High West American Prairie Bourbon Review

This is a bottle I’ve had open for over a year, and with the new rare whiskey’s being release at the Manitoba Liquor Mart in a couple of weeks, I figured now is a great time to finish off some bottles and make room for some new ones.

You cannot get High West products here in Manitoba, but I was lucky enough to have a friend bring this bottle back for my from the good ol’ USA.  The bottle itself is pretty nice, with a huge honkin’ cork and some nice speckled glass.  This bourbon is made in Utah which is pretty unusual, and the High West Guys have gotten quite a reputation for making good whiskey which is why I wanted to try this one.  Another cool thing about this bottle is that 10% of the profits go to the American Prairie Reserve.

High West American Prairie Bourbon

Date Reviewed: October 27, 2020

Atmosphere: Sipping in one of my Baba’s pinwheel crystal glasses, on on a Tuesday night during the pandemic.

Distillery: High West Distillery 

Mash: 75% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Barley

Age: 2 years and some older blended in

Type: Bourbon

ABV%: 45%

Price I Paid: It’s been so long, I don’t remember, but I want to say around $50 Canadian

Appearance:  Light amber, watered down honey

Nose:  I’m not sure if its because i’m drinking this out of a rocks glass instead of a typical Glencairn but there isn’t much of an alcohol/ethanol scent to it at all. Smells sweet, yet faint, nothing too dominant. The high corn/sweetness definitely comes through on the nose though.

Palate:  Still a lot of lingering sweet notes- but surprisingly woody considering it’s not aged very long.  A fairly simple tasting bourbon, but goes down sweet.  A few hints of chocolate and caramel not spicy at all.  Easy sipper.

Finish:  The finish is pretty short, but not in a terrible way.  No burn whatsoever, with a bit of a waxy mouthfeel. The bourbon leaves an oaky/woody aftertaste.

Conclusions:  If this was readily available here in Manitoba, I’d probably buy a bottle here and there, though I wouldn’t be lining up to get one.  It’s a reasonably priced, easy sipping, straight forward bourbon.  From what I’ve read, this would be considered one of High West’s lower level bourbons and I would definitely want to try the rest.  This seems like it would be a good mid level sipper, and introductory bourbon for people just getting into the sweet stuff.

Overall Score:  77/100 

Cheers.

Advertisement

September 2020: Dividends, kindergarten & more

Dividend Income & Portfolio Update

Personal Highlights – September 2020

• September brought a few milestones, both financially and personally.  I officially have a daughter in kindergarten and a son in preschool!
  
• English Premier League soccer started up, so I’ve been waking up around 630 AM on Saturday and Sunday to watch some games.  Arsenal (my team) is off to a decent start, and I’m doing pretty good in my fantasy pool as well so far!
• I had my 37th birthday in August, and in September my wife celebrated her 39th!  We spent her birthday out at the cabin, and went to a new (to us) Thai restaurant in Gimli which was real good.  The waitress even gave my wife a free refill of red wine (and she didn’t even know it was her bday)!
• My brother bought 160 acres of land a few years back which he and his lady have been slowly turning into a farm.  I have been out a few times, but in September I took the kids and the wife out for their first visit.  Although most of the garden(s) had already been harvested, we had a great time exploring and the kids loved playing on the bus. (They converted an old school bus into a temporary living space until they build a house on the land.  It has solar power, a fireplace, a fridge, etc). It’s pretty cool.
  A few pictures from our time at ELM ROCK FARM.
  
  
• Not much new on the cocktail/bourbon front. Typically there would have been a bourbon lottery by now, but due to the pandemic all special releases/events have been put on hold.  On the plus side, that means I haven’t spent nearly as much on whiskey lately.
  

  Financial Highlights for September 2020:

• In July & August I had made my first few stock purchases since early March.  This included initiating positions in Manulife, Telus and European Residential Reit.  I received my first dividend payment from Manulife & European Residential Reit in September, and I will be getting my first payment from Telus on October 1st.  I’m not sure why, but I always especially enjoy that first dividend payment when you start a position in a new company.  At current prices, I will be dripping 2 shares of Telus & Manulife each quarter, and 1 share of European Residential Reit each month.
• Added to my position in Artis Reit.  I picked up an additional 165 shares, which brings my total share count to 807.  At the current price I will now drip 4 shares a month. 
• Continued Bi-Weekly contributions into TFSA & Spousal RRSP.
• I was paid dividends from 8 companies, and 1 funds this month.  I dripped a total of 40 new shares/units.

Passive Income Update For September 2020.

TFSA’S:

Artis Reit: $28.76 (dripped 3 shares)

European Residential Reit: $7.83(dripped 1 share)

Diversified Royalty: $23.45 (dripped 13 new shares)

Canadian Western Bank: $0.29

Interrent Reit: $4.29

Intertape Polymer Group: $53.41

Manulife: $40.88 (dripped 2 shares)

Plaza Reit: $30.47 (dripped 8 shares)

TFSA’s Total: $160.62

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $357.66(dripped 13.477 shares)

Total Passive Income September 2020:  $518.28

Portfolio Update:

My portfolio decreased by 1.03% in September to: $370,575.67  I know I say this every month, but I expect continued volatility as well as a bit of a crash around the election.  That said, my plan hasn’t changed and I plan on holding if/when this does happen.

The only new purchase this month was adding to my position in Artis Reit, as well as my bi-weekly contribution into my US Equity Index Fund in my spousal RRSP.  My plan is to continue adding cash to my TFSA bi-weekly and eventually add to my position in European Residential Reit.

Passive income in September was $518.28.  This was actually lower than last September due to some dividend cuts, as well as some companies changing which months they pay their dividends.  

Since January 1st, I’ve earned $8308.28 in passive income.  Assuming no dividend cuts or increases, my current Forward 12 month dividend income is $12,022.27.  My goal for the year was finish 2020 with a forward dividend income of $12,000 – so assuming no more cuts, mission accomplished!  

Cheers.