High West Cask Strength Bourbon

I’d like to thank High West and their team of PR Professionals for providing this sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: Close-up of a High West Cask Strength bourbon bottle on a snow-dusted wooden railing, showing the label with barrels illustration and amber whiskey, winter background softly blurred.

Hello friends! It’s been quite the month here in the BourbonGuy household, but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, so let’s dig right in on the latest thing that the Whiskey Fairy has brought me.

Tonight’s whiskey is a new release from High West Distillery. A blend of straight bourbon whiskeys bottled at cask strength, this release was cleverly named Cask Strength. It looks to have been officially released on January 12th. It is listed as “Bottled by High West Distillery,” but as usual with whiskey that High West has sourced, they are as transparent as can be about what is actually in the bottle. Here is the breakdown of the mash bills:

  • 60% Corn, 40% Malted Barley, sourced from a Kentucky distillery

  • 60% Corn, 40% Rye, sourced from a Kentucky distillery

  • 75% Corn, 21% Rye, 4% Malted Barley, sourced from a Indiana distillery

  • 78% Corn, 10% Rye, 12% Malted Barley, sourced from a Kentucky distillery

  • 84% Corn, 8% Rye, 8% Malted Barley, sourced from a Tennessee distillery

The product was bottled at 117 proof and will be available as a limited release nationwide at a suggested retail price of $69.99. Here is what Distilling Director Isaac Winter has to say about the release:

"This was a really fun blend to put together. Building on our high-rye blending philosophy, this Cask Strength expression uses our Bourye blending approach to precisely balance rye-driven spice with malted barley richness, resulting in layered complexity and a bold, lasting presence that keeps you coming back.”

Let’s dig in, shall we?

High West Cask Strength Bourbon

Purchase Info: This product was provided at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $69.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.67

Details: Batch 25K14. A blend of seven straight bourbons from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. 58.5% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Cinnamon, clove, caramel, almond, and oak.

Mouth: Drying in the mouth. Black tea, cinnamon and clove, stone fruits, almond, and oak.

Finish: Long and very warm. Notes of oak, almond, chocolate, and cinnamon.

IMAGE: A hand-drawn smiley face denoting that I like the product.

Thoughts: I’m not the biggest fan of this one neat. It’s drier than I’d prefer, very hot, and the alcohol notes are a bit too prominent for me. However, add just the tiniest splash of water or ice and it goes from hot and dry to velvety. It becomes sweeter as the caramel and stone fruit notes start to show. The baking spice notes become more generic, but the oak steps forward a bit. All in all, this is a pour that benefits from a little water—which is how I usually enjoy my bourbon anyway. It’s also delicious in both a sour-style cocktail (I did a Gold Rush) and a spirits-forward cocktail (I did a Boulevardier). I really like it.

Before we finish, I want to apologize for ghosting everyone last week. Between both of my dogs being on hospice care, the assault on my adopted home state of Minnesota by the federal government (it’s been worse than what even the local news has reported), and a long-overdue discussion that led to a Festivus-style airing of grievances—one that nearly had me cutting ties with both of my parents over the holidays—I’m in the middle of quite the mental breakdown. Possibly my biggest in about 15 years.

I’m OK. I’m not a danger to myself or anything like that. But it was all a bit too much for me to try to be witty and creative for most of the month of January. I’m getting the help I need, but if you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available.

U.S.: Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — free, confidential support available 24/7. You can also visit 988lifeline.org for chat support and additional resources.

Outside the U.S.: Visit findahelpline.com to find local crisis hotlines by country.

From the BourbonGuy Archives: What's With All the Weird Faces? Why I Don't Rate Whiskeys Like the Usual Whiskey Person

Folks I seem to have picked up a little tummy bug that has kept me from doing any tasting notes this week. So instead of leaving you hanging, I’m bringing back a reminder of what our ratings mean from the archives. It’s been a few years so this will help out all the new folks. See you next week!

IMAGE: The four images I use for Ratings. A Heart means I love it. A smile means I like it. A Neutral face means I can see why others might like it, but it's not for me. A Frown means this is bad and I really do not like it.

What the hell is with all the funny faces? Why can’t you do something useful like give a whiskey a number score? You know, even a 1-10 would help us know if this whiskey is better than another whiskey.

