The Founders Series takes advantage of Scotchology’s founders meeting to celebrate our 10th Anniversary in August of 2023. Since we can’t meet in person as often as we were able to when the club first started, we decided to make the most of our time together and sampled a truly broad, exciting range of whiskies in some semblance of batching. The first batch features Westland, an American distillery we have gone to early and often. But a handful of reviews doesn’t quite convey how often we have been there individually or in groups, or how many expressions we have tried and bought for our private collections over the years. This series will expand whenever we gather to continue focused explorations of brands or concepts.
Quite simply, Westland Distillery often exemplifies what we find exciting about American single malts. It has been around since the early days of the American craft distillery movement and has not been shy about releasing single barrels either via the distillery directly or other independent bottlers. After a great deal of success, including becoming part of the same Rémy Cointreau brand that owns fabled scotch distillery Bruichladdich, we’ve noticed the brand has lost some of that folksy luster it had in the early days we loved so and become a little more corporate. Regardless, they still make creative whiskies and nowhere is this featured more than their single barrels, where an experiment in barrel maturation or ingredient selection can really shine. So pull up a seat and pour yourself a glass or two of something you savor as we taste our way through nine single cask expressions from Westland.
Cask 900 (hand-fill 3-21-2017)
Pear. Pear. Pear. Pear. PEAR. Roasted barley and warm spice on the palate, sweet and warm finish with oak woven into the toasted cereal notes. Water tamps down the pear but brings out the cocoa and wintergreen, with a finish that goes on forever. This is a time capsule for us, like having a long, deep conversation late into the night.
Cask 2508 (Summer series, Pilsner malt, aged in Heaven Hill ex-Bourbon barrels) 59.8% ABV
Floral, yeasty nose, hints of wort. Proofing down to +/- 40% mellows the ester-y and beery notes on the nose. Big grain with big tannins here – a beer lover’s dram for sure.
Cask 2631 (first fill oloroso hogsheads) 57.8% ABV, aged 66 months
Intensely sweet – dark fruit, crème brûlée, fresh-baked pie and raisins on the nose, which lingers longer than some whiskies’ finishes. Cereal, brown sugar, burnt caramel, and candied orange peel on the palate, transitioning to a tannic, astringent finish with a lot of zing. Water brings out the oak at the expense of the fruit on the nose, but tamps down the tannins on the exceptionally long finish, highlighting the fruity and toasty elements.
Cask 3786 (4 1/2 yr, port cask) 51.5% ABV
Quite possibly our favorite nose of any Westland we’ve ever sampled. Bright pomegranate, raspberry, tangerine oil, and toasted cereal lead the nose, which should be given significant time in the glass to open in order to fully appreciate. The palate is well-integrated, with toasted grains, tannin, spice, and dark fruits, and a hint of wintergreen at the back. Wine cask, toasted chestnut, and cereals linger on a mouthwatering finish. With a little water, wintergreen, spearmint, and freshly toasted barley come to the fore, with grape and soft tannins on the finish.
Cask 4358 (finished in mix of rye and first-fill oloroso hogsheads) under 5 yrs, 59.4%
A generous nose of classic bubblegum, spice, and summer fruits with some muscular heat behind it. Front of the palate hits you with fresh berries and some heat, with concentrated yet balanced tannins and sweetness leading to a fruity, juicy and mouthwatering finish which just doesn’t want to quit. Drinks best unwatered; adding water retains the heat in the nose and while the fruit remains in the palate and finish, it removes some of the complexity of the flavors while bringing out the depth of the oak influence.
Cask 5410 (first fill ex-Bourbon, 26 months ex-Syrah) 57.0% ABV
This benefits from watering down to bottle strength. Surprisingly delicate nose of orange cream, red berries, and toasted barley, with an intense blend of tannic cask and bright wine influence on the palate and a long, lingering finish. This is a hot one – zippy and crisp with a feral bite. Be patient with this one. It has a lot to offer if you’re willing to tread lightly and take the time it deserves to savor its qualities.
Cask 6143 (7 years, Pineau finish) 51.5% ABV
There’s something particularly boreal about this. Almost a particularly evergreen/balsam fir in the midst of the cereal grains. Really reminds me of the Cask 3786 except with less toast and more forest notes. It’s rich and chewy, a real mouthful. The wintergreen from the base spirit is still there but it’s in the shadow. It’s like the church when it’s greened up for Christmas with all the garlands along with a sweet note of fruit. It’s so botanical. Evergreen and fern. A true tale of the forest. At once very Scottish and very American. Mature, reserved sweetness. Over all this is a rich patina of dark fruits; stewed, baked fruits in all their glory. Marionberry pie and blackberry compote, almost caramelizing sugars without a trace of burn, even at full strength. The finish is a typical Westland one of lingering of heat, assertive oak tannins with flavors of wintergreen and toasted cereal grains. Like the best kind of Christmas potpourri.
