David & Jane Perkins

High West Distillery was founded in 2006 by David Perkins and his wife, Jane. David, a former successful Silicon Valley biochemist, was inspired to open his own distillery after seeing the parallels between the fermentation and distilling process and his own work in biochemistry during a trip to the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky when visiting for a family member’s wedding in Kentucky.

In 2004, David and his family relocated to Park City, Utah to begin their new venture. Perkins quickly amassed a stellar team (including Jim Rutledge or Four Roses fame) that gave him the guidance and means to kick off the High West distillery. They began distilling in 2007 and chose Park City because of David’s love of the Old West and Utah’s little-known whiskey history. High West began with humble roots, opening a small, 250-gallon still and Saloon in an historic livery stable and garage. What was once a small operation in downtown Park City has grown to be an internationally-recognized brand with four unique locations.  

David is constantly active and he is an avid learner and prefers to listen much more than he speaks. He considers multiple options at once and balances data and logic with the right amount of gut feel mixed with guidance from experts to keep moving High West Distillery forward in the right direction

In 2015, High West opened their distillery in Wanship, Utah, which acts as a space for educational whiskey tasting, pairings and tours, and houses a 1,600-gallon copper pot still. Meanwhile, the Saloon continues to operate as a must-visit gastro-distillery, featuring alpine-inspired western fare alongside the original still, the Nelson Cottage offers unique whiskey-paired dinners, and the Saloon at the Salt Lake City airport allows for some last tastes of High West on the way out of town. In October of 2016. High West was acquired by conglomerate Constellation brands for around $160 million.  This was Constellation’s third major acquisition of that year.