High West High Country American Single Malt is a product that is formed from a tri-blend of three distinct malted barley grains. The company states that “American Single Malt is distilled ‘on-the-grain.’ This means that we leave the grain in during fermentation and distillation, instead of filtering it out. In the tradition of American and Scottish whiskey making, we use both freshly charred and second-use oak barrels during the maturation stage.” Initially released in 2019, High Country is released on a nationwide annual basis. Unlike other High West whiskeys, High Country is distilled and blended completely in-house by the brand.

‍‍The bottle in review comes from batch number 22J11.

The whiskey opens on light yet distinguishable scents of malted barley, fresh cereal, and golden raisins. Inhaling deeper pulls out floral notes along with figs, jam, and a touch of honey. A whiff of light wood is present but plays hide and seek among the other scents. It’s a pleasing opening to the whiskey, and while I wish it was delivered with more intensity, it pulls you in and provides intrigue that makes you want to explore further.

Much like the nose, the lack of intensity is readily apparent on the palate. Baking chocolate and malted barley pop but the delivery comes across as thin. Grain and fresh oak try to battle through but only make a brief appearance. There’s a tingling green peppercorn bite that jumps out the more you explore, which provides for an unsettling contrast between the sweeter aroma that led you to believe would be present.

The spice that carries over from the palate kicks things off and slowly simmers beneath a prominent note of baking chocolate that comes forward. A quick flash of oak joins in before all the flavors fade away, making for a short-lived simmering heat. It’s consistent with the rest of the sip in terms of intensity and fulfills its duty of being more passable than anything else.

While American single malts have been around for a number of years now, they are still in their nascent stage with the broader American whiskey consumer group. As such, each new entrant into the marketplace tended to bring something new or push the limits of the category. However as time has gone on, newer entrants haven’t pushed the category forward so much, instead trying to really hone their ability to focus on the overall composition of the whiskey.

High Country falls in this latter category in the sense that it doesn’t try to push any boundaries. It uses a blend of malts and is aged in new and used oak barrels, both of which aren’t uncommon. Additionally, its shorter time spent in the barrels (aged a minimum of two years) means that the whiskey is more grain-influenced than not, which may explain the choice as to why this is bottled at 88 proof versus something higher.

The one area that is of interest is the fact that this is 100% distilled and blended in-house by High West Distillery. Whereas all of their other whiskeys such as their Bourbon, Double Rye, Rendezvous Rye, and the popular A Midwinter Night’s Dram, are all either 100% sourced or a blend of sourced and in-house distilled whiskeys. High West started distilling onsite in 2007, yet it wasn’t until 2019 that they finally released an aged all-in-house distilled whiskey, and an American single malt at that. It may not be the most unique flavor profile delivered, however, it is nice to see the company finally start to bottle 100% in-house distilled whiskey (their now defunct clear Silver Whiskey and Vally Tan oat whiskey aside). While there’s nothing wrong with sourcing and blending, after so many years it is nice that consumers finally have a chance to taste what they distill and not just what they blend.

Usually when distilleries finally start releasing 100% in-house distilled whiskey, they charge more for it versus the sourced or partially sourced products they released leading up to that moment. While High West chose to follow a similar path, pricing High Country much higher than some of their other currently available whiskeys such as their Bourbon and Double Rye, what’s interesting is that this isn’t your normal small distillery that’s just starting off.

High West may consider itself to be a craft distillery at heart, but the reality is that they’re anything but. The brand has been around since 2006 and has grown quite rapidly since that time. Their distillery at Blue Sky located outside of Park City, Utah opened in 2015, and having visited it, I can say small it is not. It’s a gorgeous facility and one that allows the brand to distill at scale. It’s also worth noting that Constellation Brands bought High West in 2016 for $160 million, so they’re anything but boutique.

All this to say, it’s surprising to see High West decide to charge $80 for this release. It doesn’t carry any distinguishing unique features besides being distilled in-house, and it’s priced quite high compared to some of their sourced and blended products. Its price, while in line with other American single malts, proves difficult to justify, seeing as the sip itself has a hard time standing out among its fellow competitors such as Westward Whiskey, Whiskey Del Bac, and Balcones, who all come across as more unique and genuine.

High Country is a perplexing whiskey. Not so much because of the flavor profile it produces, in fact, the whiskey itself is easy to drink, however, it doesn’t offer any stand out characteristics either. Instead, it’s perplexing in the sense that High Country is the product that High West continues to choose to stand upon to highlight their distilling chops. For fans of the brand, this will be a nice way to explore both the American single malt category and what the distillery is capable of. For others though, particularly those who are exploring a variety of American single malts, High Country delivers an average sip that is quickly swallowed up and forgotten in the expanding and blossoming American single malt marketplace.