Review #345 - High West A Midwinter Nights Dram Act 9 Scene 4
The recipe for High West's famous 'Midwinter Nights Dram' has changed over the years - for this 9th act, which arrived in 2021, it's a blend of MGP rye distillate and High West's own distillate. In fact, they give us nice, transparent information on their website: the MGP rye is 95% rye and 5% malted barley, the usual 95/5 recipe, and the High West portion is made from 80% rye and 20% malted barley.
We do get this blended rye at an elevated strength of 49.3% ABV (98.6 proof) for each release, though that's far from cask strength; the rye is finished in French oak and Port casks for added levels of spice and sweet fruit. Along with those Port casks, we get the nice pinkish hue in the whisky when the light shines through it.
High West A Midwinter Nights Dram Act 9 Scene 4
USA - Rye
Current Locally Available Price: USD 150 (2024, based on recent auction results)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 49.3% ABV
Cask Makeup: Finished in French oak casks and ex-Port casks
Details: Bottled 2021
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 2 years; bottle at 20% fill level (blind tasting) and tasted twice from a sample. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Starts with a mix of rye notes and exotic flavors: malty cereal grain, creamy vanilla, menthol, coconut, even fizzy pineapple. Then the port influence begins to show, adding oranges, cranberries, sweet blackberry, and there's a peppery note from the spicier French oak. Hints of pine and yeasty baked goods pop up, along with brown sugar and a hint of clove.
Palate: A medium mouthfeel, with a nice variety of flavors up front: peppery rye, sweet maple syrup on pancakes, sugar-coated cranberry sauce, and some decent drying oak. The rye is contributing more herbal and menthol notes, though the casks are adding a lot of sweetness: vanilla, cinnamon, and more red fruit. There's a hint of leather in here, as well as oatmeal.
Finish: Medium-long, full of menthol rye character. Oak grows a little stronger, and while still sweet, it gets a little more drying in the finish - black pepper, tart cranberry, some tannins. It's still quite fruity, with blackberry preserve, and then some classic oaky baking spices: vanilla, caramel, then maple wood.
Final Note: Quite tasty - a few more proof points might elevate this even higher, but there was still a huge variety of flavor to dig into between the nose, palate, and finish. The cask finish is definitely heavy-handed, but we liked that we still got some of that rye character coming through as well.
This is now an expensive whisky, though - numbers used to be more limited, making the secondary prices higher, but now High West is producing a lot more bottles for the current MWND releases. At $150+, the value is just okay, maybe slightly below average.
Our Average Rating: 7.5 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 5.65
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
