Another mystery review courtesy of u/bananavanman and this one was even better. I wrongly suspected that this was a Barrell Rye but it was High West’s Midwinter Night Dram Act 5 Scene 3. High West is distillery out of Utah that mainly blends MGP and Barton whiskies but they are ramping up there own production and starting to integrate their own distillate. Anyways their Mid Winter Night’s Dram is a holiday release that is MGP rye blended and finished in port staves.
Review
Abv: 98.6 proof (49.3% ABV)
Age: NAS
Color: A medium to slightly dark amber
Neat
Nose: Just from the nose I can see why he called it fruit cake it starts with notes of spice and as you breathe deeper strong bright cherry notes with just a hint of something else, vanilla or marshmallow perhaps?(Now that I know what it is I can’t help but taste it as dill but that seems like MGP bias)
Taste: Smooth with even more cherry than the nose. Bright and sweet with just hints of baking spice
and the same note I couldn’t place from the nose.
Finish: Medium length that starts with sweet cherry and baking spice that finishes with a bit of a bite. The heat came out of nowhere for me.
On a rock
Nose: The spice is muted but still present and the bright cherry shines through. Very nice.
Taste: A blend of holiday spice and cherry. Very fruit cake, very good.
Finish: Lingering bright cherries with no more spice of heat. Medium length which is especially nice given the ice.
Conclusion
Overall this was a great whiskey and a pleasure to taste. I thought that it was the Barrell Rye but was pleasantly surprised to find out it was High West MWND Act 5 Scene 3. I’m a big fan of High West and it’s probably the best MGP rye that I can regularly get my hands on. The port finish for the MWND is very nice especially since I like something with a nice combo of sweet and spice. I usually end up getting a bottle for Christmas so I think that pretty much qualifies as being happy to buy one. I have about a quarter of a bottle of Act 5 Scene 8 left.
8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time
You can read u/bananavanman’s review for a very similar take.
Scale
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