High West Barrel Select Double Rye Whiskey (750ml) - Whiskey Hunt Australia Selection

WHA's first barrel pick for 2024 represents 228 bottles of High West Distillery Double Rye finished for 11 months in a Manhattan cask. "What's that?" you might ask. The distillery makes its own batches of the cocktail using sweet vermouth and aromatic bitters, matures the mix in ex-rye whiskey casks and markets it in 700ml bottles. Barrel #27342 was filled with an MGP mash bill of 95% straight rye / 5% malted barley and 80% rye / malted rye High West Distillate - hence the name 'Double Rye'. Both were a minimum of two years old. The nose takes a while to wake up, slowly releasing mixed nuts, light peppermint and bitter dark chocolate that's reflected on the palate as Brazil nuts, bitter dark chocolate and oily rye take over with interesting hints of dry triple sec. The texture builds with creamy vanillas and zippy rye spices maintaining momentum. This experiment takes rye on a slightly different tangent: mouth filling and enough to chew your way through, however it's hard to tell if the finishing has actually helped or hindered. 50.4% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.