Westland’s 10-Year-Old Garryana Launches This Fall

Now that American single malt whiskey is officially recognized as a spirits category, and brands as enormous as Jack Daniel’s and Suntory Global Spirits are producing their own, it’s easy to forget that just a decade ago, it was all but unknown, actively pursued by a handful of distilleries and sought out by a small niche market of enthusiasts. Westland Whiskey, the Washington state-based distillery founded in 2010, has played a key role in bringing American single malts into the spotlight.

In 2015, the distillery’s innovative Garryana expression, distilled from locally sourced barley and aged in Garry oak — a rare, protected oak found only in the Pacific Northwest — caused a sensation among whiskey fans nationwide. Each highly limited annual Garryana release since then has received rapturous praise, disappearing from retail shelves almost as soon as it’s available.

As Westland celebrates its 10th anniversary, the tenth edition of Garryana, launching in Washington state and nationwide this fall, is the first to sport an age statement: 10 years old, fittingly enough. It was already going to be hard to find, but in July, the limited-edition bottling became even scarcer. A large shipment of Westland’s whiskeys — 12,000 bottles in total, including 3,000 of the 10-year-old Garryana — was stolen from their warehouse by a driver who used fraudulent documents to load the bottles onto his truck.

Westland staff believed the bottles were bound for a warehouse in New Jersey; when they didn’t arrive, law enforcement was notified. The missing bottles have yet to be recovered, but luckily, more than 4,600 bottles still remain accounted for.

“I was out of town when the theft occurred,” says Shane Armstrong, Westland’s master blender, “so there was a rather shocking ‘Oh, you haven’t heard’ moment. My initial reaction was that someone out there must really love Westland, followed by the heartbreak that comes with losing something so singular.”

Westland’s 10-Year-Old Garryana is indeed a singular achievement for Armstrong, representing the culmination of his many years of working with Garry oak. Over the years, he says, “I have learned to be suspicious of Garry oak. The casks can be quite variable depending on how long the wood was air-dried and cooperage treatment. Every year, I approach the vatting as if I know nothing and let the prototypes guide the way.”

This was Armstrong’s first time aging Garryana for a full decade. “The development of esters is an interesting arc,” he observes. “After 10 years of development, the complex fruit notes begin to compete with the cask character and make for a multi-dimensional whiskey… there is an expansiveness and delicacy to this edition of Garryana only possible at this level of maturity.”

The brand’s official tasting notes describe it as having aromas of mulled wine with clove, walnut fudge brownie, and lemon Danish pastry; on the palate, notes of s’mores, dehydrated strawberry, toasted cumin seed, and blood orange dominate.

Because Garry oak is so rare, and because Westland sources it sustainably, Garryana is by necessity a blend of whiskey aged in first-fill and second-fill Garry oak casks along with single malt aged in other casks. In this case, the “supporting players” include Pedro Ximénez sherry, rum, and ex-bourbon casks.

It’s all done by design, according to Armstrong. “Garry oak is dramatically different from white American oak and has more in common, profile-wise, with French oak,” he says.“In general, Garry oak has muted vanilla and coconut, but exaggerated spice and clove notes. The precision of the clove character can vary, while the curious spice always swirls about. The real work is featuring and complementing this nebulous note.”

The other casks are used to complement the Garry oak and balance out the flavor profile. “There was a draw to make this an expansive vatting, to see how far one could space the Garry oak notes before becoming unmoored,” Armstrong says. “By using older pale-malt spirit aged in bourbon, rum, and other second-fill casks, we were able to balance power and grace.”

While Westland awaits the recovery of the stolen Garryana, just over 4,600 bottles of the 10-Year-Old will be distributed to select retail shelves nationwide, with Washington State receiving its allocation a little more than a week before the rest of the country.