High West Bourye 10 Year 2025 Review [In Depth]
High West Bourye 10 Year 2025
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
High West Bourye 10 Year 2025 Details
Distillery: High West
Type & Region: Bourbon and rye blend (can be called American whiskey), USA
Alcohol: 46%
Composition: Blend of a bunch of stuff. More details in the overview
Aged: At least 10 years
Color: 1.3/2.0 on the color scale (russet, muscat)
Price: $120-130
From the media release:
High West Bourye 2025 Release is a unique and premium blend of rich bourbon and rye whiskeys, making for a premier sipping whiskey and one of High West’s all-time favorites:
High West Bourye 10 Year 2025 overview
Oh boy, it’s been a few years since I’ve had High West Bourye. I think the first and only time I ever had this was at Bourbon (a DC whiskey that used to be owned by the same person who owned Jack Rose). I don’t remember the year or the year of the release, just that I’ve had it before…so let’s call this my second time ever having Bourye.
The 2025 release has some promising numbers that caught my eye: an age stated 10 years old! I was really surprised when I heard about that, because High West rarely offers anything with any sort of age statement, besides using the “straight whiskey” label that indicates at least 4 years (with some conditions).
Bourye, a blend of bourbon and rye whiskeys, is uncommon in the market or is rarely called that by other companies. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any others that I’ve had, but I’m pretty sure this is not the first one I’ve ever had…some really insightful stuff Alex. Overall, it’s an unorthodox thing to do. You can already do so many things with bourbon or rye separately, so why even bother blending them together? Well someone (High West) has to be crazy enough to try it and then keep doing it over and over.
On top of that High West provided a surprising amount of transparency…they at least provided it to me in email. I’m not sure if they put it on their website…and I can’t tell now because it’s no longer there. Unfortunately, they did not provide details on how old each of the components are. We just know that everything is at least 10 years old.
Straight Rye Whiskey
- 95% rye, 5% barley malt from MGP
- 80% rye, 20% malted rye from HWD – Well ok, High West has some 10 year old rye whiskey.
Straight Bourbon Whiskey
- 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% barley malt from MGP
- 60% corn, 36% rye, 4% malted barley from MGP
- 78% corn, 10% rye, 12% malted barley from KY (I think this might be Heaven Hill)
So many of the components still come from MGP, which is cool.
And just like so much of what High West releases, this still comes in at 46% ABV. Why? I don’t know, but it seems awfully low for a $125 limited release. Maybe they know something that I don’t and they can pull it off…we’ll see.
We’ll find out right now in this High West Bourye 10 Year whiskey review.
This bottle was provided to me at no cost. All opinions are still my own.
As an FYI, I bought and use these Glencairn glasses for everything (they’re the best): Glencairn Crystal Whiskey Glass Set of 6, Set of 4, Set of 2, or just one. Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
High West Bourye 10 Year 2025 smell
I smell dark honey, dried cherry and fennel, vanilla, moderately toasted oak, cinnamon, clove, rosemary, bubblegum, and a little eucalyptus, coffee, and low end woodiness. I know that Bourye is a blend of bourbon and rye, but for me it comes off more as a rye whiskey with the more herbal-forward scents.
The added age brings a little more darkness, roundness, and refined oakiness to the scents, which are welcome. At 46%, the scents are approachable, but at the expense of some fullness, expressiveness, and character.
After swirling and rest, I get honey, vanilla, licorice, candied pineapple, toasted oak, clove, rosemary, eucalyptus, dried orange peel, rose water, cinnamon, and some more underlying oakiness.
High West Bourye has good things going for it. It has good sweet, herbal, oaky, fruity, and earthy range, but the ABV again takes away the fullness, expressiveness, and depth. The age provides more developed scents that are immediately washed away by the ABV.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy smelling this, but it’s not an amazing smelling whiskey that makes me want to keep smelling it because it’s that incredible. Good, enjoyable, pleasant, and interesting enough, but not amazing by any means.
