Table Of Contents

The Details

Rating 89
Style
Whiskey
Produced In Washington
United States
ABV 50%
Availability Limited
Price $150.00 
Reviewed By
Review Updated 2024-10-28

Westland Garryana 9th Edition (2024) Review

Washington State’s Westland Distillery is one of several American single malt producers edging into blue chip territory. It has a long pedigree of consistently high quality while still leaving room for innovation. In addition to playing with its base distillate, Westland is especially well known for branching out into novel cask aging.

Westland Garryana — arguably the distillery’s hallmark release — features whiskey aged in Quercus garryana, also known as Oregon white oak. In contrast with the much more common Quercus alba — American white oak — garryana only grows in a narrow band up and down the Pacific Northwest.

Westland is no stranger to garryana aging, and 2024 marks the ninth edition of that namesake release. This year’s whiskey is an American single malt aged across virgin garryana oak, in addition to first fill ex-bourbon barrels and first fill ex-oloroso butts. (Westland often releases the exact percentage breakdowns for these blends but hasn’t done so for 2024 as of this writing.)

This year’s release is the first time Westland has used oloroso in the blend; previous iterations incorporated Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The whiskey is a minimum of five years old and is made from a combination of Washington select pale malt, Munich malt, extra special malt, pale chocolate malt, and brown malt.

Let’s see how it tastes!

Westland Garryana 9th Edition (2024) review.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition: Stats and Availability

I give a lot of credit to Westland for being up front on bottle counts, which the distillery often is with limited-edition bottlings. About 6,600 bottles of Westland Garryana 9th Edition will be available for purchase at a suggested retail price of $150. Those bottles go on sale at the Seattle-based distillery on Nov. 9, with nationwide and online sales starting Nov 15.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

The nose starts off with a variety of toasted bread scents that range from savory to sweet; sourdough, pumpernickel rye, and even a little spice ginger cake. Those aromas definitely begin on a more savory end of the spectrum. Things become sweeter with time, and after about five minutes, specific notes shift more toward graham crackers and honey-drizzled biscuits.

Semi-sweet baking chocolate shavings, sandalwood, and tangy melon rind round out a complex nose that certainly stands apart in the American whiskey landscape.

Taste

While the nose brought savory, the early palate leans halfway between spiced and sweet. Baking spices — clove, allspice, and cinnamon — are met with rum raisin at the top of the tongue through the midpalate.

It would be easy for things to get cloying here, but Westland’s latest Garryana edition has a few tricks up its sleeve. First comes a lightly vegetal, peppery component; it exhibits elements of both white and black pepper, but it’s really closer to paprika than either of those. Next up comes a pop of salinity with some additional, fairly nondescript and dry minerality thrown in. The back palate reminds me of a salted caramel pastry; there are points where the two components vie for attention, and a couple lovely junctures where they speak in near-perfect harmony.

I would have welcomed slightly more dark oak as a backbone throughout, but even without, the mix of aging casks is clearly doing a lot of work in exhibiting their influence.

Finish

My first few sips result in a surprisingly short finish; in all honesty, that worries me for a brief moment. But gradually, the finish builds to a more-than-acceptable length, with that dry sherry influence leading the way as white pepper and campfire-smoke peaches linger. Still, I’d say both the nose and palate captured my attention just a bit more.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition Rating

89/100

Recap

Westland Garryana’s latest edition is a showcase of dry, complex spice. It’s remarkable on the nose and quite tasty on the palate; in slight contrast, the finish took longer to develop, though it eventually got to a place I believe will please most single malt drinkers.

Westland isn’t the only producer to experiment with Oregon white oak, but it’s almost certainly the most closely associated with garryana aging. Let’s give credit where it’s due: the distillery continues to innovate on that profile, taking risks while producing some real crowd pleasers along the way.

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89
POINTS
Westland Garryana 9th Edition (2024)
Washington State’s Westland Distillery is one of several American single malt producers edging into blue chip territory. It has a long pedigree of consistently high quality while still leaving room for innovation. In addition to playing with its base distillate, Westland is especially well known for branching out into novel cask aging. Westland Garryana — arguably the distillery’s hallmark release — features whiskey aged in Quercus garryana, also known as Oregon white oak. In contrast with the much more common Quercus alba — American white oak — garryana only grows in a narrow band up and down the Pacific Northwest. Westland is no stranger to garryana aging, and 2024 marks the ninth edition of that namesake release. This year’s whiskey is an American single malt aged across virgin garryana oak, in addition to first fill ex-bourbon barrels and first fill ex-oloroso butts. (Westland often releases the exact percentage breakdowns for these blends but hasn’t done so for 2024 as of this writing.) This year’s release is the first time Westland has used oloroso in the blend; previous iterations incorporated Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The whiskey is a minimum of five years old and is made from a combination of Washington select pale malt, Munich malt, extra special malt, pale chocolate malt, and brown malt. Let’s see how it tastes! Westland Garryana 9th Edition (2024) review.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition: Stats and Availability

