LeeEvolved
High West A Midwinter Night's Dram
Rye — (bottled in) Utah, USA
Reviewed
January 20, 2017 (edited October 21, 2024)
Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me That yet we sleep, we dream." - Demetrius, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 4, Scene 1 - Wm. Shakespeare
I was finally able to get my hands on a new batch of this fantastic, blended rye whiskey from the guys at High West. I initially had a batch 2.1 sample back in April and my bottle is from batch 4.4. I gave batch 2 a 5-star rating and this follow up batch is very close to attaining that perfect score.
On the nose, there's a tremendous level of Christmas spices, rye and port wine cherry sweetness. It's another example of a whiskey I could sit around nosing all day and be completely entertained.
The palate also blasts you with a good bit of rye spice, vanilla, port wine and pepper from the French oak casks. It's a ridiculously complex dram. It's super delicious and works wonders on a chilly, mid-winter night (hence the name).
The finish is long and spicy. It's one of my favorite whiskies of all time and another nod to great blended juice. I paid $90 for this bottle and I think it's money well spent. Seek it out and let it work it's magic on you. Cheers
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. 1/4/2017: batch 4.4 thanks to a new Distiller friend, I got to try batch 4.4. (Thank you Lee!!!). I can smell or taste no difference than the batch I had over and year ago (batch 3.1). This is still just as amazing, hands down my best rye, and still top 10 overall. Amazing artistry. Note to Constellation brands---please, please, please keep up this level of quality!!! Again, thanks to Lee for the generous sample!"
I understand completely enjoying simply nosing a good whiskey. I'm enjoying a mighty fine dram that was sent to me by a very generous person (Pranay - return shipment next week) and if I don't sip it soon I will have sniffed it all away.
It definitely seems like there's a bigger rye presence in this newer blend than I remember from the previous sample I tried. Thankfully, I'm appreciating rye more and more now so the increased levels don't diminish it like it would have if I had tried this batch back in Mar/Apr of 2016.
This was one of my top all time favorites. It'll be interesting to see if they can continue this magic after they've sold their company to Constellation Brands. I visited their distillery in those Wasatch mountains of Utah when I was on vacation. The tour guide there mentioned that the 16 yr rye they've been using for this blend is depleting, so their future batches might have more of the younger rye volume.