This is just a small sampling of the sentiments I get in my email now and then. Don’t get me wrong, I love the passion that it takes to take the time to write to me. Hell, I just like to know that people are reading this. But as it has been…five years (?!? where has the time gone?) since I last wrote a post like this, I thought it might be time to explain my silliness to all of you who are new.

By the way, if you arrived in the last five years, WELCOME! The bar is in the corner, please pour yourself something nice from the fancy shelf.

So. Why don’t I use numerical scores? Well, everyone who writes about whiskey approaches things differently.  Some reviewers like to use numbers. Numbers make a review feel scientific because you've done some math. Some reviewers like to use stars. Stars are easy to visualize and are familiar to Amazon shoppers everywhere. I like to use various cartoon faces and hearts because I'm silly. Probably too silly for my own good. The point is that any and/or all of these are correct. They all adequately represent how much or how little a reviewer liked any given whiskey. But no matter how a writer presents it, we as readers need to remember that the rating is still just a subjective opinion. Whiskey is subjective. There is no objectively bad whiskey. Someone out there likes everything that has been produced and they should not be shamed for that, even if you don’t agree with them.

It probably goes without saying, but I like Bourbon, Rye, Canadian whisky, craft whiskey, Irish whiskey, Gin, and a lot of cocktails. As a general rule, I don’t really like Scotch Whisky, though there are exceptions. Am I wrong that I don’t care for Scotch? No. My taste buds apply only to me. This is what I mean when I say there is no objectively bad whiskey, just whiskey that I don’t like. I’m not here to tell you if you should like a whiskey, only if I do or don’t. I judge whiskey, not people.

So, I like bourbon. I enjoy it in many different ways. Sometimes I enjoy thoughtfully tasting bourbon. I pour it into a nosing glass, sit down, concentrate, and try to tease out all the little smells and tastes that are hidden inside the glass. And if it is interesting, I'll probably like it. Other times, I want to enjoy bourbon in a rocks glass while playing cards or watching tv or conversing with friends. I'm not paying a lot of attention to it, but if it tastes good and it's acting as a social lubricant, I'll probably like it. Sometimes I enjoy it in a cocktail. Even if it isn't great neat, if it makes a killer Manhattan, I'll probably like it. And if I like it, then I'll tell you I like it. And then I'll put a little smiley face next to my thoughts on it. 

Sometimes I find a bourbon that doesn't taste good and isn't all that interesting. Needless to say, I don't like these. I've gotten pretty good at knowing what I like, and since I buy a good percentage of the whiskey reviewed on the site, the odds are that I'm not buying too many duds. But occasionally one slips through, or I buy one specifically for research purposes. When that happens, I'll tell you I dislike it and put a little frowny face next to my thoughts.

Of course, some whiskeys are just...meh. There is nothing offensive about them. They don't taste bad. I don't dislike it, but I don't like it either. I can see why others might like it, but it's just sort of in the middle there for me. Just not to my tastes. In such a case I'll just drop a neutral face on it.

Very occasionally I'll drop a heart on something. This means I love it. No ifs, ands, or buts. I'd take this whiskey over almost any other. 

So to recap:

IMAGE: The heart I use to show I love a whiskey.

A heart means I loved this whiskey. I'd have to pause and think (briefly) if forced to choose between it and my wife. (shhhh... don't tell her)

IMAGE: A Smile that I use to say i like something.

A smiley face means I liked the whiskey or I found it interesting while tasting it. Or I enjoyed myself while drinking it. Or I enjoyed the company I drank it with. Or I was having fun. Most bourbons and ryes will be in this category because, on at least some level, I like most bourbons and ryes I've tasted.

IMAGE: A neutral face I use to show that this whiskey is kinda meh.

A neutral face means meh. I didn't particularly like this whiskey, but I didn't hate it either. It wasn't for me. But you might like it.

IMAGE: A Frown with it's tongue out and x'd out eyes means I disliked this whiskey.

A frowny face means I really disliked this. I probably dumped it out or at least thought about dumping it out.

