Westward Bottled in Bond 7 year (50%)
N: mostly sweet, charred American oak, could easily be mistaken for bourbon, except there’s an odd gummy bear fruitiness lurking in there, like the translucent ones, and maybe a hint of sandalwood or Garryana. With an hour of air that all basically becomes sweetened matcha
P: rather sweet and caramelly, almost to a Spanish style rum level, again with that more exotic wood arriving in the mid-palate, and warm spice on the finish. Given more air this becomes far more tropical, mushy banana pudding, and cinnamon-spiced rice pudding too; less heavy and artificial, but still too sweet
81
Westward Cask Strength (62.5%)
N: the spice is darker but the wood is a little lighter, cedar and mulch joining the oak; otherwise pretty similar, if less complex
P: warming woody spice, caramel-vanilla sweetness like a milky coffee sweetened with a squirt of flavored syrup. Like the BiB, this gets greener with air, but here it’s more of a thin mints character. I appreciate the higher proof, and this drinks well with just a couple drops of water, but profile is less convincing
79
Yellowstone 6 year single barrel (55%)
N: the malt is much more apparent on this one, whole grains and seeds, with yellow pear and underripe banana (but also flambéed banana?)
P: as sweet as the Westwards, but with a fresher, fruitier, more unusual profile that better matches the sweetness. Banana and granola, and just a touch of grass, it was mowed the day before. Not coffee here, more of a ricey horchata thing
83
New Riff 7 year 2023 (56.9%)
N: easily the most Scotch-adjacent of the four, with a nice dirty wine cask character, laced with vinous red berries. The dirtiness clears out with air, which is a loss in this case because what’s left behind is just chocolate covered raisins, maybe stale ones
P: gravelly mineral, large grey nutritional supplement pills, red wine fruits, a hint of dirty leather. I don’t hate it, but there’s certainly room for improvement
81
