Westward Oregon Stout Cask Finish

Review #090 Type: American single malt Proof: 46% Comments: NAS, matured in new American Oak for about three years, then finished for up to one year in ex-Stout barrels sourced from local breweries Tasted after: first up Appearance (no score): Tawny color. Swirling reveals a thick line sticking to the side of the glass, legs start forming quickly. Nose: 15/20 Nothing stands out as being especially punchy. There’s whiffs of flowers, honeysuckle, grain cereal, almond flour, and chocolate malted milk ball candies. These intermingle into a soft and approachable aroma. Palate: 30/40 Milk chocolate, burnt caramel, and cinnamon mostly, accompanied by lesser hints of stout beer and banana. It’s a series of very rich flavors which I would have assumed to blend nicely together if I’d only read it and not experienced it. However, it doesn’t, and instead there’s something about it that’s a bit off-putting. Like a great meal that was left in the fry pan a little too long and is now a little too well done and dried out. (It needs water, more on this below!) Finish: 33/40 Medium-long finish. Starts with a short pop of smooth vanilla. This quickly transitions to almonds, then a couple sprinkles of salt are layered on. Gradually the salt fades and leaves behind some leather, tobacco, and a whiff of smoke. As I started the dram, the first couple sips ended with the same malty aftertaste I get from a stout beer. Now as I’m finishing it, more and more it’s a cooling mint flavor that I experience here instead. With Water: A few drops of water adds some light fruity notes to the nose, like crisp red apples and almost-ripe apricots. It does a really nice job rounding out the palate too, I can’t discern any new flavors, but now it has an almost juicy characteristic which helps the existing ones blend together so much more nicely. Total: 78/100 Final thoughts: This one was a miss for me until I added water. It stands out as one of the most extreme examples of needing a few drops to be able to tell its story, so much so that I went back and re-graded my score for the palate based on how much of a game-changer it was. Still, it didn’t live up to the reviews I’d read about it prior to buying a bottle, and maybe I hyped it up too much for myself? I was hoping for a different flavor profile that I’d tasted previously from other stout cask expressions of other distilleries, and this spirit didn’t react to that finish in the way that I was hoping for, or in one that makes me want to go out and recommend it. I’m glad I was able to pickup a bottle on sale, it’s still an enjoyable dram, but I’d be kicking myself if I paid the $90 MSRP for it. Price: $65 Would recommend: no Would buy: no Scoring Legend: 96-100: The perfect dram, absolutely exceptional, nectar of the gods, I will savor this bottle and make it last, 5 stars. 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky, 4.75 stars. 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product, 4.5 stars. 80-84: Quite good, very enjoyable to drink, but doesn’t wow me, 4.25 stars. 75-79: Good, enjoyable but ultimately flawed, unlikely to purchase again, 4 stars. 70-74: A solid dram, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it, 3.75 stars. 55-69: Drinkable, 3.5-2.75 stars. Below 55: Suitable for cooking or direct contribution to the kitchen sink drain, 2.5 stars or less.

In honor of the 4th of July I’m drinking Westward’s American Single Malt Stout Cask. I picked this bottle up from the Westward tasting room at the Portland (OR) airport - if you’re traveling through PDX, this is a must stop! Westward takes a unique approach to their process - they start with brewery yeast and then age their mash in new American oak barrels. Then they empty and give those barrels to local breweries to age their beers. Later they get those barrels back and use them to finish their whiskies. Not sure what combination of beer barrels they use for their standard single malt but this one is finished in stout casks. This approach has resulted in a unique and really tasty end product. On the nose I get fresh oak, caramel, orange zest, cinnamon and nutmeg. Two things come through clearly on the palate - the stout influence and the use of high quality barrels. Both result in a beautiful mouthfeel. Taste-wise I get burnt sugar, oily vanilla bean, fresh orange, oak, cocoa nibs, and roasted chestnuts. And a toasty, roasty, malty finish. This is a young whiskey (believe it’s 5 years or younger) but it tastes much older and more refined than I expected. It’s delicious. If this is a sign of what’s to come from Westward, I’m really excited!

Tasting neat. Color is a dark brown copper with average coating legs in the glass. The nose is full of malted grain and chocolate, sweet and even floral. Straight up Whoppers malted milk balls. In the mouth, chocolate malted milk, sweet floral grain, light white sugar. A little smoke and an ethanol hit in the back. Coating oily mouthfeel, rich and sweet. Finish is more dark chocolate, oak barrel smoke, light grassy spice, and mint tingle. Sweet, soft, and long. Westward is making some really great single malt whiskies. This one--finished an additional year in one of their own barrels traded to and used by Oregon brewers making cask-aged stout beers-- takes on the chocolatey characteristics of the stout. Maybe too much. It's delicious and chocolate lovers will find this easy to drink, but it's also one dimensional--nose, mouth, finish, all heavily influenced by the creamy stout finish. Whoppers from end to end! Ice thins the chocolate flavor and lets more malt through. I applaud this experiment in stout cask finishing, but it makes me appreciate Westward's single malt even more for the more complex range of flavors it contains on its own.

A complex, American Single Malt by Westward Whiskey Distillery in Oregon brewing pale ale from local Northwest malted barley then intensifying it by double distillation in custom low-reflux pot stills, that is then finished in in ex-ale, ex-stout casks for one year before being bottled at 46% ABV. It has an aromatic birth of grain, wood, fruits, nuts, herbs & spices; while a rich & complex life adds notes of roasted barley, biscuity malt, caramel, ale, banana, apricot, citrus & mint; that led to a long & fruity death with notes of oak, pepper, vanilla, stout, milk chocolate, almond toffee, creamy coffee, praline, maple, pecan & malty cocoa.

Aroma is deeply complex, interesting, fun and just good all-around with a nice delivery of citrus, spice and fruity profiles wrapped in chocolate – I need a diffuser that smells like this, I want my house to smell like this when I walk through the door; Palate holds a perfect malt and beer balance with that same warm chocolate note threading through with the spices and fruit; Finish is the most like the regular single malt, but with that cocoa note weaving through here as well.

This was a cask strength 121.6 proof store pick. The nose was overwhelmingly cacao or baking chocolate and the palate is malty funk and dark chocolate fighting over the room in your mouth not occupied by baking spices. There's almost a hint of spicy peppers like those found in spicy Mexican chocolate stouts. It seems most of these notes can be attributed to the stout barrel, as woody bitterness and chocolate overtones dominate the finish.