Whisky : Westland Reverie Fig. 1

Country/Region : United States/Washington

ABV : 50%

Cask : Ex-Bourbon, New/Refill American Oak, Ex-Moscatel Wine

Age : 4 Years (49-52 mo.)

Nose : Cake!  A row of festive gingerbread houses— sugar and spice hang on the air.  Dried apricots and almonds promise a holiday delight.  Hints of cola and caramelizing sugars give a more saccharine edge to the nose.  Buttercream, vanilla, and fruits tilt the aroma towards lemon or lilikoi (passionfruit) curd and cake frosting.

Palate : Sweet and waxy, the body explodes with peaches and ripe fruits and lands somewhere between Peach Coke and syrupy canned peaches.  Blueberry jam, ripe apricots, pluots, and a scoop of powdered sugar all mingle in the glass.  Hints of dry pastries and nuts— perhaps scones with chopped walnuts and sugar toasted almonds.

Finish : Lingering almond butter and a hint of sweet fruit.

Score : 6

Mental Image : A box of macarons, a rainbow of colors, a mystery of flavors.

Something Better : Kavalan Distillery Reserve Peaty Oak (similar peach, more grill/smoke/juice)

Something Similar : Michel Couvreur Overaged (similar almond/fruit/pastries, less complexity)

Something Worse : Bastille Single Malt (similar almond & pastry, less complex, less finish)

Notes :  The name Reverie reflects the playful thoughtfulness of the distilling and blending team at Westland.  The single malt that went into this bottle spent years aging in a variety of different casks: ex-bourbon’s from different American distilleries, Moscatel wine, refill Moscatel wine, and a variety of American Oak casks with a variety of different char levels.  In addition to playfulness with cask types, Reverie is composed of different barley types: heavily peated Scottish barley, malted Washington Barley, and the five malt blend that Westland uses in their core American Oak expression (Washington select pale malt, Munich malt, extra special malt, pale chocolate malt, and brown malt.)

Out of the ten original casks that make up Reverie, two were filled with peated malt, four with Washington barley, and four with the five malt blend— of those ten casks half were ex-bourbon and half were virgin American Oak.  From there six casks were vatted together and fill into Moscatel wine casks before two of those casks were then vatted with three of the original before being recasked into ex-Moscatel and Refill Westland casks.  Ultimately one of the first fill Moscatel casks, two of the refill moscatel casks, and one of the original (never vatted) ex-bourbon casks were vatted together and then bottled.  That does leave at least four casks unaccounted for… Reverie Fig. 2?

A lot of effort, planning, and experimentation went into producing this bottle and it paid off handsomely.  This is a delicious blend of bright fruity peach notes and nutty pastries.  It is a bit on the sweet side for my taste— I wish some of the peaty malt came forward a bit more to maybe give the impression of grilled peaches or toasted pastries— but I am not the one walking the warehouse and sampling the casks dreaming about what I could put together.  If vatting, blending, or distilling is art, and I do think each can be artful, then I am really no more than a museum patron admiring a work.  I appreciate it for what it is: the effort and vision that went into it.

Reverie is not madness, it is a dreamy state, and this dram is a perfect one for sweet dreams.