Whisky: Westland 7 Year (2014) Cask 6143 for r/Bourbon

Country/Region: United States/Washington

ABV: 51.5%

Cask: New Oak, Pineau des Charantes (3Y)

Age: 7 Years (Distilled 18 Aug. 2014, Bottled April 2022)

Nose: Big orchard fruit and milk chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, oatmeal cookies, vanilla extract, subtle toffee and blondie bars; with time, more red apples, cinnamon, and frothy coffee bar beverages.

Palate: Medium-bodied and very syrupy, big sweet sticky fruits, apples or pears in caramel, hazelnut and vanilla sugar syrups, subtle sweetened condensed milk, cake batter, tannic and drying over time, slightly bitter wood toward the end with hints of leather, toasted oak, and bakers chocolate.

Finish: Medium-length and quite drying with marzipan and oak.

Score: 3-4

Mental Image: Coffee Shop Sugar Rush

Narrative & Notes: Working in a coffee shop during my undergraduate and master’s degree, I witnessed my fair share of people absolutely drown their coffee in sugar— be it inches of caramel sauce or ounces of flavored sugar syrups. Some of those orders even made the frozen blended coffee drinks look positively light on the sugar. Once or twice in those years, several of us working on shift together endeavored to recreate some of the wildest drinks we had made to see what they tasted like— if this person ordered the beverage every day, maybe there was something to it? While we occasionally found some serious gems, none were the sugar blasters this single malt brought to mind.

I have often thought I am a bit hyper-sensitive to the sweetness of whiskies, and I also used to dislike tannic drying whiskies. I have adjusted my expectations some over the years; I do not always mind a drying whisky, though I am still a bit sensitive to whiskies that come off as overly sugary, especially really sugary candies— I do not find candy corn a virtuous note. This Westland single malt demonstrated the limits of my shifting tastes; I thought this was overly sweet, almost an artificial sweetness at times, and far too tannic, so it began drying out the palate before I finished the sip.

Overall, not my favorite Westland. I attribute a lot of that to the three-year Pineau des Charantes finish on the malt; I love a good cask experiment, but I felt that the finishing period was a bit too long. It took a big tablespoon of water to see much change in the flavors. Considering this malt’s hefty mouthfeel and richness, I think it would be well-suited to big, bold cocktails.

Image Credit: Rye Am Legend, whose images and reviews can be found at Ryeamlegend.com or, with me, on Maltrunners.com