 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products | Bourbon whiskey Rye Whiskey Vodka |
| Website | www.highwest.com |
High West Distillery is a manufacturer of distilled spirits located in Park City, Utah, United States. It is the first legally licensed distillery in Utah since the end of the American Prohibition. [1]
The distillery operates, along with a saloon and restaurant, in an old livery stable dubbed "The National Garage", and in the adjacent historic Ellsworth J Beggs house, a two-story box house that was built in 1907. [2] [3] The house is on the National Register of Historic Places.
High West makes its spirits in small batches in a 250-gallon copper pot still. [4] High West uses a combination still, which allows for both use as either a continuous/reflux still or separately a pot still; this allows for a variety of unique distillates to be produced. In a July 28, 2014 article, it was revealed that many High West products, sold as "craft whiskeys" or "artisanal spirits", are actually modified from products purchased from MGP Distillery of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. [5]
Rendezvous Rye Whiskey was the first commercial offering from High West Distillery. Originally, Rendezvous Rye was not distilled in Utah, but instead a blend of a 6-year-old 95% rye whiskey and 16-year-old 80% rye whiskey sourced from MGP (Indiana) and Barton (Kentucky) respectively. The whiskey was blended in Utah by High West using water from local sources. Rendezvous Rye was a 2008 Winner of a Double Gold Medal at San Francisco Spirits competition. It received a Malt Advocate Rating of 95 in the September 2008 issue, Batch #10, and was one of Malt Advocate Magazine's "Top 10 New Whiskies of 2008." [6]
High West does distill and age its own whiskey, and over time has blended it into their existing products. Today, the previously award winning Rendezvous Rye carries a much younger age statement (4-7 years). High West has received some criticism for selling its own younger distillate under the same brand equity as the original sourced, much older, product.
Other regularly released products include their American Prairie Bourbon, which is still sourced from MGP and other undisclosed distilleries, aged 2-13 years; Double Rye!, a blend of 2-7 year old rye whiskeys sourced from MGP and using High West's own distillate; and Campfire, a 4-8 year old blend of MGP and High West rye whiskeys, MGP bourbon, and an undisclosed source of blended Malt Scotch whiskey.
Limited releases include BOURYE: Limited Sighting, which is a blend of a straight rye whiskey and two straight bourbon whiskeys - all sourced from MGP (non-age stated), and A Midwinter's Night Dram, a non-age stated blend of MGP and High West rye whiskeys. Both are released annually in limited amounts.
Discontinued releases include Yippee Ki-Yay, a blend of 2 year old High West rye whiskey and 16 year old sourced rye whiskey finished in used vermouth and syrah French oak barrels. Launched in 2015, only less than 30,000 bottles were ever produced. High West announced its discontinuation in July 2020.
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.
Bourbon is a type of barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn (maize). The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise source of inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, both of which are named after the dynasty. The name bourbon was not applied until the 1850s, and the Kentucky etymology was not advanced until the 1870s.
A blended whiskey is the product of blending different types of whiskeys and sometimes also neutral spirits, colorings, and flavorings. It is generally the product of mixing one or more higher-quality straight or single malt whiskey with less expensive spirits and other ingredients. This typically allows for a lower priced finished product, although expensive "premium" varieties also exist.
Rye whiskey can refer to two different, but related, types of whiskey:
George Dickel is a brand of Tennessee whisky produced in Tullahoma, in Coffee County, Tennessee. Today owned by Diageo, the modern brand was introduced in 1964, though the distillery has a longer history. Whisky production and aging takes place at the Cascade Hollow Distillery, which offers tours to the public and is part of the American Whiskey Trail. George Dickel operates the second-largest distillery in Tennessee, selling 130,000 cases in 2013, while the largest is Jack Daniel's, which sold 11.5 million cases the same year.
Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. is a private, American family-owned and operated distillery founded in 1935 and headquartered in Bardstown, Kentucky, that produces and markets the Heaven Hill brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and a variety of other distilled spirits. Its current distillery facility, called the Heaven Hill Bernheim distillery, is in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the seventh-largest alcohol supplier in the United States, the second-largest holder of bourbon whiskey inventory in the world, the largest, independent, family-owned and operated producer and marketer of distilled spirits in the United States, and the only large family-owned distillery company headquartered in Kentucky.