High West Bourye 10 Year 2025 taste and aftertaste
I taste dense honey, licorice, candied pineapple, roasted oak, cinnamon, clove, candied pineapple, vanilla, gently dry earthy caraway seed and rosemary, cranberry, and peppercorn. The flavors are more oaky than the scents are, but they are still more rye-influence than they are bourbon-influenced.
I’m honestly a bit confused about what I’m tasting. I know what I’m tasting, but something about it feels…conflicting…as if the mixture isn’t meshing well. It’s just a feeling that I get and I don’t think that I can explain it sufficiently.
Other than that, the rye-forward flavors have good range and fullness. The lower ABV still softens, dilutes, and dulls the flavors, which isn’t offset by the older (and ideally much bolder and fuller) whiskey.
I enjoy this, but I’m not that interested yet.
With “chewing”, I taste honey, vanilla, licorice, and a burst of pineapple, vanilla, rose, and oak, followed by earthy caraway seed, cinnamon, clove, rosemary, eucalyptus, and more low end oak. “Chewing” brings out more of everything as well as a little pop, but the fullness, roundness, and overall expressiveness are still good but not great.
The finish leaves lingering honey, peppercorn with an unexpected slight numbing sensation (weird I know), dried pineapple, fennel, rose water, and some earthy rosemary and caraway seed
This drinks more like a rye whiskey than a bourbon, which isn’t too surprising given that rye can be quite expressive and in your face. The extra herbal, earthy, and rose flavors scream rye while the darker sweetness from the bourbon is in the middle and back.
Overall, High West Bourye tastes very good and is super approachable (I would know because I drank a bunch while playing Xbox). The gentle rush of extra flavors indicate to me that there are great things here, but it still cannot overcome the over-dilution to provide what could have been an excellent and memorable experience.
I’ve unfortunately lost some Glencairn’s while in transit, and that made me very sad. So, I wised up and bought this Glencairn Travel Case that comes also comes with 2 glasses so I don’t need to worry so much about them breaking. I think it’s great, and I think you’ll love it too.
Seriously, if you already have glasses, protect them.
High West Bourye 10 Year 2025 Rating
High West Bourye could have been amazing and worth the $120+ price…in big part if it had been 100-110 proof. Some (but not many) whiskeys can be diluted a lot (let’s say to 45-50% ABV) and somehow still stand out and provide a rich and memorable experience, but this is not one of them. If somehow 46% ABV is nearly cask strength (possible but not likely), then it doesn’t have quite enough expressiveness and character to be special
The benefit is that High West Bourye is very approachable and drinkable, something enjoyable and easy to sip while doing something else. It’s also great for sharing something nice with someone who may not be accustomed to high ABV whiskey, and that’s great too. So I can confidently state that this was well crafted.
But since I always keep it real, it doesn’t provide an elevated enough experience to get to “Top Shelf”. That’s even worse considering that this is a $120+ bottle…OUCH! It would benefit me a lot if I could write that this is amazing…but I recommend that you pass unless it’s somehow on clearance for under $80. You can get $50-100 rye whiskeys or bourbons that blow this away.
To list some that immediately come to mind, the various Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbons, Sagamore Spirit Double Oak, Michter’s American Whiskey, and Still Austin Cask Strength Bourbon or rye come to mind as better AND less expensive options…like half the price less expensive. While the aforementioned whiskeys are not 10 years old, they still provide an interesting and mature experience without being as old.
I understand what High West was trying to accomplish, but I don’t believe that they fully succeeded in doing it.
Meet the Author: Alex
I have far too much fun writing about whiskey and singlehandedly running The Whiskey Shelf to bring you independent, honest, and useful reviews, comparisons, and more. I’m proudly Asian American and can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Japanese.
There are no sponsors, no media companies, and no nonsense. Support The Whiskey Shelf by Buying Me A Shot.
Shattered glass really sucks, so if you’re on the move, this Glencairn-like stainless steel snifter glass should survive your travels. Full transparency, this is an Amazon affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
BrüMate NOS’R, Double-Wall Stainless Steel Whiskey Nosing Glass – 7oz (Matte Black)
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