Tasting notes

nose

bitter orange, honeyed citrus and lime zest, with musky jasmine and a waxy, saddle-soap note

palate

golden syrup, birch, mint and orange blossom, with hazelnut wafer and damp forest floor

finish

orange-scented whipped cream and soft mint, a light floral thread and wintergreen, fading on delicate oak

Mash bill

100% malted barley. Westward's all-malt ale wash is double distilled on pot stills and first aged five and a half to six years in new American oak. The grain is unchanged here; the acacia wood used for the finish is the experiment.

Why it's craft

Westward finished this malt in acacia, a rarely used barrel wood with low tannin and citrus and jasmine notes; master blender Miles Munroe chose it after seeing acacia trees in Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens, and the barrels were made by cooperages in Bordeaux and Toulouse. The whiskey that went into them was Westward's own single malt, brewed, pot distilled and aged nearly six years in Portland.