Whiskey is made all over the world and while that links us across cultures, everyone has their own take on this spirit. The differences start at the beginning, with the type of grain fermented and go all the way to how they’re finished. You might even think of whiskey making as the wild west which is what excites us here at High West.
We are distillers and a blending house. This means we blend whiskeys together when creating our spirits. This adventurous approach to whiskey making is not all that common, but we do it to create the most balanced and complex product possible. It’s how we achieve whiskeys that have interesting and diverse profiles that aren’t found in any other bottle.
THE HOW AND WHY OF BLENDING
Let’s back up and talk a bit about whiskey distinctions. Each country has standards and definitions attached to the unique whiskey products. You’ll hear terms like single malt, single grain, straight whiskey, and blended malt whiskeys. At High West, the majority of our whiskies are blended with straight whiskey - the exception being our own High Country Single Malt which benefits from blending both straight and non-straight whiskies. Straight whiskey is a legal classification for whiskey in America. It is the most stringent set of rules to make the highest quality whiskey in the US. Think of it like what single malt is to scotch.
Always 100% Whiskey - no neutral spirits or colorings
Now, you’ll find us hard at work in the distillery seven days a week, but we don’t limit ourselves to what we produce. Instead, we also go to other high-quality distilleries and buy their whiskey to take it back to our distillery. But we don’t just pour it in a bottle, slap a label on it and say, “Look what we made.” Instead, we take the different whiskeys we made and/or purchased, blend, and finish it in new and different ways to create singular products that are only possible through combining different whiskeys.
Now let’s dive in a bit deeper into our process…
The “magic” of blending begins in our lab. This is where our Sensory Team evaluates both sourced whiskies and our own make whiskies to determine the best way to use them. We’re also performing yearly blend maintenance on our core products and blend development for our limited releases.
Our goal when blending is to identify the attributes of each whiskey so we understand where it fits in our blending “spice rack.” Does it offer more distillate character? More maturation influence? Something special and unique we want to highlight in a seasonal/limited release? From there, we build the blend, one component at a time, building from an approachable base to a symphony of bold flavors complimented by nuanced complexities. Our Blending Team executes the final blend on the blending floor and our Sensory Team gives it a final blessing before the golden liquid journeys into the bottle.
BLENDING CONSIDERATIONS
As we mentioned before, the artful science of whiskey-making involves many factors, both naturally produced and manmade. Blending different whiskeys comes with even more options and considerations. Does taking all that on make us a bit crazy? Maybe. But we prefer to think of ourselves as pioneering adventurers. The challenge is where we thrive. So let’s take a look at some of the big factors we consider when creating our products.
Age
Age has a huge impact on the flavor profile of a whiskey. Most bourbon you see on a shelf is around 3 to 6 years old. That’s because, at this age, the corn sweetness is most predominant and that corn sweetness is what bourbon is aiming for. Well, at High West, we realized that younger, 2-year-old bourbon has some great flavor too. It’s more of a fruity sweetness instead of the corn sweetness. Once you get up to 10 years, you get more wood and tannins. Tannins are important in whiskey because they help to give you that delicious long finish.
We decided we weren’t going to settle for one flavor. No, we wanted all of those flavors - the fruity sweetness, the corn sweetness, and the wood. But we wanted to control how much of each flavor was in the blend. That’s why our bourbon is a blend of young, middle-aged, and older bourbons. It still has a classic bourbon profile, nice and sweet, but with more complexity because of the wide age range used.
Proof
To get the official “whiskey” label, a spirit must have a minimum 40 percent alcohol percentage or 80 proof. Most bourbons are around 80 to 100 proof but can go up to 130. All our Core whiskeys are 92-proof. We chose that mark because, well, we think it tastes better at 92. Plus, keeping it there allows us to retain all the coloring and flavor, and delicious fats it pulls from the barrels.
Process
Many whiskey makers chill-filter their liquid to remove any solids that could result in a cloudy/hazy product. Chill-filtering is when you lower the whiskey to several degrees below freezing, causing chemical compounds to group together, and then run it through a series of filters. While this results in makers being able to make lower-proof, haze-free whiskeys, we believe chill filtering removes flavor along with those tiny solids, so we try to avoid it.
BLENDING IN ACTION
Our goal when making Double Rye was to create the spiciest rye you have ever had. However, the challenge is that the spiciness in rye peaks at 2 years. But at two years, it hasn’t had much time in a barrel to soften. This is where blending comes into play.
To give Double Rye its intense, spicy flavor, we have young rye in the mix. But then we blend in some of our own pot still whiskey. The impact is significant - providing depth and barrel maturation character to balance the young rye. The result is a delicious, spicy rye that is perfect in cocktails. If you like an Old Fashioned, Manhattan, or Sazerac then Double Rye is your baby.
Rendezvous Rye is a blend of medium-aged rye as a base and our own pot still rye for complexity and smoothness. As opposed to the intensity of Double Rye, this rye blend is more subdued in its spiciness with baking spices such as allspice and cloves. And while Double Rye is great in cocktails, Rendezvous Rye is meant to be a great sipper.
Rendezvous Rye was the first whiskey we released and it gets more recognition than any of our whiskeys. On a list of the best American whiskeys under $100, Rendezvous Rye was #2 behind George T. Stagg. It’s also on Whiskey Advocate’s list of “10 Whiskeys Everyone Should Have on Their Home Bar.”
Think of Campfire like it's a great cocktail. Our Bourbon is the foundation and then the added ingredients make it more spiced, complex, and delicious. Only our other ingredients are other whiskeys - rye and peated scotch. So it’s whiskey flavored whiskey. (Our favorite flavor!) You start with the sweetness of bourbon, then get a little spiciness from the rye, finishing with the smokiness of scotch.
Think of it as a flavored bourbon, we just flavored the bourbon with scotch. So it’s whiskey flavored whiskey. (Our favorite flavor!) You start with the sweetness of bourbon, then get a little spiciness from the rye, finishing with the smokiness of scotch.
PUSHING BEYOND THE KNOWN
Making whiskey is our calling. Pursuing and creating the ultimate sensory experience is why we created High West. And as you’ve read, blending whiskey is how we do that. It’s how we build upon the time-honored traditions of the past to create an exceptionally unique product that goes beyond the confines of what has already been created. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to learn more about who we are and we hope that you’ll come pay us a visit next time you’re around our parts.
