Westland Peat Week Whiskey Review (2019)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

Seattle’s Westland Distillery has staked itself out as a leader in the rising category of American Single Malts, placing a major emphasis on adapting the model to their home in the Pacific Northwest. That includes harvesting local peat for use in making their peated malts, and for five years now they put the spotlight on that bit of terroir with their Peat Week. January 22 to 26, 2019 saw the fifth annual Peat Week, and with it came over a thousand bottles of the Peat Week Whiskey.

This year’s “Greatest Smoke On Earth” was made from Baird’s Heavily Peated Distiller’s Malt, and aged in a mix of casks: a pair of first-fill ex-bourbon barrels; two refill American oak barrels (i.e. used more than once); and new oak barrel. Maturation times for this stock of five barrels ranged from 3 years to 5 years, 3 months. The whiskey was bottled at 100 proof.

The Whiskey
A pour of Peat Week #5 has a golden look in the glass, and coating the glass with it leaves streaming tears in its wake. The nose is malty, honey sweet and spiced with cinnamon, with a whiff of resin and smoke lurking behind it. It’s a scent that is in classic peated Scotch territory, so much so that it is somewhat reminiscent of the younger Lagavulin expressions.

A taste showed the whisky to be a bit thinner than I was expecting, given the nose, but all the characteristics were there. So, the texture is light, but it’s still sweet, a little spicy, and with some notes of smoke and the wood pile in there for good measure. The finish was even lighter, with the smoky aspect disappearing to leave a little sweetness and a touch of spiciness.

The Price
You can still get bottles of Westland Peat Week Whiskey with online retailers at the time of publication for $78 each.