Westland American Oak Single Malt Whiskey
If you want to know more about Westland Distillery, read my introductory post from earlier this week. It explains a lot about their philosophy. About their five malt grain bill for example, which is also used for the Westland American Oak Single Malt Whiskey.
This is a whiskey that is only 24 months old. Just a baby. And if it were distilled in Scotland, it couldn’t even be called whisky. But in America there’s no such age restriction.
According to Westland’s website their American Oak Single Malt Whiskey has matured in three different types of casks. The Cooper’s Select New American Oak, Cooper’s Reserve New American Oak and First Fill Ex-Bourbon casks. I couldn’t tell you the difference between the first two, sorry about that.
Westland American Oak Single Malt Whiskey (46%, OB)
Nose: Lovely sweet virgin oak and bourbon influences. Nougat, coconut shavings and vanilla, with a touch of glue and varnish (getting a bit stronger with time). Whiffs of chocolate and orange peel.
Taste: Very rum-like. Citrus peel, yellow raisins and plenty of spice. And again oranges and chocolate.
Finish: Again, pretty sweet. Chocolate and oranges, as well as coffee. Medium in length.
Rating: 83
Especially the nose was satisfying, and as a whole the whiskey works too, although I feel the palate lacks a bit of balance with just a bit too much spiciness.
I do wonder how this Westland American Single Malt Whiskey would taste with some more time to mature. Would it become better? I don’t know, the wood influence already feels pretty dominant. With a longer maturation it might become a bit unbalanced. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.
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