Glenmorangie A Midwinter Night's Dram Single Malt Whisky

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High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 11 is described as having aromas of “poached pears, dried cherry, star anise, nutmeg, spiced Christmas cookie, dark chocolate mocha, cinnamon ginger cake, and leaves on a forest floor.” The palate has notes of “fig, cranberry, dark plum jam on rye toast, gingerbread, sipping chocolate, brandied cherries, winter-spiced mocha, and French oakspice.” Join the Whiskey Raiders Bottle of the Month Club, where you will receive hard-to-find bottles curated by Whiskey Raiders staff with a 90+ rating on whiskeyraiders.com plus live virtual tastings. Sign up here! Some of the earlier releases (the “Act” corresponds with the annual release) were made with High West’s Rendezvous blend when it featured a hefty amount of 16 year-old, Barton-sourced rye; the rest of the blend was somewhat younger rye from Indiana’s MGP.

When it comes to overall complexity and depth of the finish, Act 11 doesn’t quite hit the superlative notes of some earlier releases, particularly Acts 1 through 4. But it certainly makes a valiant effort. I wrote the following when introducing last year’s sample of High West’s A Midwinter Night’s Dram, and it’s all still relevant, so allow me the luxury of pasting a bit: As the session goes on, more botanical notes pop up with a couple of herbal flavors showing the way. Almost like drinking a green health drink of sorts with mint, cucumber, wheatgrass and the like. The “red” notes still linger though and make the each sip extra special. Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us. Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”).Some reviewers out there speculated that MWND changed its composition for Act 10 because the press release no longer mentioned the whiskey was finished in French Oak barrels. I don’t think that is the case, though. In the years prior, I’ve always been told that High West was using both Ruby and Tawny Port casks to finish MWND in.

I’ve already mentioned that they’re getting progressively worse too, so this just doesn’t make sense. Instead, if you are really fiending for the taste of port (or fortified wine in general) finished rye whiskey, there are plenty of other choices out there. This was evident to me by the steady improvement of Acts 8 and 9. But if Act 10 is any indication, MWND no longer belongs in the category of desirable annual releases. I’m sure me saying that will have no sway on the die-hards of the brand or the flippers that buy up as many bottles as they can to flip.

In my 2014 review of A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 2.1, it was clear that finishing rye whiskeys in port barrels was a relatively new concept, even if it was starting to become more prevalent. In 2022, wine finishing is quite common, and using ex-port barrels is as common as any wine finishing styles. 1792 Port Finished Bourbon, Woodinville Port Finished Bourbon, and Angel’s Envy Bourbon Port Finish are among some of the top-of-mind port finished whiskeys. Notably, these are bourbons, but less-known rye base port finished whiskeys do exist. Milam & Greene Rye Port Wine Cask Finish, Sagamore Spirit Rye Port Finish, and WhistlePig Old World Cask Finish (a blend that includes Madeira, Sauternes, and port) are among them. I happened to be in Utah in the fall of 2017, and stopped by High West’s Park City Saloon for a tasting flight. The saloon likes to call itself “the only ski-in gastro-distillery in the world,” but we neither skied in nor ate anything. We did, however, relish the majesty of the place and enjoyed some whiskey. I’m not exaggerating when I say that those old barrels of Barton were in almost EVERYTHING they made unless it was labeled as a bourbon. Even Bourye contained this Barton rye for a long time! High West Distillery (Park City, UT) has just released the deets on their upcoming A Midwinter Night’s Dram – Act 11. This limited-edition and coveted bottle offers a complex blend of winter’s defining flavors, and will be available at the brand’s Utah distillery and Saloon locations, as well as at retailers nationwide in limited quantities, beginning October 8.

We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. Now that the history lesson of MWND is out of the way, it’s time to taste through the differences from the last six years. What I’m going to try and figure out what changed between the Acts and how much of a difference the missing Barton rye really makes. Nose: The nose is sweet and very wine forward. Scents of Murray’s Spiced Cherry Jam combine with sweet red wine. They are both amped up in the spice category with notes of gingerbread and soft baking spices. There’s also a hint of mint, but it’s very mild. Finish: For all Acts, I find the dill note that is so often associated with MGP rye whiskey to not be a factor… except here in Act 6. High West made media headlines later that month for tapping Olympian Shaun White to spread awareness and protect the West from climate change. A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 11 Tasting Notes, Via High WestAct 3 had 3 Scenes but it has since expanded to as many as 6 in subsequent years.The reason behind splitting the Acts into Scenes might revolve around the limited size of the blending tanks inside of High West’s facility in Park City, Utah.

This also comes with a finish in somewhat exotic casks, at least in American terms. You’ve got French oak (though with no mention of the predecessor libation, if any, that these barrels held) and Port casks, the latter of which will be familiar to Scotch whisky drinkers. Though finished whiskey is appearing with increasing frequency (and mixed results) in the U.S., these expressions are still a minority exception to the majority rule of new, charred oak. High West must have been anticipating they would run out someday because in 2018 they began to substitute their own rye whiskey that they distilled in Utah into their products. Based on the 2018 specs of Double Rye! and Rendezvous Rye, the age of their own rye whiskey ranged from four to seven years old.This year’s release, Act 11, is a blend of two rye mash bills: 95% rye/5% barley malt from MGP and 80% rye/20% malted rye from HighWest. There was a rumor I heard that the High West release of Midwinter’s Night Dram “Encore”(the one that used only White Port barrels to finish the rye whiskey in) was supposed to be a part of Act 10’s final blend. I wouldn’t say you’re going to see a saturation of Midwinter in the marketplace. That’s not going to happen,” he said. “You’re going to see us in more places. Definitely international, which is really exciting, but also in some more places in the US as well. We have a bigger footprint now, which is cool.” When it comes to overall complexity and depth of the finish, Act 11 doesn’t quite hit the superlative notes of some earlier releases, particularly Acts 1 through 4. But it certainly makes a valiant effort. A Midwinter Night's Dram Act 11 Rating Utah’s first legal distillery since 1870, High West’s passion is crafting delicious and distinctive whiskeys and helping people appreciate whiskey all in the context of our home, the American West. High West offers an outstanding collection of highly rated whiskeys in finer liquor stores, bars, and restaurants in all 50 U.S. states and internationally.