I recently had half a bottle of this gifted to me by someone who likes bourbon but not scotch. Bonus for me, I’m equal opportunity with my whiskey. See, this one from High West is a blend of bourbon, rye and scotch. They don’t release the ratios, but the rye comes from High West, the bourbon from MGP and the scotch is an undisclosed source, due to contractual reasons they say.

The whiskey was born when the High West distiller was visiting a B&B at Bruichladdich distillery and he tried a dessert that inspired him to mix the peaty scotch with the sweet bourbon. As someone who regular drinks Lagavulin, the smoke is not overpowering, but for a straight bourbon drinker it probably would be. Because yeah, there is enough smoke from the peat to earn the Campfire name. And yeah, it has some sweetness as well. The rye gets overpowered by the other two. There may be some spice in there, but it gets covered up the peatiness.

I’m not sure if this has a specific target audience, as guys like me aren’t a large part of the market. I would say a bourbon drinker is going to need a bit of water with this one, while a scotch drinker would go neat.

At about $60 a bottle, it’s worth doing at least once. At $50 or less, it would probably become a staple. And with some peat monsters I prefer going up in price recently, it might still at $60 as a scotch alternative.

Rating: 90.

Whiskey Ratings

90: High West Campfire
83: Buchanan’s Deluxe 12