OOLA was founded in 2010, making it one of the oldest distilleries in Seattle. Since then, owner Kirby Kallas-Lewis and team have crafted a portfolio of gins, vodkas and whiskies. Eager to tap into the creative juices – and lax regulations – around whiskey production, one of the early series to feature whiskies is OOLA’s Whiskey Discourse. This series is about using creative combinations or influences to encourage drinkers to enter into discussion of what’s in their glass. The OOLA Smoked Whiskey is the second release in the series. Starting with a mash bill similar to the distillery’s bourbon, comprised of corn, rye, malted barley (which is smoked with apple wood and cherry wood) and wheat, combined with an unnamed Highland scotch.
Distillery: OOLA
Region: Foreign
Age: NAS
Strength: 45%
Price: $49.95
Location: Seattle, Washington
Nose: Brine, sweet smoke, raisin, vanilla, bread pudding, apricot, date
Palate: Earth, smoke, brine, cherry
Finish: Brine, smoke
Comments: Read our interview with Kirby Kallas-Lewis from a few years ago.
Adam – I remember the first time I had the OOLA Smoked, it reminded of a cigar. The smoke and sweetness definitely brought back memories. Years later, there is still the sweet smoke but more char, if not unpleasantly so. It’s a smoky whiskey that has a gauze of raisin and fruit on the nose before transitioning to more smoke and earth on the palate, with a whiff of brine. It’s kind of one-note on the tongue but not unpleasantly so. It reminds me in some ways of a blended scotch. I bet this would go well with cocktails that might benefit from their whiskey being smoked. Perhaps this simple approach just belays the fact that this is a young whiskey, and it reminds me of the older, more complex smoked whiskies I’ve had from elsewhere. I would love to see what this would taste like with another several years in the barrel but given the market OOLA is serving, I am not hopeful.
Kate – Like walking into a high end hotel in colonial Williamsburg. It’s that old wood that’s had time to mature. The nose morphs from smoke into sweetness. I wonder if the different sources are a little agitated. Not fighting but not necessarily getting along completely.
Bill – The OOLA Smoked reminds me of growing up on our farm. We amended our garden soil with 15-15-15 fertilizer – it was that kind of soil. I remember pulling a carrot out of the ground and wiping the dirt off on the grass – or my shirt – and when I would eat that carrot, I would get what was left of the dirt (I was young, I wasn’t concerned with cleanliness all the time) and this whiskey reminds me of that dirt.
The nose morphs from smoke into sweetness.
Henry – After letting it sit in the glass for a bit, the first thing that struck my nose was movie theater buttered popcorn. Apple, sweetness, and a hint of blossom follow, a bit convoluted and disorganized. A hint of generic sweetness joins smoke on the palate. The smoke is there, but I’m not sure why. The finish is light and fades quickly.
Ben – All throughout this I am getting a Luden’s cherry cough drop at the end. I like the OOLA Smoked in a tasting but I don’t think I’d like to keep around a bottle. The flavors separate out over time and I think I prefer when they were stuck together.
