High West A Midwinter Night's Dram

Country: USA

Region:

Type: Rye

Bottler: High West Distillery

ABV: 49.3%

Age Statement: NAS

Score: 94

This bottle is non-chill filtered. The exact blend is kept secret but we do know the mash bills for each of the ryes that have been blended. The MGP rye is 95% rye, 5% malted barley. The High West rye is 80% rye, 20% malted rye. This is aged in new, charred, white American oak, and finished in French oak port barrels.

On the nose, I get cinnamon and baking spices. It’s followed up by raisins and ends with a toasted vanilla oak note for me. There are no surprises on the palate. I get those same cinnamon and raisin notes. I do pick up more caramel on the palate than what I picked up on the nose. Slight leather. This gives me the “Fig Newton” tasting note, as well. Is delicious, an official tasting note? It goes into a medium finish with all of the same notes. Slight black pepper towards the end of the finish.

I truly enjoyed this whiskey. Rye whiskey isn’t always my thing, but this belongs in a category of its own. I am not a fan of snow, but whenever we get that first real snow in Indiana this year, I will start the fire and pour a glass of MWND and savor it. This is definitely a whiskey for that type of occasion. I will take my time with this one and appreciate all that it offers! If you see this bottle in the wild (at the suggested retail price) I would grab it in a heartbeat! Cheers!