WhiskeyFunatic
High West Rendezvous Rye
Rye — (bottled in) Utah, USA
Reviewed
October 20, 2019 (edited September 21, 2020)
***ATTN. No longer aged up to 16yrs, but currently listed as 4 to 7 yrs on H.W. website!***
Dbl Rye in comparison is aged 2 to 7 yrs. What a letdown... I'm a fan of the HW Double Rye and at $40 it's a good value as well, so I was looking forward to trying this "better" bottle of rye from High West, still thinking it had older whiskey in it. This bottle has changed over the month I've had it open. After a week it tasted refined, mellow, lower heat with nice oak making just enough presence. I kept waiting for it to improve and wow me; but now after 3 to 4 weeks open (and 3/4 empty) it has taken on more heat and an over the top oak bitterness that wasn't there before that I do not enjoy - really went downhill. In summary I enjoy more exciting flavorful whiskeys than this - Pikesville is a great example at $10 less. I also enjoy the HW Double Rye more. This was refined and balanced for the first two weeks and an easy sipper (but underwhelming), so if this appeals to you just plan to finish your bottle before 3 weeks. Too much oxidation is Not kind to this one. I wont be getting another bottle.
65.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@geologyjane "start-up craft distilleries" exactamundo~ or "johnny come latelys" as i like to refer to them.
@Scott_E I’ve seen them—-but, for the first time, more than one sitting on a shelf
@PBMichiganWolverine I also haven’t even seen any Act 7 bottles nor have ready any marketing as I have in previous years. Indications of known subpar product?
This Rendezvous is not worth the price now. I guess I got lucky on my latest bottle of Double Rye I picked up last month - it was good. I drank the Rendezvous and Double side by side a few times.
@geologyjane what I’ve noticed though is that the market has taken note—-their Midwinter used to be $150-200 at the peak last year, now it’s gone down to $100 and can be found with a bit of searching. Still a far cry from their amazing pre-Act 4 versions which were $85
@PBMichiganWolverine - Agreed, I wasn’t happy with my last bottle of Double Rye. They just can’t source the same quality of juice they were using before. I suppose I got spoiled by the initially superb VFM ratio and now they are retrograding back to the lower VFM you get with most start-up craft distilleries. Good news is that leaves space for me to try other things.
The standards at HW have gone remarkably down. I get it that they probably can’t sourced the older stuff as easily anymore , but what really pisses me off is that they’ve increased prices yet sourcing younger juice