ctbeck11
High West Double Rye
Rye — (bottled in) Utah, USA
Reviewed
December 25, 2020 (edited July 4, 2021)
Nose - anise, cocoa, dill, eucalyptus, banana bread, walnut, spearmint, clove, allspice, dry vanilla, caramel, mild to moderate ethanol burn.
Taste - anise, oak notes, cinnamon, leather, tobacco, eucalyptus, mint, menthol, clove and assorted rye spice, vanilla, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with minty menthol, anise, and sour, tannic oak flavors.
I purchased a bottle of this to evaluate as a possible candidate for replacing my house mixing rye, as I was looking for something reasonably budget friendly with a high rye mash bill. The MGP component in the blend comes through loud and clear with the mint, dill, and eucalyptus flavors.
Overall, I really like the nose, but feel that the quality doesn’t quite transfer to the palate. It’s simple, thin, and a bit too sour and bitter on the finish to pass the test. I decided to keep the Rittenhouse as my house mixer, which I later replaced with New Riff rye, an excellent high rye whiskey for cocktails. I’d say this is above average, but nothing special. And the price pits it unfavorably against many strong contenders on the shelf.
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@BDanner Thank you! I think it’s priced right as well. I have some issues with it, but at $35 a bottle, you can only complain so much.
This is a great review. this one (at least past releases) took all those conflicting, varied flavors and made it work extremely well.
@BeppeCovfefe Makes sense. Sounds like a great deal. I’m in Maryland now, so I’m looking forward to ‘hopefully’ having some more variety at the stores than the VA ABC provides.
@ctbeck11 the Northern Harvest rye is typically found(of course not always) in the "Crown Royal section", at least that's how it works in Georgia. Georgia Crown(the distributor) was so overstocked on rye at one point they were making fantastic deals and this bottle could be found in the very low 20's.
@BeppeCovfefe Thanks for the recommendations. First I’ve heard of Northern Harvest. I’ll give it a try if I see it in the store.
For drink mixing on a non-special occasion(hey if they're all special then great), I'd consider two of the cheaper and actually decent ryes', ole Northern Harvest from Crown and Jack D. both have a goodly amount of sugars in them compared to the MGP stuff and you can mix them down as dry as you want.