Tasting notes

nose

orange peel, grilled peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, white-chocolate apricot and sarsaparilla, with gingerbread and demerara sugar behind

palate

dark grape, cooked plantain with agave syrup, caramelized apple tart and leather, with cinnamon and candied ginger

finish

long; boysenberry jam on shortbread, dark honey and sandalwood, drying to dusty oak, maple and clove

Mash bill

A blend of straight bourbons from five recipes: 60% corn and 40% malted barley; 60% corn and 40% rye; 75% corn, 21% rye and 4% malted barley; 78% corn, 10% rye and 12% malted barley; and 84% corn, 8% rye and 8% malted barley. The 75/21/4 bourbon is from Indiana, the 84/8/8 from Tennessee and the rest from Kentucky, and the proportions of each are not published. Setting a rye-heavy recipe against a barley-heavy one follows High West's Bourye approach of balancing rye spice with malted-barley richness.

Why it's craft

High West distilled none of this bourbon: it blends straight bourbons from Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee aged 6 to 20 years, and names all five recipes. The distillery's own bourbon program only began in 2020, so its stock was too young for a blend this old. High West, founded in Park City in 2006, has been owned by Constellation Brands since 2016.