Thursday: Westward
Westward Distillery visited the Hoboken club. They are a brewery from Portland, Oregon, who decided to start a distillery based on beer processes and flavors! Personally, I’m not a beer fan; it’s the last drink I’d choose from a menu. So, I was fascinated that whiskey inspired by beer could be so tasty to me. I tasted them nine months ago and loved their cask strength, which was entirely chocolaty.
Westward offers a single malt in four versions: The regular version – A bold single malt at 45%, sweet and rich, with vanilla and spices. I might have tasted coconut? The yeast used in fermentation is something like “Chico,” commonly used in breweries, meaning whiskey made from beer yeast. Stay focused! Moving on…
Pinot Noir finish – 45%, with more fruitiness from local barrels from Bergström in Oregon, wet barrels…
Stout finish – 45%, friends, this is wild! A single malt finished in stout barrels, tasting like stout! Wait, but it’s whiskey, but it tastes like stout! Confused? So were we! I was very excited, mainly because my brain couldn’t grasp if I was drinking strong beer or light whiskey?!
Cask strength – 62.5%, hold your horses! This is THE thing. This is why I brought them—it’s a strong, rich, sweet single malt with strong chocolate flavors. Wow, it’s delicious.
What fascinates me about American single malt is that it’s often as sweet as its bourbon counterparts, flavors I assumed came from American oak, although I previously attributed them to sweet corn.
In summary—don’t judge a book by its cover, but drink what’s inside!
