Whisky : Westward Single Malt Oregon Stout Cask

Country/Region : US/Oregon

ABV : 45%

Cask : Virgin American Oak, Ex-Oregon Stout Cask

Nose : Fruit and wood: this dram screams patchouli, orange oil, and resin.  There are loads of interesting, though slightly weird, woody cedar and pine notes along with sticky tree sap, resin, and amber.   The stout influence comes through right on the nose with just a bit of chocolate barley and herb.

Palate : Yeasty— this is pizza dough, or maybe a thick piece of crust.  Rosin, amber, and pine bark come through with an almost perfume like quality.  Herbal tea notes give a dry floral-herb edge to the dram and are joined by pistachios for a bit of nuttiness.  Toward the end of a bit of dark chocolate and light roasted coffee comes through.

Finish : Medium length, some of the herbal notes turn toward the rich tobacco I associate with Westward’s single malt.

Score : 4

Mental Image :  Baby Yoda drinking tea.

Something Better : Westland 2019 Golden Promise Barley (similar yeasty bread & pastries, more salt & citrus)

Something Similar : Bastille Single Malt (similar dough & nuttiness, more vanilla/florals)

Something Worse : Ohishi Sherry Cask (more syrup/artificial fruit, similar dark chocolate/yeast)

Notes :  This was surprisingly cask driven and the finger prints of the beer are all over this dram.  Unfortunately it was just not to my taste.  Westward’s standard single malt is very good— and some of their special editions really highlight the quality of their distillate elevating it even higher (looking at you ex-Rum Finish).  So perhaps some of my trepidation here is that I think the basic spirit is of such a high quality, that I really missed it in this expression.  The stout-cask seemed to really dominate the profile and while the finish is nice, the doughy-perfume profile did not work for me.

It reminds me quite a bit of the Westland Silvercity Cask Exchange, while that was a mix of ex-stout and ale barrels, it had some of the similar rosin and almost sour yeast notes.  It also managed to pick up a lot of influence from the beer casks, enough that the Westland malt also got a little lost along the way.  I have not given up on the idea of beer cask finishing— but aside from Rouge’s ex-Rolling Thunder Stout whisky, I have not fallen in love.  I did have the advantage of trying the Rolling Thunder Stout before trying the whisky, so I had a pretty good idea of what it brought to the table.  I think in the case of the Westward, I might be able to better appreciate the whisky if I also had the beer to sample.

I have no idea if state laws allow you to package a mini or 200ml bottle of whisky with a two or four pack of stout— but that seems the ideal way to play around and appreciate the exchange of flavors.