Westland American Single Malt
Westland Distillery is one of the new distilleries popping up throughout the U.S. over the last decade or so, drawing to mind the rise of craft brewing in the preceding decades. Taking a cue from the beer and coffee cultures of the Pacific Northwest, Westland uses five different malts (Washington pale ale malt, Munich malt, extra special malt, pale chocolate malt and a brown malt) along with Belgian brewer’s yeast. They are very clear in that they are trying to make a whiskey true to the region from which they come, including moving towards sourcing all their ingredients locally in the near future. These are very new whiskies, only being on the market since 2013, so we’ll be very interested to follow Westland’s growth.
Glen Breton Rare 10 Year
Glenora was until recently Canada’s only single malt whisky (and the second, Shelter Point, doesn’t begin offering product until mid-2015). There’s been a great deal of buzz around this malt in the 15 years or so it’s been on the market. Part of this is from the praise given it by luminous whisky writers like Jim Murray and Ian Buxton. The other part is the nine-year legal battle Glenora fought with the Scotch Whisky Association, where the SWA sought to prevent the use of the word “Glen” in the whisky’s name. Eventually, the case was settled for Glenora (maybe the maple leaf helped differentiate) and to celebrate, they released a special bottling called – appropriately enough – “Battle of the Glen.” Glen Breton Rare also deserves special mention as the one Scotchology has gone the greatest lengths to obtain, an eight-hour round trip due to limited U.S. distribution.
Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey
America has always had a certain fascination with whiskey and it has long been a source of curiosity to the right kind of craftsman. Rogue did not start life as a distillery but as a brewery and pub, producing beers of high quality since 1987. There was a focus on using local resources to craft their drinks and to put a high focus on community and a unique offering. Eventually, this love of producing beer branched out to spirits and Rogue now makes vodka, two kinds of rum, two kinds of gin, and a single malt whiskey. Clearly, they have an alcohol problem. Lucky cads. What Scotchology is exploring is a whiskey made using the same malts as their renowned Dead Guy Ale. Will this unholy melding of beer and whiskey turn monstrous or end up becoming something, like all good whiskeys, that is greater than a sum of its parts?