St. George California Single Malt Whiskey Fall 2021 Cask #5 (Lost Lantern)

Have to take some personal responsibility for this low review: I did go into this bottle expecting something more akin to St George’s annual single malt release, one of my all time favorite American single malts. Lost Lantern using the white label for this release should have primed me for a different flavor profile but that being said I still found this one way too wild. I’m not a big fan, yet, of the “distilled from beer” trend but some folks have gotten closer to a cohesive experience than this bottling. Charbay R5, as an example. The esther and hop-derived flavors in this are all over the place and the end product didn’t feel like it was offering any kind of intentional experience. I passed on the 2022 version although I’ll always wonder if they got closer to some kind of vision. If you do try it expect a large hop presence on the nose and citrus at war with a variety of other flavors like banana and creamy malt on the palate.