Review by: Raygun

Curveball here, ASMW matured in a PX hogshead, not a common size for PX. This was an exclusive for K&L. Made from Washington Pale Select barley and fermented with Belgian saison brewer’s yeast. Tried a little Westland, but not a distillery I have much experience with. Rested about 15 minutes. Initial notes from fully blind tasting, with additions after the reveal in italics. Sample and pic courtesy of WhiskeryTurnip. Rested about 10 minutes. 

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Distillery: Westland

Bottler: Westland

Region/style: American single malt whiskey

ABV: 59%

Age: 3 years. Distilled in 2015, bottled in 2018.

Cask type: PX hogshead #2479, 292 bottles.

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Nose: The color suggested wine and the nose bears that out. Grape jelly, prunes, dates, and a sherry-like must. Something sharp as well. Getting fruit pie and a syrupy aspect that I overlooked before.     

Palate: Hmm. There’s still a mustiness, but considerably sweeter than I’d expected. Not exactly in a PX kind of way. There’s a cheesy kind of fermented funk alongside the fruitiness, which is strange, but not unpleasant. A fair bit of astringency. Now coming across less like sherry, but definitely some sort of wine, probably fortified. Fair amount of heat. I can still see why I didn’t land on PX. It is sweet, but the sort of cheesy flavor threw me off. 

Finish: More cheesy, fermented kind of funk. It’s a soft cheese flavor, like a Brie or Delice. Jam, prunes and some dates. Still sweet, but it turns a touch more sour than the palate, with more astringency. Some spice as well. Quite heavy on the jam or pie filling kind of flavors. There’s length, but mainly due to astringency.  

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Guess: Actually reminiscent of my last mystery from WhiskeryTurnip: a young, unusual wine cask that’s probably not sherry. And again I have to guess Bruichladdich. Around 10 years, upper 50s ABV.    

Post-reveal thoughts: Didn’t see that one coming! I thought it was young, but much younger than I thought. Of course ASMW is a different thing. I’m not sure if the cheesy flavor is common in Westland, but it threw me off a little. I expect it was an effect of the yeast type. Not so PX-like, even if in retrospect I can identify those characteristics. 

Conclusion: In a way, it’s an achievement to produce something drinkable after three years. It’s very rich and sweet, without some of the depth I’ve found in older PX bottlings. Reminds me in some ways of the other Westland I had recently, a Moscatel cask. Very intense, almost aggressive, and missing refinement. I ended up in about the same place. I can appreciate this and I think some people might like it quite a bit, but it’s not really for me.    

Buy a bottle? Not my sort of thing

Score: 73

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky. (Convalmore 36)
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category. (Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1)
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram. (Ledaig 13 Amontillado)
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff. (Tomatin 18)
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting. (Glen Scotia 15)
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better. (Aultmore 12)
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink. (Glenmorangie 10)
• 50-59: Save it for mixing. (Old Pulteney 12)
• 0-49: Blech. (Muirhead’s Silver Seal 16)