High West Reformulates and Rebrands Rendezvous Rye
High West has announced that they’re reformulating and rebranding their flagship whiskey, Rendezvous Rye, and transitioning it to a limited, seasonal expression that will feature new artwork with each release.
The reformulated High West Rendezvous Rye will remain a blend of straight rye whiskeys bottled at 46% ABV (92 proof), but will now contain more of High West’s own pot still rye. While the ratio of whiskeys is being kept secret, High West does disclose that the straight rye whiskeys have been aged 4-7 years and consist of two mash bills – MGP’s 95% rye/5% malted barley mash and High West’s own 80% rye/20% malted rye mash.
The first artist to have their artwork featured on the new Rendezvous Rye label is Ed Mell, “a notable western painter and sculpture who specializes in capturing the beauty, vastness and spirit of the landscape of the American west. Ed’s painting, entitled ‘Western Bronc’, perfectly captures the original Horse and rider that was on the old Rendezvous label, with a contemporary spin.”
Official tasting notes describe the reformulated Rendezvous Rye as having notes of “poached pear, bitter orange, ground ginger, lavender, wet sandalwood, and tanned leather on a well-used wooden work bench” on the nose, “persimmon, dried apricot, snickerdoodle, ginger chews, walnut sauce, and spiced caramels in a cedar gift box” on the palate, and “cocoa nibs, allspice, and toasted oak” on the finish.
The reformulated, rebranded High West Rendezvous Rye will be available nationally beginning in May at a suggested retail price of $69.99.
Photo credit: High West.
Source: High West Whiskey Club Newsletter.
5 Comments
Does anyone know the batch number and or other information on when HW changed the Rendezvous Rye formulation in the past from 6/16yr (containing the Barton) to the version without? Bits and pieces online roughly say sometime in late 2017 or 2018 but that’s really a guess based on very incomplete information from forum posts.
Please advise.
I found a number of 17Dxx batch bottles of HR RR for 49 and now 39$ and I’m willing to purchase if it’s the good prior version.
Still others online claim there was a tapering off period and not a simple Barton to no Barton in the mix?
Have you tried reaching out directly to High West? They’re fairly transparent about this kind of stuff – maybe they can provide an answer?
I emailed them 11 days ago with no response. I read about another forum poster contacting them about something somewhat similar yet received no response either.
I think it’s rude to not respond at all. At least say “no comment”. Plus us customers don’t have a right to know everything about a formula but when the company admits its changing the ingredients from a premium one to an inferior one, it should answer a question about it asked several years later.
I may focus my attention and dollars elsewhere.
But by the way, I like your article though. Nice site.