the same time a deeper spicy complexity coming through. Sweet, bright, fruity tones only just breaking through - almost out of reach. Woody, vanilla, mint, aniseed, light tobacco deeper complexity also there. Nicely balanced. Long finish with lingering spiciness, light heat and subtle sweetness. Great finish! Some water just toned everything down but didn't really open up anything new. Neat, slowly savoured and sipped is the way to go with this one. One for the top shelf in my view.

[07.19.2016] My 100th review after the United Airlines (no)flight from hell. Solid but nothing special. Heat and barrel with typical rye. Not impressed. This is sweet and cherry sour like pricey cough syrup. Nose is a lot of barrel that mixes with vanilla, floral spice (is that a real thing???) and a fair bit of heat after a few stouts. Good, but not repeatable. A table of 4 is unanimous.

So spicy, so yum