High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 12 (2024)
High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram
Blend of Straight Rye Whiskeys Finished in Port Barrels
Act 12, Scene 7 (2024 release)
49.3% ABV
$150
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What the Producer Says
Dram is our beloved flagship whiskey, “Rendezvous” (a blend of straight rye whiskeys ranging in 4 to 10 years of age), finished in Ruby and Tawny Port barrels.
Nose: Crushed blackberries, mandarin zest, almond shortbread, fig jam, dulce de membrillo, allspice, old vine zinfandel, plum syrup spilled on a mahogany table
Palate: Marionberry preserves, chocolate-dipped cherries, marble rye bread, mochaccino, cinnamon bark, oolong tea, winter pine, smoldering Havana cigar
Finish: Velvety and spiced–chai cold foam, clove-studded orange flesh, soft ginger chew
How to drink: We recommend that you enjoy this special spirit neat, due to its many layers of complexity, next to a warm fire as the snow piles up on the window sill.
What Gary Says
Nose: Dark fruit, plums, blackberries, figs, heavy port, allspice, hint of anise and orange zest.
Palate: Blood orange, plum, cinnamon, bitter chocolate, nutmeg, cloves and sour oak.
Finish: Moderate in length, drying with citrus spice and cloves fading.
Comments: Reviewed this for the first time back in September of 2020, and just late last year I received a sample of Act 13. A few months later, a friend gifted me this sample – and as luck would have it I still had some of the Act 13 to perform a side-by-side comparison. They were incredibly similar. On my first side-by-side, I only detected slight differences; in the next attempt I couldn’t tell any difference. On the nose I found a hint of anise that I didn’t detect on the 13 (and maybe a tad more of orange zest?), although on the palate I couldn’t find any difference. I repeated this a couple more times, with the same results. As I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Act 13, this was a bit disappointing – but confirmed that Act 13 wasn’t an “off year”. And I can’t say that it has changed – for all I know my tastes have changed (and maybe if I had a new bottle of the early ones – I’d find them very similar).
Rating: Stands Out
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