Whisky : Westland 7 Year Ex-Rum Cask 6732, Peat Week 2021

Country/Region : United States/Washington

ABV : 60.8%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Boubon, Ex-Rum (21 mo.)

Age : 7 Years (89 months)

Nose : Big banana, herbs, and tropical fruit.  Opened with the impression of a candy store overflowing with fruity hard candies, bubblegum, and banana saltwater taffy.  The banana notes stood front and center with apple bananas and banana bread with pineapples and papayas deeper in.  Subtle notes of fruity-herbal tobacco smoke and spearmint developed over time.

Palate : Medium bodied and sweet with notes of tropical fruits, bananas, and bubble gum.  Freshly stretched taffy with notes of candied bananas, pineapples, mangos, and blue vanilla syrup.  Behind the fruit was a subtle salt and brine while a grassy crushed sugar cane and spearmint slowly built in the mid palate.  A few drops of water brought out the more herbal side along with green tropical fruits and a light tobacco smoke.

Finish :  Lingering notes of tropical fruit candies and a subtle menthol.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Saltwater Taffy Demonstration

Notes : This really did call to mind notes of the circus in a way that prior Peat Week offerings never did.  This matched the feeling of the carnival where everything is be strange and different— the one moment a year during which the world intentionally turns upside down.

While I did not hate this, I did not like it.  I think the more you love a heady rum influence on your whisky (or maybe just the more you love rum), the more likely you are to dig the esthery fruits that came through on this.  The heavily peated malt just about disappeared into the background and only occasionally peaked out with subtle salty or herbaceous tobacco notes.  Everything else about this screamed rum and the tropics.

Overall, this was wild and even though I did not care for it, it was exactly the sort of experimentation that I want in a distillery tasting kit.  I was lucky enough that a friend split the bottles they received during the Peat Week celebrations— but the distillery did a few tasting kits with smaller bottles of the different releases and this sort of odd, almost out of place, release is perfect for that format.  Those who love it will be pleased as punch and those who do not will not feel hard done by their small bottle.

Image Credit : Westland Distillery