High West Rendezvous Rye Boulevardier Finish

Thanks to /u/Saba007 for sharing this one with us.

I have a bit of a confession. No, I am not the most recent person to be taken down in the Hollywood scandals. I’m not close enough to being famous enough.

Oh, and I’m also not a creep. I know that comes as a surprise, however my crass, edgy jokes are just that: Jokes. It can be hard to get that these days, and please note that I’ll be making these reviews more positive as time goes on, given the current climate.

The Confession: I’m not really into cocktails. Yes, I was a bartender for a few years, and yes, I loved making cocktails. They were like miniature baked goods that didn’t require me to eat 2000 calories to consume (other than the now infamous Cola Bear cocktail).

However as time went on I discovered sugar filled mixes gave me quick hangovers, and then went towards drinking more and more alcohol by itself. I could have discovered the classic cocktails that didn’t use syrups or juices, however I didn’t, and queue Robert Frost’s famous poem here.

So when other whisky nerds discuss a Negroni or a Boulevardier, I can pronounce them, however I’m a tad lost. I’m working on that.

Thus being handed High West Rendezvous Rye Boulevardier Finish reminds me of this lack of knowledge. First off I wonder which wine company is called Boulevardier.

Yeah, it’s called Wikipedia people, don’t ever think you can’t be wrong.

A Boulevardier cocktail is one that is made up of whisky, sweet vermouth, and campari. It was created by Erskine Gwynne. Basically they used rye or bourbon instead of gin, which I’m a fan of over gin. What happened here? High West made a cask filled with Boulevardier, aged it for some time, and then finished a whisky in it.

Specifically their Rendezvous Rye, a mix of MGP rye and Barton rye that range in age from 5 to 19 years old.

I think the main thing here we need to ask is what did they do with all of the Boulevardier and was there an official “come in and be hammered” day to “dispose” of it.

Oh, and well… what does the whiskey taste like?

Price: No longer available

Region: Utah

Barrel # 1917

Bottled for: Lukas Wine & Spirits

Finish Time: 1.5 years

Barrel Type: Barrelled Boulevardier

Abv: 50.6%

Colour: 10YR 3/6

Nose: Toothpaste, brown butter, cotton, caramel, coconut

Initial nose is a lot of mint. Quite a bit. It takes a few seconds to get past the wall of mint. Aka the worst wall in defensive history. And that’s why the Mint-ites never became a thing.

Frankly I’m getting more nuttiness and vegetal notes. Nothing is really screaming “this is different” here, however it’s nice on the nose. No dill showing up, so I guess the finish covered that.

Taste: Mint, coconut, orange, wood

More mint, though each flavour this time is balanced, punches quite above it’s weight, and works. This is turning into one of those bourbons that isn’t super complex however has these different strong flavours that I enjoy.

So I guess judge that based on how you feel about those bourbons, and feel free to give me shit in the comments.

Finish: Mint, coconut, mineral, light cocoa, gravel, cereal

Short finish. I mean, it gets me into the whiskey, and then… gone. Leaves with just some gravel or cereal notes.

Each time I have a sip, same thing. It starts up, I get into it, and then let down. What is this, my high school dating life all over again?

Conclusion: Unique, however the finish loses me. The nose is too much mint then a wonderful unique blend. The taste gets me into it in a purely bourbon way. Then the finish has these rough aspects.

I’m not going to lie, after having half the whiskey, adding some water, having a few more sips, I gave away the remainder of my drink. That’s how disappointed the finish had me. And not the Boulevardier, the finish of the whisky. I think that’s an interesting idea. It covers up the dill, like finishes do on ryes with dill in them.

No, the aftertaste of this one just knocks me out of it. And that’s too bad. Maybe next barrel.

81/100

Bourbon review #206, Utah review #17, Whiskey Network review #1256