The spirit of the American West will soon be available right at your doorstep (and in your bar cart) via the latest nationwide release from rising Utah whiskey brand High West.
The Park City-based distiller already produces one of the best American whiskies you can buy, and the brand’s new High West High Country Single Malt could lay claim to that illustrious crown soon enough.
Releasing nationwide in limited quantities on December 3rd, the High West High Country Single Malt takes the once-small distiller’s innovation a step further by using Oloroso sherry barrels to finish off this stellar, holiday and winter-ready liquid.
Founded in 2007 with a 250-gallon copper still in downton Park City, High West now boasts four locations and its Distillery in Wanship, Utah. Fans of the brand are in luck, because you can get the new bottle at High West locations (or select retailers across the country) for $79.99.
In addition to using Oloroso sherry barrels in the finishing process, High West distills this whiskey on the grain, meaning the grain isn’t filtered out during fermentation and distillation. You could call it the High West difference, because it results in a rich, robust flavor profile unique to the Utah distillery.
This process gives it a heavier malt character and finish, complete with flavor notes of vanilla-glazed banana bread, warm granola with dried fruit and charred lemon peel, among others.
Aroma notes of baked apple, cinnamon stick and tobacco greet you, as well. Think of it like the perfect spirit to ring in the holiday season (but here’s hoping it sticks around your bar cart past that).
Sip and taste carefully, and we can assure you all those aroma and flavor notes aren’t nestled on a high summit: They’re easy to find within High West’s eye-catching bottle, a handsome addition to any whiskey lover’s bar cart.
About that eye-catching bottle: The latest High West release also features a new label adorned with a vivid portrait of snow-capped mountains, just about the best place we could imagine to enjoy a fittingly American single malt whiskey.
The character of this single malt whiskey is such that you don’t have to do very much at all to get the most out of your next dram. Simply enjoy it neat or with a few drops of water to let its various flavors breathe and develop slowly as you sip it in front of a roaring holiday fire.
It’s lucky that this whiskey is available nationwide, as it’s almost sure to sell out at the widely visited Park City Distillery (which calls itself the world’s only ski-in gastro-distillery). Sounds like it’s worth a trip, right? In the meantime, the High Country Single Malt is a fine substitute for a trek out West, at least for now.