Westland has launched their Annual Peat Week bottling and lucky for me, I spent this past weekend in Washington state visiting my good friend Sara and the Westland Distillery.
Now, if you are wondering what the difference between their Peated American Single Malt Whiskey and their Peat Week is, well I got you covered. I asked Chris Riesbeck, Eastern Sales Manager with Westland what the difference was, and he shared the following: “Our Peat Week bottling is 100% peated barley (no 5-Malt, no pale malt) and matured in a variety of casks (we will release this information at the dedicated launch on Tuesday January 22nd) bottled at 50% abv. Our standard Peated bottling is approx. 33% peated barley with the remainder made up of pale malt and 5 malt. All of which are fermented and distilled separately and then vatted together prior to bottling.”
Tasting Notes
Nose: oak, salt, banana and peat
Palate: oak, pea and chocolate
Finish: smooth smoke and oak
Westland is an American distillery that does peat well. This Peat Week is reminiscent of an Islay single malt. It is quality whiskey that is simply delicious. It is smooth, balanced with just the right amount of peat and full of flavor.
I am sad that I only have one bottle and if you are looking to try, there will only be 1,083 bottles available worldwide of this year’s bottling.
If you love peated whiskies then you will enjoy this one. Even if you don’t enjoy peated whiskies you might still enjoy it. While we were at Westland my friends Sara and Rich, who aren’t peated whiskey fans had a sip and they both loved it. The reasoning for that could be that although it’s a peated whiskey the peat is subtle enough that it won’t overwhelm your taste buds. I highly recommend trying it.
Cheers!
Note: The contents on my blog are solely my opinion. To me every palate is different! Although I may or may not like a product, I always recommend for people to try it and make up their own minds.
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