Westland American Single Malt Cask No. 2548
Westland American Single Malt Whiskey Cask No. 2548 (Single Cask, Cask Strength Release)
Our next review is on a store pick, the Westland American Single Malt Whiskey Cask No. 2548 which I purchased from Gordon’s Wine in the Greater Boston area. I try to limit my store picks to liquor stores who I know have good taste as I have been burned a few times on others, but Gordon’s tends to pick some good ones. I’ve had this bottle for a bit and finally decided to crack it open for a tasting.
I have not had an extensive amount of American Single Malts as it is a relatively new category. My first American Single Malt was probably 8-9 years ago, the St. George Spirits Single Malt. At the time, I thought it was expensive, it may have been around $100. I remember liking it but it couldn’t compete with its Scottish cousins at that comparative price point. While St. George Spirits has been making a Single Malt since 2000, it is still a “new” category in the U.S.
ABV: 59.7%
How it smells… green apples, floral, kettle corn, fruity…with some water, sweeter and more malty.
How it tastes…apple juice to start followed by honey and ending in fruity/malty flavors, like an earthy strawberry taste. The finish is more of those endnotes which continue for a bit. I’m not getting any spice on this but it’ll numb your tongue at ~60%....with some water, you get some vegetal jalapeno flavors, but mild spice and more honey at the end. The finish is sweet malty, kind of like a biscuity cracker.
Price…$85 (what I paid for it) but normally priced at $110.
Rating...🥃🥃(🥃)
Final thoughts….First off, I liked it…so the lower rating is 100% price driven. In my opinion, it’s easier to rate things on a good/bad scale, but when you take relative value into consideration, it gets a bit more complicated.
Overall, it was quite flavorful. I was pleasantly surprised as I didn’t have big expectations going into this, knowing that for over $100 (normal retail price) I was getting a youngish aged single malt whiskey. I expected that a lot of the hype and enthusiasm for this bottle was driven by a need to romanticize a domestic-made Single Malt whiskey, which is a newer category for the States. But this actually delivers from a flavor perspective. That said, it is over-priced. If this was a $60ish bottle, I could see myself keeping a bottle on the shelf. It’s still not as good as a $60-$70 Balvenie or Glendronach, but you’re getting a cask strength single barrel release and I’ll pay a little bit of a premium for the romance….but at $85, let alone $110, it’s just a bit too much. I give this a 2x 🥃 at the original price of >$100 and a 3x 🥃 at the $85 I paid for it for those of your that like to be adventurous. That said, I am intrigued by Westland now and will look for a more reasonably priced bottle to test out in the future.
