AN INTRODUCTION TO WESTWARD WHISKEY
The American Northwest is one of the most bountiful and inspiring regions in the world.
The area is America’s most fertile barley-growing region and beyond its majestic landscape, it serves as a culinary haven, rich with local breweries, wineries, and globally recognized restaurants. So it’s only natural that any distillery built in the region would draw upon techniques spanning these disciplines, and intertwine them with the wealth of local barley. Westward Whiskey did just that.
Founded in 2004, the distillery crafts a distinctive American Whiskey that speaks to its origins, positioning itself at the forefront of the American Single Malt movement.
Miles Munroe, Master Blender for Westward Whiskey, has always wanted to make whiskey…
…a passion he traces back to his days managing a whiskey bar in Kansas City. It was there that his love for craft beer and whiskey came together, leading him to study at the American Brewers Guild. He became a brewer in Portland, a city known for its beer heritage, yet continued to keep his eye on the prize of making Single Malt. In 2012 he landed a job at Westward Whiskey, and has been honing his craft as an integral staple of the award-winning producer ever since.
BREWED LIKE A CRAFT ALE
Most of the Westward distilling team comes from a brewing background, which makes sense due to the distillery’s location in a hotbed of breweries and the shared production principles between brewing beer and crafting whiskey. As such, they focus meticulously on building flavour in the first steps of production and preserving it through distillation and maturation.
Naturally, all of their barley comes from the American Northwest. After mashing, the mash undergoes a five-day fermentation at a low temperature — much longer than the norm for a Single Malt whiskey. The result is a flavourful, fruity, and floral American craft ale that serves as the beer wash for their whiskey.
Distilled like a Single Malt.
Their beer wash is distilled through two pot stills - similar to Scotch Whisky. Westward’s custom-made pot stills feature short necks, and the wash and low wines are run through at a fast rate – all designed to limit reflux. These processes have been designed to deliberately preserve and concentrate as much of the flavour built during fermentation.
Aged like a Bourbon.
Portland has a climate that provides the best of both Scotland and Kentucky, with long, cool winters and hot, dry summers. This temperate climate is an ideal backdrop for whiskey maturation - allowing the esters (flavor compounds) created in previous production steps to develop more complexity. All their whiskey is aged initially in charred new American White Oak barrels, with select batches destined for secondary maturation in casks that previously held Stout Beer, Pinot Noir and Rum, among others.
With the rise of American Single Malt, distillers found there was a need for guidelines to define what it is and, more importantly, what it isn’t.
So, in 2016, Westward helped create the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission to establish, promote, and protect the category and its legacy.
It’s a very exciting and pivotal moment for American Single Malt Whiskey. Turning history on its head, the craft distillers are setting the rules, and the bigger whiskey companies are following—not the other way around.
These guidelines, listed below, are currently waiting for government ratification - in the hope that they become written into law in the not-too-distant future.
To be called an American Single Malt Whiskey, the whiskey must be :
- Made from 100% malted barley
- Distilled entirely at one distillery
- Mashed, distilled, and matured in the USA
- Matured in Oak casks no bigger than 700L
- Distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof // 80% abv
- Bottled no lower than 80 (U.S.) proof // 40%abv
Prescriptive in some parts, not so prescriptive in others, the standards are open to interpretation by each distillery to encourage creativity and create a dynamic, innovative category.
Other Westward expressions we enjoy
Rich and bold, this Single Malt is the distillery’s signature whiskey. Matured across both heavily toasted and lightly charred new American Oak barrels, it’s an all-round crowd pleaser, with notes of vanilla, figs drizzled in honey, desiccated coconut and toasted nuts.
Westward American Single Malt Pinot Noir Cask
A stone's throw from the distillery is Willamette Valley - a legendary wine country famous for its Pinot Noir. Westward Whiskey Pinot Noir Cask - finished for up to 2 years in used Pinot Noir wine casks made from French Oak - captures the luscious, fruit-forward character synonymous with the region’s renowned wine, and balances this with the distillery’s distinctive style.
