High West Rendezvous Rye

Batch 48, bottle #772.

I picked up this bottle because it is the cheapest straight rye whiskey available in Québec, by virtue of being the only one as well. After trying it, I feel I might have to try other to get a better pictures of what a rye whiskey is. I guess a road trip to Ottawa will be in order in 2012.

Drunk neat.

Nose: A clean nose of mint, vanilla, spices and some herbal touches. The mint is surprising, since I could not detect it in the actual taste, but I feel it was the dominant aspect.

Taste: A cool, sweet rush of vanilla and other sugars hits the tongue, with a good mouthfeel. Strangely, it reminds me of a wheated bourbon of all things (the Maker's 46). The rye makes its presence felt after a second or two, with an ever increasing spiciness, which never becomes harsh.

Finish: This is where it gets interesting: the rye spice is joined by the oak's cinnamon and the alcohol's warmth. The final has a good length to it, and the two competing spices really brings me in the holiday mood.

Balance: Big points here. I was expecting a hot, fruity and spicy whiskey. What I received was a well integrated, never harsh, combination of sweetness, spice and oak. A well-crafted whiskey.

That said, I'm left to ponder: is this a typical rye whiskey? Before the Rendezvous, I had tried 3 bourbons: the Maker's 46, the Elijah Craig 12 and the Bulleit Bourbon. The last two had strong fruitiness and spice (EC12) or harsh spiciness (BB), and I feel the 46 is actually closest to the Rendezvous.

Don't get me wrong: I love this whiskey. I was simply expecting something quite different. Will I buy another bottle? Probably not at the price (83.75 $CAD), but I will keep watching what comes out of High West.

High West Distillery in Park City, Utah, is the first distillery to be licensed in Utah since Prohibition. The High West distillery products have not yet aged sufficiently to be commercially marketed. The current Rendezvous Rye Whiskey, named after the annual summer trade gatherings in that area during the 19th century, combines a 6 yr old 95% mashbill rye whiskey with a 16 yr old 80% rye mashbill whiskey. Both whiskeys currently originate from another, unnamed, distiller. No information is given by High West concerning the remainder of the mashbill, but I would surmise that it is most likely malted barley, in order to increase enzyme concentration for the conversion of the grain starches into sugars prior to fermentation. The whiskeys in Rendezvous combine some malted rye with some unmalted rye. They are not chill-filtered

Nose: moderate to intense maple, brown sugar, caramel, oak, rye spice

Taste: sweet, a lot more caramel than you would usually see in a rye whiskey, big, big rye spices, such as black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and with substantial oak in the background

Finish: long, with all of the flavours staying together until the end

Balance: as a rye lover this one really works well for me. This is quite a bit sweeter than most ryes, which tend to have a dry flavour profile. The big spice, big oak, and above average sweetness here work well together. This whiskey has won quite a few awards, including Double Gold in San Francisco, a 95 rating from Malt Advocate, a 96 rating from Wine Advocate, and a 93/100 rating from Jim Murray's 2011 Whisky Bible

High West Rendezvous, distilled in Park City, Utah, is a blend of two straight rye whiskies: a six year-old (95% rye, 5% barley malt) and a 16 year-old (80% rye, 10 % barley malt, and 10% corn). It is not chill-filtered. I sampled from batch 44, the current batch available at liquor stores in Québec (and, presumably, elsewhere), at a restaurant in Montréal. I may or may not have started my meal there with deep fried cubes of foie gras.

The body is oily, the tears seemingly taking ages to form. The color is a beautiful, dusky copper brown. On the nose, I catch rye bread, caraway, vanilla custard, and a dank, earthy under-layer. The palate yields big surprises: with utter disregard for civility, there’s an explosion of spicy, slightly bitter, pumpernickel rye bread. It is unquestionably pumpernickel rye, with mushrooms spread abundantly overtop. The bitterness lingers on the back of the tongue, but a subtle sweetness balances the effect on the front, as if the tongue is a seesaw.

Given Utah's tempestuous relationship with alcohol—they remain among the minority of American states that continues to maintain alcoholic beverage control (i.e. a government monopoly on alcohol sales), and municipal governments can ban the sale of alcohol on Sundays if they so choose—this is a truly interesting whiskey. Not an "everyday" dram, but as a curiosity whiskey, it is compelling.