McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt
From one of the very few artisanal distilleries in the United States, McCarthy’s has only been in production since 2000. It hasn’t wasted any time, though, winning awards and other high marks in short order. McCarthy’s is also unique in that the whisky is made from peated malt imported from Islay, given that Oregon shares certain climate qualities with Scotland. The aging renders their young whisky surprisingly smooth.
Laphroaig “Cairdeas” Port Wood Edition
The”Cairdeas” (meaning friendship in Gaelic) is a special product from Laphroaig that is unique to each bottling, and meant as a token of thanks by the distillery to its many supporters. And, let’s be honest, another good way to sell the whisky and make some money. It is also a No Age Statement (NAS) whisky, which allows the distillery to give a broad variation in taste each year. The bottle for this review was the 2013 release, the Port Wood Edition.
Kilchoman Machir Bay
Kilchoman (pronounced Kilhoman) is one of the newest and smallest distilleries in Scotland, opening its doors in 2005. It currently produces a 3 and 5 year single malt, though they plan to release 8 year (2014), 10 year (2016) and 12 year (2018) bottlings. By what we taste from the junior varsity so far, age should make a good thing even better for Kilchoman’s future issues. The offerings are bottled yearly, quantified by flavor profile and maturation. Future releases of the Machir Bay (and others) will be re-released in more mature versions.