Tasting notes

nose

lemon peel and grapefruit, rum-soaked raisin, green bell pepper and tarragon

palate

stewed pineapple and orange jam with honey, black pepper, sage and an earthy lavender note

finish

lingering; bitter almond and a saline, mineral edge, soft leather and wisps of smoke, ending on sweet nuttiness

Mash bill

100% malted barley. Westward's distillers find fruit, honey and light phenolic notes in the new make from their brewed barley ale that echo agave spirits, and this finish was built to bring them forward. The grain recipe is unchanged; the citrus and smoke come from tequila and mezcal casks.

Why it's craft

Westward secured rare mezcal casks four years before this release, then lent its own used barrels to Acre Largo, a Portland-founded tequila brand, for its first reposado and took them back for finishing. Putting a seven-year-old malt into both brought out the agave-like fruit, honey and phenolic notes the distillers find in their own new make. Westward brews, distills and ages the whiskey itself in Portland.