We all have different life experiences that color our perceptions. If you drink moonshine exclusively and you age it to a young age, that young whiskey may taste amazing to you. If however, you gave that very same whiskey to a person who exclusively drinks 12-year-old bourbon, they will probably vehemently disagree. The same thing goes for tasting notes. They are each informed by our own life experiences. I taste JuicyFruit gum when I taste Four Roses. Other people might taste Jackfruit, but I've never had a Jackfruit, so I say JuicyFruit. Some people might taste almond in a whiskey. I'm allergic to nuts, so I only have an academic idea of what almonds taste like. If I use it as a tasting note, it will have come from my wife (we do the notes together). The point is that everyone will like different things and has had different experiences to inform their tastes. And that's ok. In fact, it’s pretty cool. It gives us whiskey lovers something to talk about aside from the weather.

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Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond, Fall 2025

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill and their entire PR team for providing this sample with no strings attached.

IMAGE: Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Fall 2025 Edition bourbon sample bottle on a wooden railing outdoors, snowy backyard and bare trees in the background, showing the minimalist white label and amber whiskey inside.

Merry Christmas my friends! I hope that the season is treating you better than it is the whiskey companies. Jim Beam isn’t the first, and sadly, based on things I’ve been noticing behind the scenes for the last year or so, I’m not sure they will be the last to make tough decisions in the near future. Maybe not as drastic as multi-national coporations pausing some operations, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see different product positioning, increased ad buys, and sadly the closure of even more small distilleries as companies try to combat falling demand. I mean, their senator already got the national “soft legalization” of THC repealed earlier this fall. Was it because the competition was hurting bourbon companies in the younger market? That wasn’t the stated reason, but the rumors behind the scenes are that it didn’t help the matter.

My opinion as to the main item that jump-started the “bourbon boom” a couple of decades ago was the low price of the product compared to its high quality. There were other factors to be sure, but at the end of the day if that wasn’t there, the rest may not have followed. These days, while there are still low-priced offerings, they’ve gotten comparatively worse over the last decade and a half as companies started diverting their best barrels from standard products to the single barrel and “ultra-premium” releases that they can charge much more for. So if consumers—especially younger consumers who could become customers for life—are spending their money on fewer of the “better,” higher-cost bottles, they necessarily can’t also buy large volumes of the low-cost bottles that are the bread and butter of most big distilleries. Toss in an uncertain economy and the current state of international politics, and that’s a recipe for hard decisions.

But that’s not why we’re here, is it? We’re here to discuss the latest release from Heaven Hill. One that, sadly, is more known for the fancy bottle it comes in than for the juice inside. And to be fair, it is a beautiful bottle. Even my wife, the accountant, wants one more for the bottle than for the bourbon—and she’s been the silent tasting partner for all of the last 13 years of posts. Even the press release dedicates about two-thirds of its text to the bottle rather than the whiskey. I get it: they aren’t just sending this to geeks like us, but also to lifestyle publications and the like. They’re relying on whiskey fans like you and me to tell people whether the juice is actually worth drinking. So before I get into my thoughts, let’s let the company have their say:

Bottled in an ornate decanter, the fall edition bares (sic) a black label, consistent across each of the brand's fall releases. This edition's tax strip, which has always been a signature of transparency on bottled-in-bond products, will disclose when the liquid was produced and bottled. The Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Decanter Series Fall 2025 edition will be available in the 750ml size on an allocated basis. It meets the strict requirements of a bottled-in-bond: the product of a single distillery from a single distilling season, aged a minimum of four years, and bottled at 100 proof or 50% alcohol by volume. The edition is available at a suggested retail price of $159.99.

Ok, now that they’ve had a chance to speak, let’s dig in, shall we?

Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond — Fall 2025

Purchase Info: This sample bottle was sent at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $159.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10.67

Details: 50% ABV. 11 years old.

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, cherry, nutmeg, oak.

Mouth: Warm and spicy with notes of cinnamon, oak, vanilla, caramel, nutmeg, and a hint of cherry.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and then cherry after the others fade a bit.

IMAGE: A hand-drawn smiley face denoting I like the product.

Thoughts: Another solid release from Heaven Hill. It’s very cinnamon-forward, which I like. For me, the oak is almost too much, though my wife claims I’m imagining that part. That said, she likes more oak than I do, so take that how you will. The cherry notes are a nice complement to the cinnamon. I like it.

Would I like it enough to spend $160 on it if it weren’t in a pretty bottle? Absolutely not. This is a solid “good, not great” release. That said, I also know my wife covets the bottle—mostly because she already owns one of the antique decanters the current bottles are based on. So if I saw one, it would likely come home with me for that reason, not for the bourbon inside. Which, as I said, is solid, but not amazing.

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