My first thought when tasting the Highspire Rye Whiskey was “ooof, that’s a lot of sawdust”. So I let it sit and open up for about 20 minutes. When I came back to it most of that had blown off and was replaced by a marshmallowy vanilla and tropical-like fruitiness along with some raisiny sweetness, but that saw dust character hadn’t fully abated and that character led me to believe that this whiskey was a whole lot younger than its stated “barrel aged less than 4 years” might lead one to believe.
That “<4 years” statement + the use of Pure Rye (which isn’t a valid TTB whiskey category) + the wine barrel aging + the use of “Bottled at” with no state of distillation + the use of an old brand name, which felt like capitalizing on history to me, gave me a lot of questions. Questions that I reached out to the company about which lead to a phone call with Highspire’s creator Austion Hope – which I’ve included below the Highspire Rye review.
Highspire Rye Whiskey Info
Region: Kentucky,
Distiller: Kindred Distilled Spirits
Mashbill: 95% un-malted rye, 5% malted rye
Cask: California Wine Barrel
Age: 130 days
ABV: 40%
Batch: 001
Price: $45*
Highspire Rye Whiskey Review
EYE
Tarnished penny
NOSE
Rye grain and a fruity (tropical-like) raisiny character followed by vanilla marshmallows, spice and a strong wood shop essence. A lot of “young but old” whiskeys have that same saw dust and oiled machinery essence that triggers memories of wood shop class.
PALATE
Rye grain, rye spice, vanilla, fruity notes (tropical and raisiny) and that same wood shop essence from the nose glides underneath till the end where it kicks up fiercely.
FINISH
Long and wood-shopy with notes of raw grain, sweetness and spearmint.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Unbalanced with that wood shop character hanging a bit heavy. Runs a touch on the hot side for 80 proof and carries a medium body.
OVERALL
Highspire Rye isn’t my cup of whiskey, but I took it with me to the day job and poured it for some folks who I knew were casual whiskey drinkers and most enjoyed it. The softer, sweeter fruitier flavor appealed to some who, when I told them it was a rye, said things along the lines of “I don’t like rye, but I do like this”. Me, I like oaken, but not overoaked, ryes with bolder spice. I like those pepper, leather, baking spice, citrus and even dill notes that appear in matured rye. I commend Kindred Distilled Spirits for trying something new, but Highspire Rye is just not my thing.
SCORE: 78/100
*Disclosure: This bottle of Highspire Pure Rye Whiskey was graciously sent to me by the company for the purposes of this review. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.
My Call with Austin Hope – Highspire Rye maker and Kindred Distilled Spirits Owner
The call lasted for nearly an hour and I came to like the guy. He’s a well-meaning, driven, energetic and enthusiastic person who really does have a passion for the things he does. I’ve cut out a lot of the chatter that happened during the call that didn’t pertain to the questions above and am presenting this as a Q&A format with Austin’s replies paraphrased for the sake of brevity.
What’s with the “barrel aged less than 4 years” statement?
The label on the bottle we sent you was the very first batch. To comply with the changes that rolled out earlier this year we’ve changed the label to say 130 days. The reason we put “less than 4 years” is because when we asked the TTB what needed to be on the label they said it had to state it was less than 4 years so we literally put that on the label. We weren’t trying to be sneaky because we’ve publicly stated multiple times it’s 130 days, we were just doing exactly what they said.
How did you get Pure Rye (which isn’t a valid TTB whiskey category) passed?
The new label also doesn’t have this on it for that reason and now it says something like “100% rye mash barrel aged for 4 months in used wine barrels”. It makes the labels look not as cool as they used to, but they have the info they’re supposed to on them now. I’m not trying to cheat, I’m not trying to change the world and to be honest I’ve been moving so freaking fast I never thought about any of the stuff on the label you called us out on, but back in January when we learned we needed to change we did. I’ll put whatever I need to on the label to be compliant, I don’t care, I have nothing to hide, I just want to make something people want to drink. That’s my goal.
The “swift” wine barrel aging
I love the fruit of young fresh rye and I didn’t want to age it out. So we went to a cooperage in Missouri and they made me some staves that we tested with different toast levels and found the ones that worked well in my old wine barrels. So we use the staves in my wine barrels to give the rye some maturity, but not age out the fruity nature of new make rye. I don’t want to replicate old whiskey – I want to preserve the unique fruity aspects of young rye, but still give it some maturity.
The use of “Bottled at” with no state of distillation – where do you get your whiskey from?
We make it. I partnered with Steve Thompson from Woodford Reserve after he retired and we’re making it down in Kentucky ourselves. It took us 3 years to perfect the recipe because I don’t use any malted barley, I use malted rye, and rye is really difficult to work with. We also don’t use just any old rye. I’ve contracted a farmer to grow 115 acres of heirloom rye specifically for us so that’s where we get the rye from. We don’t order from some big GMO grain facility, we get it from a local farmer we have a deal with.
The use of an old brand name, which felt like capitalizing on history, why did you re-use it?
When I was trying to come up with a name for the brand I was searching Google, looking for ideas, and I came across a picture of Highspire Pure Rye Whiskey and thought ”shit man, that’s a cool name”. So we started researching, but there wasn’t much online about it so we went to Highspire Pennsylvania, where it used to be made, and met with the town historian and a bunch of people in the town. We talked to them about the product and they got really excited so we used the name and even sent them a bunch of whiskey for their bicentennial. They loved it and I feel like I’m doing the name justice by keeping with the vision of the original HIghspire by keeping it 100% rye just like they did back then.
With so many people purposely trying to pull the wool over our eyes these days it’s easy to see honest mistakes from well meaning people as trying to pull one over on us like so many other liars out there. It’s easy to feel jaded, but It’s always good to get the straight story from the people who make it. Austin also let me know they have some stuff aging a bit longer to see how it turns out over the years and I hope I get to try it because while this version may not be for me, I’d love to know what a trip or two around the sun in a wine barrel does to their heirloom rye spirit.
“We’re straight up, there’s no bullshit, we’ll tell anyone exactly what we’re doing.” – Austin Hope