High West Double Rye Whiskey Adds In-House Spirit to Its Blend

High West out of Utah, acquired back in late 2016 by Constellation Brands, is known far and wide as one of the best in the United States at sourcing and blending whiskeys from other parties for their releases. They’ve released little whiskey produced in-house to the public as of yet, but as the stills work and the barrels age, new product is slowly creeping out. Such is the case with their Double Rye, a blended whiskey now containing some of their own whiskey.

The reformulated Double Rye, according to those behind it, originally consisted of a blend of two to seven year old rye whiskeys sourced from MGP and Barton’s out of Kentucky. The latter is what has changed, with this component being replaced by in-house produced and two years aged whiskey. The mash bill otherwise pretty much the same between distillery products used – a secret ratio of MGP (95% rye and 5% barley malt) to High West (80% rye and 20% malted barley).

“The addition of our own whiskey to our blends has always been part of our plan,” said High West master distiller Brendan Coyle in a prepared statement. “As some of our sourced whiskeys get used up, we needed to make whiskey to hit the same taste profile; therefore, we have migrated into our own in-house whiskeys, which have the same effect in the overall blend.”

In an effort to keep the flavor profile the same for Double Rye, it is said the distillery “replaced a column still whiskey with a pot still whiskey, which generally has a heavier and fuller character than a column still whiskey.  Since the column still whiskey is aged for a long time to develop the heavier character, we can replace it with our own younger, but very full and heavy-bodied pot still whiskeys to achieve the same effect in the finished product.”

Bottles of the new High West Double Rye, of which you’ll be able to tell which is which as these have batch numbers beginning with 18 on the label, are hitting stores now for around $35 a bottle. You’ll find official limited tasting notes below from the distillery.

• Nose: Mint, clove, cinnamon, licorice root, pine nuts,and dark chocolate, with a surprising dose of gin botanicals throughout
• Taste: Rye spices up front, then menthol, mint, eucalyptus, herbal tea with wildflower honey and all spice
• Finish: Cinnamon and mint, gradually sweetening through the finish, with a hint of anise