Whisky : Westland 2019 Summer Barley Series #3: Golden Promise

Country/Region : US/Washington

ABV : 58.4%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Bourbon (Heaven Hill)

Age : 4 Years 1 Month

Nose : Unmistakable warm aroma of a bakery in the early morning hours.  Yeasty bread-dough along with mouthwatering baking sweet rolls, sticky rolls, and cinnamon golden raisin rolls.  It is not all pastries though, lemon-grapefruit citrus zest bring a refreshing sweetness.  Creamy notes of rich buttercream frosting lathered on a cinnamon roll or a cupcake.  The wife thought it had the fruity grain quality of a dry sweet sake.

Palate :  The wife thought this was all sweet rice pudding, dry sake, or tang yuan— a sweet rice flour dumpling.  It is definitely grainy— multigrain, rye, or sourdough bread in the oven— it has a rich almost earthy sweetness.  Bits of sesame, salt, and honey hint at Mediterranean desserts.  Lurking in the background are hints of citrus and a lovely creamy butter.

Finish :  Medium to long slightly astringent or dry finish alternates between a yeasty sourness to sweet brown sugar and spice.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Early morning in the bakery—fresh bread and sugary sweets hang in the air.

Something Similar : Port Charlotte 12 Year; Alexander Murray (similar sourdough/bready notes, more smoke/florals)

Something Similar : Michel Couvreur Overaged (similar bakery, more pastries, loads of almond/almond flour)

Something Worse : Westland Cask #2479 K&L Cask Selection (similar yeasty quality, more brewer than baker)

Notes :  I really did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did.  My previous encounters with Golden Promise Barley left me with pretty low expectations.  Indeed, out of the three single casks in the Summer Barley Series, this was the one I was the least interested in— with Pilsner somewhere in the middle and Maris Otter the one I was most keen to try.  Unfortunately I never did get an Otter to swim across the sea and grab me a bottle of his namesake malt.  I did end up with drams of the Golden Promise and Pilsner.  Having all three to compare against one another would have been ideal, but living in the middle of the ocean I take what I can get.

To say this exceeded expectations feels like an understatement.  This was quite good— the bread notes were more baking in the oven than the slightly sour smell of yeasty dough proving in a drawer.  Overall, the dram does sit on the lighter end of the spectrum, none of the flavors will punch you in the mouth.  Yet, it has a good body and the quality of the flavor notes are just interesting enough to keep your attention.  The dram is light enough to be quite refreshing and relaxing, especially with the citrus notes on the nose, without being so light that it totally disappears.

While Golden Promise Barley may have fallen out of favor, its fall from grace had little to do with a poor flavor profile.  It was largely replaced in the fields of Scotland after the development of more resistant and higher yielding varietals of barley in the 1980s.  It is not so rare to be an heirloom varietal as it is still used by plenty of brewers, but Golden Promise is certainly less common in spirits production today.  I appreciate when distilleries openly play around with the flavor profiles of different barley varietals.  There are so many sources of flavor beyond just cask and it is a lot of fun experiencing the flavor profiles of different types of barley or yeast.

This appeal of this dram is definitely wrapped up in a bit of nostalgia.  It reminds me so clearly of stealing pinches of bread dough when my grandmother set it aside to rise and prove.  I thought the raw dough was delicious— but she told me it would bake in my stomach and I would explode if I kept stealing bites.

Picture credit to Westland. Source is Westland’s Twitter account. A great account to follow in order to stay abreast the happenings in Seattle and the beating heart of the American Single Malt scene.