Westland Garryana 5th Edition Single Malt Review (2020)

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B

As a wood geek, I’ve taken great interest in Westland Distillery’s project to age some of their stock in new casks made from garryana oak, referred to them sometimes simple as “garry,” a species native to their Washington state stomping grounds. For five years now, Westland has released a whisky drawing on their garry-aged stock, blending it with their other and more conventional malt whiskeys.

Westland is now pulling together a few different strands of their work, including the garryana oak whisky, to launch their Outpost Range. This new series, incorporating their annual garryana release, focuses on Westland’s Washington-based concept of terroir.

The 2020 release draws on peated malt aged in new garryana (36%) with the rest coming from first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. Comparing it to past Garryana Malts, that is the highest proportion of garryana-aged whiskey to appear in any release we’ve tried.

The Whiskey
My pour of Garryana 5.1 had a richly endowed, golden look to it. Taking in a whiff of the whiskey, I found it fruity with apples and cantaloupe, plus pine needles, cinnamon and a little oakiness. The flavor balances as tannic, spicy aspect with fruitiness, bringing caramel apples together with cinnamon, ginger and clove. The finish ran and ran off into the distance, going woody all the way.

The Price
The production run for this year’s Garryana was less than 1,700 bottles, priced at $150 each.