Single Cask Nation Westland 9yo

The Maker

As a Brit, American whiskies are synonymous with bourbon. It's what most of us think of whenever the idea is mentioned. Yet such is our ignorance of whiskey, if you asked most of us to name a bourbon we'd probably say Jack Daniels - as controversial as such a claim would be.

That's because we've heard the word bourbon on TV, and several bottles of JD can be found in just about every bar across the UK - I'd go so far as to say that it's much more common and widely drunk than any Scotch. But the difference is that it's almost always mixed with something. Be it with coke, or something else entirely.

As a result, the concept of American Single Malt is one which most Brits won't be aware of. Sure if you're reading this you're likely in the small demographic who are, but I'd wager that most whisky drinkers across the UK and wider Europe don't really know what the growing ASM category is: in short it's single malt whisky made in the Scottish style (just malted barley and mostly twice distilled and matured in oak for over three years), but produced in the US.

Until recent years I'd put myself among them. But for the 2020 US Presidential election my whisky group decided to do an American night, and I got myself a bottle of Westland Peated when most went straight for bourbon. The Westland came third on the night so I was satisfied enough to try them again for the 2024 election. But this time I'd spice it up a little as the whisky was likely to be the best part of the evening.

My focus quickly fell on Single Cask Nation, an American independent bottler which has recently become much more available in the UK and about which I had heard only good things.

SCN was established in 2011 by whisky podcasters and festival organisers Joshua Hatton and Jason Johnstone-Yellin. The model is much like any other independent bottler: buy interesting casks, look after them until they are ready to be bottled, then sell to your niche market. But this time there was the twists of being one of the few out there selling Scotch to the American market exclusively, and doing this through an online membership platform that was built around an existing podcast and festival circuit.

This has proved to be a significant success over the past 15 years to the point where SCN bottles are now widely available outside the US and have a strong reputation for quality. As testament to this the bottle I picked up stated that despite being matured in the US, it was actually bottled in Scotland, which suggests that some expansion or licencing has gone on to make their releases more available here in Europe, rather than shipping over individual whiskies for sale or auction.

The Expression

As mentioned above I've gone for a Westland whisky. Westland is based in Seattle, which if Frasier has taught me anything is full of coffee shops and craft beer hipsters. To be fair to Frasier everything about Westland backs this up.

Like SCN they were founded in 2011 and are focusing on the 'terroir' of whisky production in the Pacific Northwest - which enjoys a climate that isn't a millions miles from that of Scotland. Building on this, Westland has specialised in bringing forward lesser known and more traditional barley varieties, yeast strains, and wood types to demonstrate the scale of uniqueness those ingredients can bring to a whisky that simply cannot be found anywhere else.

Their goal is to create something which isn't bourbon, and which isn't scotch. Something which is simply Westland and is produced in a way which is sustainable. This extends to their recent attempts to use sustainable local peat sources to replace early efforts which were imported.

On the whole this has proven to be a success with the reputation of Westland building around the world as the years go by. Indeed within my whisky group Westland is the only non-scotch distillery to feature in our top 20 ranking.

This bottle then is a combination of the expertise at both Westland and Single Cask Nation. It was distilled in August 2014 where it was matured until November 2018 in American Oak. Then it spent the next four years and eight months 'finishing' in1st fill Banyuls Barrique from the south-west of France bringing it to a total of nine years maturation. I say 'finishing' as this is what the bottle claims, but when it's around half the maturation time surely a 'double maturation' is more fitting? Banyuls, meanwhile, is a sweet-wine made from Grenache grapes in the south of France, and not something I've seen a great deal of.

Just 198 bottles were released at 49.8% ABV, and as you can tell from the picture is naturally coloured and has not been chill-filtered. This is now well out of stock everywhere, but when available was priced in the region of £90 ($120).

The Neck Pour

This is one crazy colour for a whisky. I can't help but laugh at it being described as Irn-Bru in the tasting notes. Initially there are mountains of vanilla, and toasted almond on the nose. This is followed by Christmas spice Yankee Candles (otherwise known as cinnamon, mace, star-anise, clove and nutmeg). This is added to by sweet smelling Icing sugar. What isn't immediately present on the nose in the alcohol, despite nearing 50%. It must be all those sweet spicy notes holding it back.

Sadly the palate does not yet live up to that nose. Instead it's rather flat on arrival, but then the sweet and bitter toasted spices develop before a hefty hit of sweet red wine tannins come in on the finish.

There’s clearly a lot in here to unpack and develop, and I get the strong sense that it needs time to open up. I’m not familiar with the French sweet wine so my natural comparison is the BB&R Moscatel matured Laphroaig I reviewed a few months back. Obviously this lacks the peat but that aside, at least upon opening, this seems to be a much more accessible bottle than that was. But I’m not sure whether I like it yet.

The Body

All the above still holds true on the nose but it's now more marzipan than it is toasted almond - I suspect from those sugar notes. It's like those nutty and winter spice flavours have bonded together more over the three months since this was opened.

What is also changing is that the red fruits are asserting there dominance. Now it's very red berry and cherry forward, almost like that lingonberry jam that Ikea sells so much of.

Alongside all this the oak char is also becoming more prominent on the finish. There's definitely more there now. It's nice and growing on me, but still not amazing.

Final Thoughts

This integration of fruit spice has continued over a subsequent six months and the hefty oak char has only grown more. There’s also now lots of leather in here, bitter coffee grains, and even a bit of dark chocolate.

What I hope is clear from this is that this bottle is one which has developed significantly over time and is a very different beast now than it was when opened. It's taken me more than nine months to get into, but it really is quite something now it's fully oxidised and shows that American Single Malt can go pound for pound with scotch at its peak.

Sadly this peak happened long after the 2024 US election where this came a lonely seventh of thirteen. Nonetheless, for me this is where ASM is at its best at the moment. I’ll get some more when the tariff situation has improved under a future administration as I don't see value in supporting an economy out to damage my own.