Distillery: High West Sourced from MGP
Proof: 92
Age: at least 5 years
Mashbill: Blend of straight rye, straight bourbon, and peated blended malt Scotch whiskey
BACKGROUND: High West’s Campfire blended whiskey was inspired by a visit to the Bruichladdich distillery, where the founders were served a melon drizzled with syrup made from leaded scotch and sugar. The flavors of smoke and sweetness led to them thinking about how peated whiskey would mix with bourbon whiskey. After some experimentation they came out with a blend of straight bourbon, straight rye, and peated scotch whiskeys to create this Campfire blend.
NOSE: Rich caramel and charred wood are the dominant on this one. As I continued smelling I couldn’t help but notice all the charred wood notes, you get the oak and then also the char. A very interesting nose. (20/25)
PALATE: The first thing pulled from the palate was heavy peat flavors, with a very wet and earthy feel. As my palate adjusted I was able to pull notes of chocolate, vanilla, and punchy rye spice. As the whiskey lingers on my palate, I get flavors of black pepper, malt, and sweet melon. This all comes together to create a very smoky taste, almost too smoky in my opinion (31/40)
FINISH: Tons of oak, char, and rye spice along with some oak and wood. I am immediately reminded of the scents familiar with a campfire (21/25)
VALUE: At $70 a bottle this is definitely a bit overpriced in my opinion and would best be priced between $40 and $50 (6/10)
Overall: 78/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: I was disappointed by this bottle, we usually enjoy High West’s products but this one just let us down. This is definitely a very unique whiskey and and a good change of pace!
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Westland Peated Whiskey
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Barrel Bourbon Infinite Barrel Project
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Woodford Reserve Chocolate Malted Rye
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback!
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away