Grain whisky normally refers to any whisky made, at least in part, from grains other than malted barley. Frequently used grains include maize, wheat, and rye. Grain whiskies usually contain some malted barley to provide enzymes needed for mashing and are required to include it if they are produced in Ireland or Scotland. Whisky made only from malted barley is generally called "malt whisky" rather than grain whisky. Most American and Canadian whiskies are grain whiskies.
Malt whisky is whisky made from a fermented mash consisting of malted barley. If the product is made exclusively at a single distillery, it is typically called a single malt whisky. Although malt whisky can be made using other malted grains besides barley, those versions are not called malt whisky without specifying the grain, such as rye malt whisky or buckwheat malt whisky.
American whiskey is whiskey produced in the United States. American whiskeys made from mashes with at least 51% of their named grains include bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey, rye malt whiskey, malt whiskey, wheat whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, and corn whiskey.
Redbreast is a brand of single pot still Irish Whiskey produced by Irish Distillers. It was originally bottled by Gilbey's, a Dublin spirits merchant using distillate sourced from Jameson's Bow Street Distillery. In the 1980s, the brand was purchased by Irish Distillers, the producer of Jameson. It is the largest selling single pot still Irish whiskey in the world.
Bulleit Bourbon is a brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced at the Bulleit Distillery in Lebanon, Kentucky and the Bulleit Distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky, for the Diageo beverage conglomerate. It is characterized by a high rye content for a bourbon and being aged at least six years. It is bottled at 45% abv for the US, Canadian, British, Dutch and Mexican markets. For Australian and Danish markets, it is bottled at 40% abv. It is also sold in Germany, Norway and Sweden.
Willett Distillery, also known as Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), Ltd., is a private, family-owned-and-operated company that produces bourbon and rye whiskey. Over the years, the company has bottled whiskeys that range from two years of aging maturity up to 28 years.
Straight whiskey, as defined in United States law, is whiskey that is distilled from a fermented cereal grain mash to a concentration not exceeding 80% alcohol by volume (abv) and aged in new charred oak barrels for at least two years at a concentration not exceeding 62.5% at the start of the aging process. Domestic sales of straight whiskey surpassed 27 million 9-liter cases in 2021.
Copper Fox Distillery is a distillery that produces American whiskey in Sperryville, Virginia and Williamsburg, VA. The owner and operator of Copper Fox Distillery is Rick Wasmund.
MGP of Indiana, formerly known as LDI, is a distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, producing spirits for private label sale. These are sold under about 50 different brand names by various bottling companies, with a recent addition of their own products, Till Vodka, George Remus Bourbon, and Rossville Union Straight Rye Whiskey. The facility's largest customer is the London-based multinational beverage giant Diageo.
Knappogue Castle Irish Whiskey is a brand of premium single malt Irish whiskey produced by Castle Brands Inc. It is one of the few independent bottlings of Irish whiskey currently available on the market. The brand is named for historic Knappogue Castle in County Clare, Ireland, originally built by Clan MacNamara in 1467. Knappogue Castle is known for bottling one of the oldest and rarest known Irish whiskies, Knappogue Castle 1951, a pot still whiskey produced at the now-defunct B. Daly Distillery.
ASW Distillery is a manufacturer of liquor located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the second legally licensed distillery in Atlanta since the end of American Prohibition and distilled the first single malt whiskey in Atlanta history. In 2018, the distillery's Duality Double Malt Whiskey became Georgia's first-ever Double Gold Medal Whiskey, as judged by the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to whisky:
WhistlePig is a whiskey distillery based in Vermont. The distillery primarily makes rye whiskey, and is known for "ultra-premium" rye, a category it largely occupied alone in the early 21st century, when most rye sold for about $20 per bottle. WhistlePig dates to 2007, when entrepreneur Raj Bhakta purchased land for the WhistlePig distillery. The whiskey brand was launched in 2010, and its first product, its 10-year rye, was released in 2015.