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Utah's High West Distillery Expands To New Location

We here at the Whiskey Wash love a good, small batch, whiskey. In our effort to find the best spirits around, we’ve come across a number of distilleries in the U.S., each with its own unique brand of this All American liquor. Currently, our travels have brought us to Utah, where the High West Distillery has just expanded its distilling/blending operation for tourists and connoisseurs alike.

The original High West is in Old Town Park City, where it is Utah’s first legal distillery since 1870. The buildings themselves are at exactly 7000 feet elevation, so you can guess how chilly the winters are there. Fortunately, there are enough spirits to keep even the most frost bitten traveler warm.

High West Distillery
image via High West

The fact that they are located next to a popular ski run probably doesn’t hurt too. Their new location is at Blue Sky Ranch, so should skiing not be for you, you can instead opt to try whiskey next to some real life cowboys. Similar to the original, the Blue Sky location is billed as the world’s only “distillery dude ranch”.

Their specialty is rye whiskey, and what they lack in variety they make up for in pure taste. They have three signature blends: the Rendezvous Rye, the Double Rye! (exclamation point added by them), and the Rocky Mountain Rye. The last batch comes in a 16 year old version that is exceedingly rare, so should you ever come across a bottle of it, count your lucky stars and make sure to savor every drop. I think if you see anyone pour it into a mixed cocktail, it counts as a war crime.

In addition to these signature whiskeys, High West has recently unveiled both a silver blend and an oat based vodka. The silver, or white, whiskey is titled OMG Rye, but not for the reason you’re thinking. Upon first glance, it would seem that High West is modernizing its slang, but, in fact, it’s the exact opposite. According to them, the OMG stands for Old MononGahela, which is the name of a river in western Pennsylvania. As for the vodka, it’s creatively named High West Vodka 7000’, and we’ll let you figure out where they came up with that. Considering that it’s supposedly the world’s only oat vodka, it’s worth a try. They note that it has a rich mouth feel and a smooth finish, with just a hint of vanilla, due to the oats used.

Unlike most distilleries that we’ve highlighted, High West ups the ante by providing not only access to see how they make their spirits, but something with which to enjoy them. High West contains its own restaurant on the premises, so you can eat something to absorb all of the alcohol you’ll inevitably try while there. The other benefit of having an eatery on the premises is the fact that the bar mixes cocktails with their proprietary spirits.

For more information on how to visit High West at either of their locations, check out their website for more information.

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