Bourye is a blend of bourbons and ryes which High West has sourced form other distilleries over the years. I often see questions and misinformation about the provenance of each iteration so using various sources, I've put together a timeline of the batches.
2009
- 10-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 15% rye, 10% barley malt; unknown
- 12-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 16-year-old straight rye; 53% rye, 37% corn, 10% malt; Barton, KY
Source: Back Label
2010, 2011
- 10-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% barley malt; Four Roses, KY
- 12-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 16-year-old straight rye; 53% rye, 37% corn, 10% malt; Barton, KY
Bourye went on a hiatus for a few years only to be resurrected in 2015 with yet another new blend and every year since we've seen a new incarnation. All of the remaining was sourced from highwest.com.
2015
- 9-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 10-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 16-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 16-year-old straight rye; 80% rye, 10% corn, 10% malt; Barton, KY
2016
- 9-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 13-year-old straight rye whiskey; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 17-year-old straight rye whiskey; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
2017
- A blend of straight bourbon and rye whiskeys aged from 10 to 14 years.
- straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- straight rye; 53% rye, 37% corn, 10% barley malt; MGP, IN
- straight bourbon; 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN;
2018
- 14-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 13-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 12-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 11-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 11-year-old straight bourbon; 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
2019 - 2020 (added 1/17/2021)
- 10-year-old straight rye; 95% rye, 5% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 10-year-old straight bourbon; 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
- 10-year-old straight bourbon; 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% barley malt; MGP, IN
It's an interesting story over time. Early on it was Four Roses bourbon, MGP rye, and Barton rye; then MGP bourbon, MGP rye, and Barton rye; and now it's all MGP bourbon and rye.
Historically, I've loved this blend as evidenced by my reviews of the 2015, 2016, and 2017. The whiskeys at play are of great pedigree, have respectable specs, and High West is known at being masterful blenders. Let's see if the trend continues this time around.
High West Bourye 2018
No Age Statement; 46% ABV; $75; Batch 17L19 (bottled December 2017)
Nose: Very woody and very sweet with a slight menthol twinge. Upfront is a lot of your typical woody bourbon sweets but towards the end it is more like spicy bubble gum sweets I get with ryes. There's a lot of wood influence here.
Taste: Tastes like the nose. There is a hefty dose of woody caramel sweets initially. The finish is spicy and sweet with cracked pepper, cinnamon gum, and some older wood notes. The older wood notes are giving it some dark cocao flavor that linger slightly bitter.
Thoughts: Like previous iterations, it's a nice blend of wood, sweet, and some spice with plenty of depth. Having said that, for whatever reason, it's just not doing quite as much for me this time around. I don't even know if it's not as exciting as previous batches or I just have higher standards these days. I don't factor value into my reviews but I can't help but think at the price here, I could get a Four Roses private select and have money left over, so maybe I will start skipping these in the future.
Rating: B
Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.
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