High West Bourye Timeline and 2018 Review

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

Source: Wayback Machine highwest.com 2011 and Sku's Recent Eats

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.

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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. 

High West Bourye (2017 Release) Review

I've covered my feelings on High West more than a few times lately so I'll just touch on the highlight again here that they are master blenders who have sourced excellent whiskey. Bourye has become a Frankenstein of all those sources over the years as the 4 batches I'm aware of all seem to contain at least one unique component. For 2017, Bourye is composed as follows:

• A blend of straight Bourbon and Rye whiskeys aged from 10 to 14 years.
• Straight Rye Whiskey: 95% rye, 5% barley malt from MGP & 53% rye, 37% corn, 10% barley malt from MGP
• Straight Bourbon Whiskey: 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt from MGP

The things that jump out to me there are that the age of the oldest whiskey has gone down from previous releases and there is a new MGP rye mash in play. I was a big fan of the 2015 and 2016 releases so I have high expectations coming into this. 

No Age Statement

46% ABV

$75

Batch 17A12

Nose: Smells like a barely legal rye whiskey or a very high rye bourbon. Lots of spicy menthol on top of sugary oak sweetness. The nose is rather bold considering the middling proof. 

Taste: Sugary wood sweetness upfront, rye baking spices in the middle, and a nice sweet spicy combo rides out the finish. Some tannic, slightly bitter oak complexity also comes through in the finish. Super easy to drink - that's likely the lower ABV. I would not say it's under-proofed though, it's still got plenty of body and depth of flavor. Tastes exactly like what I would expect from a blend of 10 - 14 year bourbon and rye. 

Thoughts: High West just keeps knocking them out of the park. I really, really like this. On a pure enjoyment scale, this is up there with Wild Turkey Decades which carries twice the price tag. That's par for the course for High West lately - they keep putting out quality blends at respectable prices that are relatively easy to obtain and yet there's little if any hype train around them. Why that is, I don't know, the whisky hobby makes no sense to me most of the time. I'm not going to complain though. I'm just going to happily stroll back down to my local and buy another bottle of this while crazy people chase the hype train for the new Colonel Taylor Four Taters or whatever other carrot Buffalo Trace is dangling this month.

Rating: B+ / B

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating. 

High West Bourye (2016 Release) Review

There is a lot of grumpiness in the whiskey world regarding Non Distiller Producers these days and for good reason - prices keep going up, quality is often going down, transparency is rare, and some bottlers are pushing lame backstories in order to sell product. Yes, I’m looking at you Diageo and your entire stupid fucking Orphan Barrel line. Yet despite those trends, there are a few companies selling sourced whiskey who are doing things right and a shining example of that is High West.

One of the many reasons people love High West is because they are doing interesting things with finishes and blends to create some unique products that aren’t ridiculously expensive. Once such product is their Bourye which has come in a few versions over the years with gist being a blend of straight bourbon and straight rye whiskeys. I enjoyed the 2015 version which made me perk up when I heard the details of their newest 2016 batch. Here are the specs straight from the High West website:

• 9-year-old straight bourbon (mash bill: 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt) Source: MGP/LDI/Seagrams, Indiana
• 13-year-old straight rye whiskey (mash bill: 95% rye, 5% barley malt) Source: MGP/LDI/Seagrams, Indiana
• 17-year-old straight rye whiskey (mash bill: 95% rye, 5% barley malt) Source: MGP/LDI/Seagrams, Indiana

You have to love the transparency there. Those are some very respectable numbers with some older whiskey than the previous batch in the mix. The stats had me curious if this batch would be even better than the last so let’s find out.

No age statement; Batch No. 16A13; 46% ABV; $75

Nose: Lots of sweet and lots of wood. It’s not as spicy as I expected but there is some prickly menthol in there. Smells like an early teenage high rye bourbon.

Taste: A lot like the nose - very sweet, lots of wood, and not overly spicy. The front palate is dominated by your typical sweet caramel and vanilla notes. The spice starts to come through in the mid palate in the form of cinnamon red hots which ride out all the way through to the finish. The finish also sees a transition of the sweet flavors into darker notes like cocoa powder. The wood depth here is pretty great as it has hints of some really decent age.

Thoughts: High West are damn good at blending and this is another prime example of that. It’s a nice mix of sweet, spice, and a decent amount of age without being overly bitter. I have an affection for sweeter bourbons and this one definitely hits home there as it is on the sweeter side. I haven’t tasted them side by side and I’m only going off memory here but I’m not sold that it’s a major improvement over the previous batch. That’s okay though because it’s still a great product and now it appears to have consistency on its side which is more than you can say for many other batched NDP products.

Rating: B+ / B

Value: As always, I don’t factor price into my ratings. The price here is a little high for what you get and there are better values to be had. I feel like Rendezvous Rye at around $25 less is still a better buy but it isn’t as unique as this which is what you are really paying for here.

High West Bourye (2015 Release) Review

Like many other startup distilleries, High West is on the “sell sourced whiskey while our own product comes of age plan”. Unlike a lot of other startups though, High West is very transparent about the source of their whiskey. One such whiskey in their portfolio is Bourye, named as such for being a blend of straight bourbon and straight rye. In late 2014 / early 2015, High West released another version of Bourye, this time replacing the Bourbon component that was once Four Roses with whiskey sourced from MGP. Here's the full breakdown per the High West website:

• 9-year-old straight bourbon - mash bill: 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt - source: MGP/LDI/Seagrams Indiana
• 10-year-old straight rye whiskey - mash bill: 95% rye, 5% barley malt - source: MGP/LDI/Seagrams Indiana
• 16-year-old straight rye whiskey - mash bill: 95% rye, 5% barley malt - source: MGP/LDI/Seagrams Indiana
• 16-year-old straight rye whiskey - mash bill: 80% rye, 10% corn, 10% malt - Source: Barton Distillery, Bardstown KY

Their complete transparency is one of the many reasons whiskey geeks praise High West but really it’s their skill at blending quality stock that make people love them.

No Age Statement; 46% ABV; Batch 15B09; $80

Nose: The nose has a fruit cake like sweetness with more bourbon than rye influence along with a pretty heavy dose of wood. If I dig in I get a little menthol spice note but it’s subdued. It smells on the old side.

Taste: The initial taste is a lot like the nose. Typical bourbon sweetness of caramel and vanilla up front with the woodiness in the back. You can really taste the older aged whiskey components here as it tapers off in the finish with some slightly bitter/tannic spiced tea. The one surprising thing though is how subdued the spice level is here - it’s only in the finish that I get a light menthol/clove tingle.

Thoughts: Really good stuff with a nice balance of sweet, older wood, and spice. High West continues to flex their muscles at being master blenders but it’s not hurting them that the MGP and Barton base components are already stellar whiskeys on their own. The only real fault I can find here is the price is a bit of an issue. At $80 I am not sure the quality to price ratio is the best and honestly I’d prefer Rendezvous Rye which is around $25 cheaper over this. All in all it’s a easy to find, unique, and enjoyable whiskey that is a nice change of pace from most everything else out there on the shelves.

Rating: B / B+