Review: High West Bourye (2025)
Review: High West Bourye (2025)
High West’s Bourye has built a sort of cult following among some American whiskey fans, with its production dating back to the early 2010s. The bourbon/rye mashup often contained highly-aged whiskey from multiple distilleries, and fans chased new tastes as the blend and profile shifted from one year to the next. After about a decade as a nationwide release, High West changed Bourye to a distillery-only bottling, so customers needed to purchase it in Utah. (Or ask a friend nicely.)
Apparently, that was only a temporary move, and the 2025 version takes Bourye back to national distribution. (It’s still a “limited sighting.”) As per usual, Bourye 2024 is a blend of straight rye and bourbon whiskeys, and while we don’t know the exact proportion, High West is divulging the blend’s component mashbills:
- Straight Rye Whiskey: 95% rye and 5% malted barley from MGP; 80% rye and 20% malted rye from High West Distillery.
- Straight Bourbon Whiskey: 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley from MGP; 60% corn, 36% rye and 4% malted barley from MGP; 78% corn, 10% rye, and 12% malted barley from an undisclosed Kentucky distillery.
According to High West, all components in this year’s blend are at least 10 years old. That’s especially noteworthy in regard to the distillery’s own 80/20 rye, which is likely among the oldest High West-distilled rye we’ve seen released in any capacity.
The final blend is bottled at 46% abv and carries an MSRP around $125. Let’s see how it tastes!
High West Bourye (2025) Tasting Notes
I always let my tasting samples rest for at least five minutes before recording notes. But this Bourye makes waiting difficult, with bold fruits wafting out of the glass from several feet away. The medley of fruit is reminiscent of some well aged malt whiskeys. (I hardly expected this to evoke a fruity Speyside, but here we are.) Indeed, there’s an always-on but not overwhelming thread of malt and cooked fruit throughout the nose: charred peaches, apricot skins, and burnt citrus peels.
Those bright, sweet aromas soon shift toward robust, barrel-forward bourbon notes, filled with classic pan caramel and more than a hint of campfire smoke. These notes evolve even more a few minutes later: birch bark and a cedar-lined closet meet barrel char and the continued underpinnings of fruit. It’s one of the most captivating noses I can remember on a High West product, and I could hardly stop smelling it.
For all the nose’s complexity, the early palate is easier to pin down. Toffee, milk chocolate, and pecan brittle lead with sweetness. Those elements are balanced by a hint of salinity and dried fruit — think salted, dried apricots. There’s less fruit overall to speak of here, but it’s not entirely absent, with that apricot and dried orange leading into sour components on the midpalate. Once there, herbal and vegetal flavors build in the form of endive and licorice root, with just enough residual sweetness to keep things in balance. Taken as a whole, the sip is reminiscent of a smoked maple old fashioned, heavy on orange bitters — with a leaf of frisée as garnish. (Why not?)
Herbs and toffee meld into sweet mint (and a touch of oak) on the mid-length finish. It’s a nice decrescendo from an intricate palate, but not inherently a letdown, with plenty to chew on while contemplating a next sip.
The nose is engulfing, the palate has far more peaks than valleys, and only the finish — nestled firmly into “pretty good” territory — keeps this blend from entering superlative territory. It’s one of the top High West Bouryes I’ve tried, and flat out among the best bourbon+rye blends I’ve sipped in recent memory.
92 proof.
A- / $125 / highwest.com [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
I think this whisky is really good, but does it warrant paying $125…not in my opinion. This sips more in the $80 range. I live in Utah and this is good but not for $125.