High West Distillery
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Distilled spirits |
| Headquarters | Park City , United States |
| Products | Whiskey, Bourbon, Rye whiskey, Artisanal spirits |
High West Distillery is a Utah-based producer of distilled spirits located in Park City, Utah, United States. It is recognized as the first distillery to receive legal licensing in Utah following the conclusion of American Prohibition.
Distillery, restaurant, and saloon
Situated within "The National Garage," a former livery stable, the distillery operates in conjunction with a saloon and restaurant. Adjacent to this is the historic Ellsworth J Beggs house, a two-story building constructed in 1907, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Distillation
High West crafts its spirits in limited quantities utilizing a 250-gallon copper pot still. This unique combination still can operate both as a continuous/reflux still and as a pot still, allowing for a variety of distillate styles. Nevertheless, numerous products branded by High West as "craft whiskeys" or "artisanal spirits" are actually blends that include spirits sourced from MGP Distillery located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Products
The inaugural commercial release from High West Distillery was Rendezvous Rye Whiskey. Originally, it consisted of a blend combining a 6-year-old 95% rye whiskey from MGP (Indiana) with a 16-year-old 80% rye whiskey from Barton (Kentucky), mixed in Utah using local water. This expression earned a Double Gold Medal at the 2008 San Francisco Spirits Competition and received a Malt Advocate Rating of 95, placing it among Malt Advocate Magazine's "Top 10 New Whiskies of 2008."
Currently, High West distills and matures its own whiskey, incorporating these into their blends. The present version of Rendezvous Rye carries an age range of 4 to 7 years, which has led to some criticism due to its use of the established brand name despite featuring younger distillate.
Additional flagship offerings include American Prairie Bourbon, which is sourced from MGP and undisclosed producers and aged between 2 and 13 years; Double Rye!, a blend combining rye whiskeys aged 2 to 7 years from MGP and High West's own distillate; and Campfire, which merges 4 to 8-year-old MGP and High West rye whiskeys with MGP bourbon and blended Malt Scotch whiskey.
Among limited editions are BOURYE: Limited Sighting—a blend of straight rye and bourbon whiskeys from MGP without an age statement—and A Midwinter's Night Dram, an annual limited release blending MGP and High West rye whiskeys without an age statement.
Yippee Ki-Yay, introduced in 2015 as a blend of 2-year-old High West rye and 16-year-old sourced rye finished in vermouth and syrah French oak barrels, was discontinued in July 2020 after fewer than 30,000 bottles were produced.