In Wanship, Utah—high in the Wasatch Range where the air thins and the barrels breathe a little differently—High West has released its latest limited-edition whiskey: High West Bottled in Bond Bourbon. It’s a whiskey that feels less like a product and more like a postcard from the Old West, postmarked 1897.
That year matters. It’s when the Bottled-in-Bond Act was passed—America’s earliest consumer protection law, intended to stop whiskey adulteration in a time when turpentine wasn’t always off the menu. To qualify, a spirit must be the work of a single distiller, in a single season, aged at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. Which is exactly what this release is.
Aged for four years and five months in the high desert of Wanship, this bourbon sits in sharp and satisfying contrast to the soft luxury that dominates modern whiskey marketing. At 100 proof and with a mash bill of 64% non-GMO yellow corn and 36% rye, it leans confidently into boldness. The high-rye grain bill gives it a pronounced spice structure—what High West’s distilling director Isaac Winter calls “a snapshot in time.” Think single-vintage wine, but with more campfire.
On the nose: Honeycrisp apples, toasted oak spice, and golden raisins tumble into notes of malted milk chocolate and graham cracker crust. The palate moves into peach and cherry cobbler, gingersnaps, and roasted marshmallows—the kind you blister on a stick, not caramelize with a kitchen torch. It finishes with something like financier cakes: brown butter, toasted almond, a whisper of charred barrel stave.
High West Bottled in Bond Bourbon features a SRP of $79.99—a modest price tag for a whiskey that merges throwback precision with modern mountain swagger. It’s available nationwide at select retailers and began shipping to 35 states via the brand’s official online shop starting August 1.
Also returning this year is High West Bottled in Bond Rye, which launched in tandem on the same day.
For those chasing authenticity—or just chasing elevation in their glass—this is a whiskey that remembers where it came from, even if it’s headed for your top shelf.
Back in October, High West released Act 12 of A Midwinter Night’s Dram.
