I bought a bottle of High West Rendezvous Rye back when I was accumulating bottles for 'research' purposes earlier this year. The goal was finding a more premium rye that could be included in a mid-tier recommendations post, something still in progress but on the back-burner for now. With the move and everything else going on, I've not been buying anything new and instead working on clearing out open stuff that won't make the trip. So before it's gone this bottle deserves a writeup, especially since I haven't done anything yet for High West. Yes, another rye, what can I say?
High West distillery is located not in Kentucky like so many American distilleries, but in Utah. Founded in 2006 by a husband/wife pair with a love for the Old West, they chose Park City as their location and became Utah's first distillery since 1870. Their Saloon is located in the old part of town at the base of one of Park City Mountain's main ski-lifts and they brag of being a 'ski-in gastro-distillery,' which admittedly is a pretty cool idea. Take note, however, that the Saloon is a 21+ only venue. In 2015 High West opened a considerably larger distillery in Wanship, UT, about 30 minutes outside Park City, where they could expand production and do more tours, tastings, etc. As a still relatively new operation without a ton of their own spirit going into bottles, High West has been able to quickly make a name for itself by doing some exceptional blending. Basically everything I've seen from them has been blends of very different whiskies, even if they're of the same type. High West also stands out on the liquor store shelves due to their distinctive, tall bottles with western-y themed labels. You can't miss them. The most commonly seen expressions from High West are their entry-level Prairie Bourbon and Double Rye!, though be sure to keep an eye out for limited releases like A Midwinter Night's Dram or anything with a dark label as they do some interesting single barrel finishes (for example, I also have a peaty Scotch barrel finished Double Rye).
Rendezvous Rye is said to be the company's flagship whiskey, though it's also no longer available year round. They recently changed the label (mine is the old style) and recipe in making it a yearly release, encouraging you, of course, to get each batch and compare. It appears the reason they did this is to include some (more?) of their own produced spirit, something that will likely and hopefully grow as the years go by. The name 'Rendezvous' comes from an annual meet-up of mountain men in the early 1800s, who would trade and undoubtedly socialize a bit. It didn't take long for these men to start including whiskey in these gatherings. My bottle refers to a tradition of sourcing spirit from elsewhere ('back East'), though they do age it themselves. The two whiskies blended here both come from high-rye mashbills (well over 50% rye grain), so this is not a barely-there rye whiskey like many others (e.g. Michter's Single Barrel Rye). The rye this time will be front and center.
Since they changed the recipe, the website for Rendezvous (linked above) only gives details on the current batch, not mine. Though not the exact same, these recipes are undoubtedly similar so it's worth talking about. I find it interesting how much is provided about the two whiskies in the blend. The first is a 95% rye, 5% malted barley whiskey from MGP, a massive producer of sourced American whiskey located in Indiana. The second is an 80% rye, 20% malted rye from High West themselves. I don't believe I've seen malted rye before. Everything is 4-9 years old and the ratio of the blend is their secret. I'm definitely curious how much of their own stuff in going into the bottles, for both my bottle and the one out now.
Stats:
ABV - 46% (92 proof)
Maturation - new charred American white oak
Age - 4 to 9 years (per site, not on bottle)
Location - Utah, USA
Price - ~$60
Tasting Notes:
Smell - caramel, rye, orange? ginger?
Color - solidly copper, very clear
Taste - tamed rye spice, wood, toasted sugar, fruit (orange? apricot?), ginger again
Finish - dry, smooth and easy to drink, spices and some of the fruitiness lingers
Final Thoughts:
When I bought this originally and when I sat down to write this tonight, the main question to be answered was this: Is Rendezvous worth the up-charge from something like High West Double Rye! or Rittenhouse? The answer, if you're game spending into this range, is a resounding yes. It's very easy to drink even with the high rye content, wonderfully complex, and hits all the notes you want in a rye whiskey. So, as you'd hope and expect, you get something more well-rounded and refined for $60 than what you're going to find around $30. This will be making the eventual recommendations post because it's a fantastic dram and well worth that price.
Cheers!
Comments