Whisky : Westland 3 Year Cask 2497; Total Wine Cask Selection

Country/Region : US/Washington

ABV : 59.9%

Cask : PX 

Age : 3 Years (Distilled Aug. 2015, Bottled Oct. 2018)

Nose : Rich and sweet with demerara sugar, fruit cake, and marzipan.  Rich dried fruits and candied nuts which bring to mind trail mix.  Dense figgy cake, maple syrup, dried cherries and caramel flan.

Palate :  Thick and syrupy with sweet rancio and honey glazed nuts.  Malty notes of honey nut Cheerios, rice crackers, and rum baba cake.  Fruity notes build over time with astringent persimmons, dehydrated pineapples and mangos, as well as sweet cinnamon and black sugar.

Finish :  Lingering pilsner funk with nuts and honey.

Score : 5

Mental Image : Rum Baba Birthday Cake

Something Similar : Westland Cask #2479 (similar dark sugars, more fruity spice/sarsaparilla)

Something Worse : Glen Moray 10Y SMWS 35.232 (similar rum baba/cake, more custard/butterscotch)

Notes :  Sweet and rich, this was a fascinating dram and a great point of comparison to a prior Westland I reviewed (Cask 2479 bottled for K&L).  The two Westlands were aged over a similar period and in PX casks, they really differed only in the type of barley used.  Tasting these two drams side by side highlighted the role played by different barley varietals in the final character of a whisky.  This had more rancio-funk to it and a good deal more malty pastries than the Pale Malt cask bottled for K&L which leaned more into sweet spices and almost floral fruits.  

I gave this bottle a slight edge between the two, it had a bit thicker mouthfeel and I enjoyed the syrupy quality to the candied nuts that came through.  Overall, while this was not my favorite style, I am not a huge fan of PX sherry influence, this was a fine sipper.  I mentally filed this away as a dessert dram, it was something sweet to digest with after a nice meal rather than something I necessarily want to sip by itself.  However, I do think, with such a heavy wine influence, it paired really well with some nice hard cheese— so if you want to experiment with single malt and food, this is an intriguing option.