High West from Park City in Utah is one of the distilleries who are honest about the source of their whiskies. They do also make their own, but a large part of what is bottled is sourced from MGP in Indiana.
High West specializes in rye whisky but the Campfire is a rather unique blend of Scotch, bourbon and rye. Let’s see how the two compare.
High West Rocky Mountain Rye 16 yo
Batch 15G07 – 46%
My Tasting Notes:
Colour: Bright copper
Nose: Spearmint, orange zest, leather, cinnamon, hints of cloves and cardamom.
Palate: Creme caramel, orange zest, hints of black tea, cinnamon, hints of mint and pepper.
Finish: Long, dry and spicy.
Overall: A bold rye that shows its age without the wood becoming too dominating. This is a delightful whisky to savour sip by sip
Rating: 87/100
High West Campfire
Batch 1 – 46%
My Tasting Notes:
Colour: Dark amber
Nose: Quite timid on first nosing, there really is not much more going on than a vague “yes, that’s whisky”. After a few minutes rye spices and hints of peat smoke can be detected, and the nose becomes rather pleasant
Palate: Gentle smoke, toffee, orange zest, hints of mint and white pepper.
Finish: Medium long, sweet and slightly smoky.
Overall: I wouldn’t go as far and call it flawed, this unusual blend is stil a decent whisky, even though it fails to fully convince me on palate and finish. But rather than creating a synergy of aromas, the blending ironed out too much of the individuality of the different components. The result is a whisky that does not seem to know in which direction it wants to go.
Rating: 82/100
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