World Whisky Day 2020
Scotchology is going to be celebrating World Whisky Day by offering a virtual tasting this year for the first time. Safety first. With the world in pandemic and subsequent stages of isolation, it looked like our annual event might be called off for the first time in seven years. But we humans are adaptable creatures. Could our World Whisky Day tasting still happen, but in a virtual space? With a little exploration and bravery at the unknown, we’ve decided to take the plunge. The theme this year is a feature of cask finished whiskies from around the world.
Westland Peated
Westland Distillery opened in 2010, started by head distiller Matt Hoffman and Emerson Lamb. The core line of the distillery is made up of three single malts. This Westland Peated was first released in 2014 and is unusual because as experimental as American whiskey generally is, one element that’s almost never seen is peat. One of the more practical reasons for this is because peat is generally harvested from wetlands, and wetlands have been federally protected under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Thus, Westland imported peated barley from Scotland to add to their regular five-malt spirit to make this peated single malt. A fortunate loophole allowed them to recently start harvesting local Washington peat for future projects, but it will be a few more years before the results of that local element are released.
Ledaig 18 Year
The Ledaig brand comprises one half of Tobermory’s output, a heavily peated malt in the 30-40ppm range. The Tobermory distillery, in fact, was originally founded as the Ledaig distillery in 1798. The distillery has four wash stills and four spirit stills, with production capable of a million liters of spirit a year after an upgrade in 1990. The water for the whisky is taken from a small, private loch close to the Mishnish lochs. While the number of offerings in the brand is limited, they occasionally include limited options often featuring special cask finishes or unusual age statements. The Ledaig 18 is finished in ex-Sherry wood, though the official details don’t seem to note specifically what kind of sherry. Others seem to think well of this scotch, as it has won several awards at recent spirits competitions.