High West Yippee Ki Yay Batch 19C20 56.9% ABV

A blend of straight whiskeys aged from 2 to 16 years BLEND Batches 19C20–19C27 

95% rye, 5% barley malt from MGP 53% rye, 37% corn, 10% barley from Barton 80% rye, 20% malted rye from High West Distillery 

Appearance

Again quite a deep gold in colour, the swirl line beads up into really thick teardrops and faint thick legs. #thewhiskeychaps

Nose

I’m getting eucalyptus and floral notes here, strawberry pastries, and definitely more of a subdued nose. There are vegetal aromas here now, wood polish, nettles. #thewhiskeychaps

swirl line becomes very thick on the glass now, with wall paper paste, more eucalyptus, green apple skins, and lots of wood treatments, but not wood #thewhiskeychaps

Palate

Mouthfeel is lighter than I expected, at the moment, and it’s another slow arriving dram. It is sweeter, with stoned fruits, I’m getting sweet tea too. I’m getting lemons, which is a new one in a bourbon for me. #thewhiskeychaps

Yes, turning into aniseed and cough candy, that strong cough syrup too tbh. 100% pontefract cakes, dark chocolate digestives, liquorice allsorts too, staying fruity, but also spicy #thewhiskeychaps

Finish

Long side of medium in length for me, and becoming fruit pastries, lots of apricots, with a dandelion and burdock dark under taste, they mix really well actually, creates a multi layered finish, another lovely @drinkhighwest #thewhiskeychaps

I’m getting those Borders chocolate ginger biscuits now 🥰 #thewhiskeychaps

— Dram it Mick! 🥃 (@StillSurreal) November 26, 2022

My thoughts

Having tasted the High West Double Rye before getting to this offering from them, i had high hopes for this bottling. I really enjoyed the Double Rye, it’s a lovely rye whiskey, and i was at this stage wondering if this bottle could be better. The answer is yes.

Again it has the slow arrival of the Double Rye, which is unique to me so far in that this is the only distillery to craft a whisk(e)y that does so. This alone will without doubt keep these bottles firmly in my memory. The nose and palate bring more that the Double Rye for me, there’s loads going on. To be honest i could have listed more notes, and if i try it again i will add them in brackets onto these original notes.

In my opinion, and of the others on this tasting, this is a great rye whiskey, i certainly can’t fault it at all, and i would relish tasting it again to be honest. I’d love a bottle in my whisk(e) cupboard.

A big thank you goes out to Duncan, Paul and Tony for joining us on the tasting this whiskey was a part of, they, along with us can be followed on twitter using the buttons below.