Westward Whiskey is an American single malt whiskey, which is distilled out of a boutique craft distillery in Portland Oregon in the United States. At the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Westward attained some of the most prestigious awards at the event, winning 4 gold medals for their American Single Malt Whiskey (45%), Oregon Stout cask finish (45%), the rum cask finish (45%) & (65%). These accolades highlight the brand’s quality whiskey offerings. In noting the quality praise for the product, we certainly had to give this a try for ourselves.

It comes in good looking bottle, tall and sophisticated, with the neck and shoulders conjuring the look of a pot still. Black and silver labels and their prominent gold medal award stickers drawing us to read the details on the product. The liquid inside gives an amber visual and we feel the whole look reflects the region in which it has been produced.

Tear the seal and and remove the cork too, then there is a distinct pop. Now time to use the sense of smell and we find there to be dark chocolate and pink lady apples on the nose.

Onto the taste. The whiskey has been inspired by the culture and climate in which it has been produced, using natural ingredients to produce a distinct whisky full of flavour. The whiskey is dry with a sharp flavour of orange peel, then a dark chocolate hit, then it moves onto salted caramel, with vanilla and some cinnamon spice. From this point, we find a long lingering taste of pink lady apples, with that cinnamon spice hanging in there.

The charred virgin American oak barrels do provide subtle hints of its American heritage and bourbon, it is sweet but not bourbon sweet. Is incredibly complex with many different layers of flavour. We love that the flavour is very long lasting and we really enjoyed the finishing of pink lady apples and cinnamon on the palate.

It is a delicious whiskey, aged roughly 5 years and has a good price point. Very easy drinking for that price point. Westward single malt should definitely be considered as a contender to be a regular on your whisky shelf.

https://www.westwardwhiskey.com/

Westward Whiskey is imported and distributed by Think Spirits in Australia and can be found in independent liquor stores, Vintage Cellars and Dan Murphys.

We also decided to make an Old Fashioned with the whiskey and have provided a recipe for you below

The old fashioned test:

1 small tsp of sugar

2 dashes of angostura bitters

dissolve the sugar, squeeze in orange peel, then stir

remove the orange peel

add ice 1/2 – 3/4 glass

pour 1.5 shots of Westward Whiskey

garnish with the orange peel .

This whiskey makes a quality old fashioned. If you put quality in, you will get quality out. The dark chocolate notes always fare well in an old fashioned, especially that classic choc orange combo. But this goes onto a nice sweet mandarin finish with a subtle cinnamon flavour. We recommend also giving this a try.

We would like to thank Agent99 PR for the product to review.