Well for 2015, they basically kept this concept but are only using whole numbers: my bottle from 2015 reads ‘Act 3, Scene 3’, much more simple but still keeping with the Act/Scene concept. For example my bottle from 2014 was Act 2.3, so my bottle was the second release of the Fall and is Scene 720 (batch number). The first two versions of MWND were released in 2014, in which case you will either find an ‘Act 1’ (distillery only release - early ‘14) or ‘Act 2’ (national release - Fall ‘14) and then the batch would be the ‘Scene’. Instead of using the usual vintage date and batch number for each bottle, they decided to use ‘Act’ and ‘Scene’ respectively. In my opinion however, the coolest feature of MWND’s label is how High West decided to distinguish each year and batch from one another. Another interesting yet archaic aspect of the label is that they even use ‘Long s’ which is a form of the minuscule letter s which was used where an ‘s’ would occur either at the beginning or in the middle of a word (e.g. On that note, the front label mimics the original playbill for A Midsummer Night’s Dream down to the exact typography you would have found commonly in the English language until the mid 19th century. A Midwinter Night’s Dram (MWND) is High West’s inaugural ‘Rendezvous Rye’ (a blend of a 6 and 16 yr rye whiskeys) which is then finished in ex French Oak and Port barrels.Īs you may have guessed, the name ‘A Midwinter Night’s Dram’, is a take on Shakespeare’s comedy play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Although its not technically winter quite yet, High West’s ‘A Midwinter Night’s Dram’ could become the archetypical cold weather whiskey that defines this marriage - regardless of season. If you doubt the alliance between port and rye, this could well be the religious experience you’ve been waiting for.Few things pair like the marriage of long, cold winter nights and whiskey. A wintry dram but I would drink this all year. Tobacco.įinish- Tannins and bitter chocolate. I suspect both port and French oak is used, but this is the designation on the bottle.
The blend is then finished a for an unspecified time in “French oak port barrels,” whatever that means. The resulting blend clocks in at 49.3% ABV and is non chill-filtered. The advantage of distilling year after year is that one can eventually start to bottle it. Quick note: previous blends had both the MGP and a 16 year old Barton rye, which, also resulted in their Rendezvous Rye, one of my very favorite drams in general. Midwinter Night’s Dram is straight rye, composed from two sources: a familiar 95% rye from MGP and an 80% rye from High West themselves (took them long enough). High West out of Park City, Utah has been covered well enough by us, so we move onward to the bottle at hand. If done right, the result is a perilously drinkable composition. Simply put, I allowed myself to be surprised at this curious coupling of a dessert wine flourish and oaky rye. My tastes evolved with a sherry finished Beam a few years ago, along with a few others. I disregarded these creations ever since then. Responsibility should also be placed upon a particularly bad experience with an Angel’s Envy port finished rye.
I don’t think I was snippy about it, I just don’t think it was needed. I never thought I was much of purist when it came to bourbon and rye but my instinct was to spurn away port or sherry finishing on any of my beloved American distinctives. Which brings me to today’s selection, High West’s Midwinter Night’s Dram and how my attitude changed towards port finished ryes and bourbons. The industry will change, bottles come and go, but the only thing that stays the same is Richard Patterson’s Nose. A sort of whiskey maturity, so to speak, if there is such a thing. How does this happen? Change, for lack of a clearer word. It is now a dependable and steady dram as sure as God made green apples. I nearly spit it out and gave up on this “whiskey as a hobby” thing almost as soon as it started. My first legit tasting session was with a miniature of Johnnie Walker Black.
0 kommentar(er)