Cask 6210 (7 years, Jurançon finish) 52% ABV
A rich, jammy nose of bright raspberry with layers of stewed stone fruit and candied cherry underpinned by Westland’s signature balsam fir and cereal notes. The 52% ABV results in a big whiskey which demands you approach it with respect. If you do, you will be rewarded with a powerful and complex dram worth taking the time to appreciate. The finish is juicy, mouthwatering and not overly tannic. It also inverts the experience of the palate and brings the Westland base elements of grain and wintergreen served with a dash of fruit. Makes you want to drink more of it, which is dangerous. There’s no burst, no surprises, just satisfaction. Water expands the nose but adds heat to the palate and can truncate the finish. Not needed.
Cask 6234 (Aged 7 years, Madeira cask finish) 55.6% ABV
A sweet/savory nose with honey, brown sugar, and raisins, with smoky barbeque and pipe tobacco undertones. Spicy, focused, and intense on the palate, with hints of wintergreen. Tannins, toast, and heat on the finish. Water improves this one, bringing out more floral and cereal notes on the nose without losing the savory/smoky elements. Evergreen/wintergreen enters earlier but continues through on the palate, increasing the spice on the palate. The finish loses the heat but amplifies the bracing tannins.
Cask 6257 (Aged 7 years, Banyuls cask finish) 51.4% ABV
Water brings out the nose of vanilla, mouthwatering blackberry, black cherry, grape, and caramel. Palate of toasted grain and fragrant wood blended with fruit-forward wine and cherry compote, leading to a very long and chewy finish, integrating the elements of nose and palate in a most pleasing way. Let this not persuade you to watering it, though; cask strength gives you an intense yet introverted experience replete with a full quiver of fruits and grains that settles in your chest and grasps your heart.
Cask 6668 (7 years, Tempranillo finish) 51.9% ABV
Tempranillo does not usually come to mind when thinking of varietals of wine finishes for whiskies. But thank you. What a nose. Spiced citrus, mulled apple cider, freshly-baked sweet bread, all built on layers of florals and even more spice. More spice enters on the palate, with a big oaky center with strong tannins and a hint of wintergreen and tobacco. Spiced fruits return on the finish, with an acidity one would expect from a dry red wine, with big oak and a drying astringency. This whiskey is influenced by the cask itself, not just the wine previously in it. The interplay of the wood and the wine is what makes this one.
Conclusion: To us, no other whiskey brings forth the true essence of barley. It’s a distillery signature. The complexity of the grain and how blending it with the right finish while remaining true to the cereal nature of the grain amplifies it, adding entire dimensions of depth. Especially in relation to wine. That alchemy of red wine finishes in particular leads to pure magic. Having been able to track the progress of a distillery you can visit on a semi-regular basis is a very special (and occasionally expensive) thing. What’s even better is when you generally like what they do and why. While we have not been huge fans of every choice or single cask expression that Westland has put out, the disconnect is about subjective preference rather than objective quality. We can be saddened at the exclusivity or high pricing we see on many of the distillery’s regular releases but those are reactions to business choices rather than the spirit itself. Might they be marketing to an affluent Seattle culture? Likely, but Seattle is an expensive place to live and operate. This just means we don’t purchase every bottle sight unseen, because it has to be pretty special to align price with what we perceive to be value. We are thankful to have the luxury of finding these single cask expressions due to that proximity, especially when we know the base Westland spirit that is being used and can thus take an educated guess at what particular finishes might result in before we buy.
The focus of Scotchology is normally to showcase whiskies that are at least somewhat attainable most of the time. We don’t think parading hard to obtain rare whiskies is that beneficial to the larger whiskey-focused consumer no matter how delicious or expensive or unobtainable a particular bottle might be. The overall point of everything here is to highlight what deep exploration of a brand can achieve. It doesn’t have to be Westland. Maybe it shouldn’t be Westland. Find a whiskey you enjoy, no matter what country it comes from. Explore as much of their regular range as you can. Once you achieve that, perhaps you’ll find they put out special releases or rare cuts. Maybe you’ll notice that independent bottlers – of which there are many – sometimes bottle a cask here and there. The goal is for you to find something you really enjoy and see how many different expressions there can possibly be with nearly all the same elements on hand, so that you learn the subtle variations and permutations within a bandwidth you already enjoy. It’s about deepening your engagement and appreciation for this whiskey, which can take patience and dedication. One of the wonders of loving whiskey can manifest itself in such a prolonged exploration such as the one we’ve just shown with Westland. So don’t worry about finding these particular casks, whether they were easily available or not. Find your own whiskey that you really enjoy and make a point of finding all the iterations that at least seem interesting, so that you can explore the facets and find out just what is possible. Share a dram and share your story. We’ll be here to listen.
