Westland Wanderings! Post Tour Tasting Review
Background
Getting to know Westland better has been high on my 2023 to do list. With the legal definition of American Single Malt imminent and a trip to Seattle already booked, the timing aligned perfectly for a tour and tasting! Touring Westland, what immediately jumps out is how deliberate and distinct every step of their process is. Various cask experiments and different malt types can be seen front and center throughout the distillery, and the output are whiskeys with very distinct flavors. The desire to shape American Single Malt and instill a Pacific Northwest footprint on it (almost literally- there is a bootprint on their still) is everywhere. It's exciting to see in person, and it’s also front and center on their website.
You’ll start the tour walking through six different malt types, then through the vast majority of their production process- I think the only thing we did not see is barrels being filled or dumped/bottled. Throughout the tour you’ll hear tons about their Washington state and Pacific Northwest sourcing methods, everything from the peat to the local tap (not reverse osmosis) water. Solum, notes on it below, even uses local peated malt. Post tour, we rolled into tasting through four* delicious whiskeys, notes on which are below!
Westland Colere - 3rd Edition (3 Years, 100 Proof)
Details: This Colere edition uses a single grain, Pilot Pale Malt, and is 93% composed of refill Westland casks, with the remaining 7% refill sherry casks. 41 months is the minimum maturation.
Nose: Some stone fruit, vanilla pudding, and a light nuttiness, maybe like a hazelnut spread.
Palate: Big honey and dried apricot for me. Reminiscent of a charcuterie board with honey, dried fruits, and some nuts available.
Finish: Slightly spicy/pepper, but a steady amount of that light honey sweetness prevents it from being too dry or too hot.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: A nice, delicate but flavorful dram. Repeating myself from the palate but I think this would be an excellent picnic bottle to pair with light food, particularly charcuterie.
Westland Garryana - 7th Edition (3 Years, 100 Proof)
Details: Designed to highlight Garryana oak, a species native to the PNW. 50% is composed of Washington State red wine finished casks, 46% is virgin garry oak casks, 4% ex-bourbon casks. 43 months is the minimum maturation.
Nose: An about face from Colere! Cocoa, oak, cloves, and maybe some dark berries. It's dark and brooding to Colere's fun and playful nose.
Palate: Big molasses, graham cracker, and date notes along with a hefty bit of oak and tannin pull at the palate.
Finish: Dry but not overly so, that graham cracker note moves more towards cinnamon and that's what hangs around the most for me.
Great (7/10)
Overall: I don't know that I've had anything like this before. The wood is ever-present but it's like a bass beat in the background of the other notes. A few drops of water and it opened more to like craft root beer.
Westland Single Cask - #6234 (7 Years, 108.6 Proof)
Details: Maturation started in a new, American oak barrel before spending 2.9 years in a Madeira cask for a total maturation time of 7 years.
Nose: Oh hello Madeira influence. Plums, dates, figs... All those nice dark desert wine smells.
Palate: Fig newton cookies (my most reused note for these types of finishes, I know), dark chocolate, currants, and a modest amount of oak influence. It coats the palate.
Finish: Baking chocolate, mulling spices, and it's a fairly long goodbye.
Excellent (8/10)
Overall: This is my jam, fruit pun intended. The almost three years in Madeira cask absolutely show, not just in flavor but its mouthfeel as well. My wife noted that it essentially blossomed on the palate into the finish.
Westland Solum - Edition 1 (3 Years, 100 Proof)
Details: No percentages on the blend, but this is a mix of new American Oak casks and ex-bourbon fill casks. 41 months is the minimum maturation.
Nose: Despite being peated, I get no distinct smoke on the nose. Instead I get a nice creme brulee note. To me this signals the smoke is presenting as that burnt/toasted note more than an Islay style scotch.
Palate: Again I get a nice toasted vanilla base, moving more towards slightly burnt baked goods, like a bundt cake that's been left in too long.
Finish: The peat influence shows more here, blooming on the back of the palate into the finish. It's lightly medicinal, slightly iodine-y, but again far from an Islay scotch. There's almost a stale smoke, like the way your clothes smell after being near a fire vs coming off the fire itself.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: I personally found the peat to be light and very well integrated. If you wanted a starter whiskey for peat, you could do far worse than this one in my mind. To draw a Scotch comparison, it’s sort of Highland Park-esque. I really enjoyed it and found the flavors to be quite diverse.
*Note - we did try a fifth whiskey, the fill your own offering currently at the distillery. We lingered a bit too long at the tasting though and sort of rushed through it, so I don't want to give it short shrift with a half baked review.
