High West's Brendan Coyle Departs to Focus on His New Cider Company

Brendan Coyle, who’s worked at High West Distillery in Park City, Utah since 2008, has left to focus full-time on Dendric Estate, a cidery that he co-founded with his wife Carly in Kamas, about 15 miles east of Park City. Coyle has juggled his duties at High West and those of his fledgling business since 2023, shifting from the master distiller role to become its spirits consultant. Now, Dendric (whose name refers to the branch-like “dendritic” tributaries that flow from the Uinta Mountains that flank the estate) will take total share of his time, just as it gears up to launch its first cider next month.

Dendric’s debut cider, Dry Cut—a reference to its bone-dry flavor profile—is six years in the making, the result of multiple R&D trials both in the orchards and on the production side. Coyle likens it more to a dry sparkling wine than a sweet cider, given that it’s made using traditional winemaking techniques, among them the charmat method, which sees secondary fermentation take place in stainless steel tanks. Eventually, two more ciders will join the core lineup, punctuated by four seasonal releases throughout the year. While Dry Cut will be a Utah exclusive, by next year, Dendric’s reach will spread to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.

The majority of Dendric’s fruit comes directly from its 20-acre estate, where Coyle has trialed numerous apple varieties on the hunt for what works best, with the remainder imported from partner growers in Utah’s Kamas Valley. Eventually, the estate will be open to the public; Coyle says a limited tasting space will be up and running by fall, but an expansive 4,300-square-foot tasting room with a full bar, on-site kitchen, and event space is further off, coming in 2027.

Coyle’s distilling skills will be put to use at Dendric, and possibly elsewhere as well. In addition to an eventual spirits program at Dendric (plans currently are vague, but Coyle is set on bringing in a French still for calvados-style apple brandy and eaux de vie), there may also be more whiskey in his future. “[Distilling] will always hold a special place in my heart,” he says. “This isn’t the last of me in the whiskey space, whether it’s a collaboration or something else—I wouldn’t leave it 100% behind.”

As High West’s master distiller, Coyle led the incorporation of the company’s own-make into its blends. He also oversaw the move into High West’s new, modern distillery in Wanship, Utah, in 2015. Before Coyle’s tenure as master distiller began, High West’s whiskey was entirely sourced from Indiana’s MGP, Kentucky’s Barton 1792, and other undisclosed distilleries in Kentucky and Scotland. Slowly but surely, High West distillate was integrated into its whiskeys like Double Rye and Campfire, in addition to the launch of High County American single malt in 2019, the first more widely available 100% High West whiskey.

What does Coyle’s departure mean for High West? Leading the team now will be director of distilling Isaac Winter and director of sensory and new product development Tara Lindley. Even before Coyle’s departure, Winter had spearheaded a key project for the distillery: The release of its first-ever bottled in bond rye, which debuted in February 2024.