High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram The Encore Blend of Straight Ryes

High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram The Encore Blend of Straight Ryes is a special limited release from High West Distillery, created as a companion expression to the distillery’s cult-favorite A Midwinter Night’s Dram lineup. While the standard Midwinter releases are known for finishing rye whiskey in ruby and tawny port barrels, The Encore takes a different path by using white port casks, giving the whiskey a lighter, brighter, and more floral style while still keeping the rich spice and layered complexity that define the series. It was released as a distillery-exclusive bottling alongside the 10th-anniversary Midwinter release and is widely regarded as a unique spin on the Midwinter concept rather than just another numbered “Act.”

The whiskey begins with a blend of straight rye whiskeys in the familiar High West style, combining sourced and house-distilled rye components. Public release notes and retailer listings describe the blend as including a 95% rye / 5% malted barley rye from MGP and an 80% rye / 20% malted rye whiskey distilled by High West, then finished in white port barrels for added fruit, pastry sweetness, and botanical lift. Compared with the darker berry-and-fig profile of the regular Midwinter bottlings, The Encore leans more toward stone fruit, citrus, tea, and nutty dessert notes.

On the nose, High West describes aromas of underripe apricots, ginger-poached pears, soft licorice, apple butter on fresh bread, Earl Grey tea, cedar box, and floral notes. The palate is rich and expressive, with flavors of peach marmalade, grapefruit zest, Danish pastry with brandy drizzle, grated nutmeg, vanilla meringue pie, and roasted pecans. The finish lingers with marzipan and chocolate mint leaves, giving the whiskey a refined, dessert-like close without losing the rye’s structure.

Bottled in a 750ml bottle at 50.8% ABV (101.6 proof), High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram The Encore is a standout choice for collectors and rye fans who want something tied to the Midwinter series but different from the standard port-finished acts. It’s especially appealing if you enjoy cask-finished rye with a brighter fruit profile, higher proof, and a more limited, distillery-exclusive release history.