I give a lot of credit to Westland for being up front on bottle counts, which the distillery often is with limited-edition bottlings. About 6,600 bottles of Westland Garryana 9th Edition will be available for purchase at a suggested retail price of $150. Those bottles go on sale at the Seattle-based distillery on Nov. 9, with nationwide and online sales starting Nov 15.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

The nose starts off with a variety of toasted bread scents that range from savory to sweet; sourdough, pumpernickel rye, and even a little spice ginger cake. Those aromas definitely begin on a more savory end of the spectrum. Things become sweeter with time, and after about five minutes, specific notes shift more toward graham crackers and honey-drizzled biscuits. Semi-sweet baking chocolate shavings, sandalwood, and tangy melon rind round out a complex nose that certainly stands apart in the American whiskey landscape.

Taste

While the nose brought savory, the early palate leans halfway between spiced and sweet. Baking spices — clove, allspice, and cinnamon — are met with rum raisin at the top of the tongue through the midpalate. It would be easy for things to get cloying here, but Westland’s latest Garryana edition has a few tricks up its sleeve. First comes a lightly vegetal, peppery component; it exhibits elements of both white and black pepper, but it’s really closer to paprika than either of those. Next up comes a pop of salinity with some additional, fairly nondescript and dry minerality thrown in. The back palate reminds me of a salted caramel pastry; there are points where the two components vie for attention, and a couple lovely junctures where they speak in near-perfect harmony. I would have welcomed slightly more dark oak as a backbone throughout, but even without, the mix of aging casks is clearly doing a lot of work in exhibiting their influence.

Finish

My first few sips result in a surprisingly short finish; in all honesty, that worries me for a brief moment. But gradually, the finish builds to a more-than-acceptable length, with that dry sherry influence leading the way as white pepper and campfire-smoke peaches linger. Still, I’d say both the nose and palate captured my attention just a bit more.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition Rating

89/100

Recap

Westland Garryana’s latest edition is a showcase of dry, complex spice. It’s remarkable on the nose and quite tasty on the palate; in slight contrast, the finish took longer to develop, though it eventually got to a place I believe will please most single malt drinkers. Westland isn’t the only producer to experiment with Oregon white oak, but it’s almost certainly the most closely associated with garryana aging. Let’s give credit where it’s due: the distillery continues to innovate on that profile, taking risks while producing some real crowd pleasers along the way.

Reviewed On: 10-29-2024
89
POINTS
Westland Garryana 9th Edition (2024)
Washington State’s Westland Distillery is one of several American single malt producers edging into blue chip territory. It has a long pedigree of consistently high quality while still leaving room for innovation. In addition to playing with its base distillate, Westland is especially well known for branching out into novel cask aging. Westland Garryana — arguably the distillery’s hallmark release — features whiskey aged in Quercus garryana, also known as Oregon white oak. In contrast with the much more common Quercus alba — American white oak — garryana only grows in a narrow band up and down the Pacific Northwest. Westland is no stranger to garryana aging, and 2024 marks the ninth edition of that namesake release. This year’s whiskey is an American single malt aged across virgin garryana oak, in addition to first fill ex-bourbon barrels and first fill ex-oloroso butts. (Westland often releases the exact percentage breakdowns for these blends but hasn’t done so for 2024 as of this writing.) This year’s release is the first time Westland has used oloroso in the blend; previous iterations incorporated Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The whiskey is a minimum of five years old and is made from a combination of Washington select pale malt, Munich malt, extra special malt, pale chocolate malt, and brown malt. Let’s see how it tastes! Westland Garryana 9th Edition (2024) review.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition: Stats and Availability

I give a lot of credit to Westland for being up front on bottle counts, which the distillery often is with limited-edition bottlings. About 6,600 bottles of Westland Garryana 9th Edition will be available for purchase at a suggested retail price of $150. Those bottles go on sale at the Seattle-based distillery on Nov. 9, with nationwide and online sales starting Nov 15.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

The nose starts off with a variety of toasted bread scents that range from savory to sweet; sourdough, pumpernickel rye, and even a little spice ginger cake. Those aromas definitely begin on a more savory end of the spectrum. Things become sweeter with time, and after about five minutes, specific notes shift more toward graham crackers and honey-drizzled biscuits. Semi-sweet baking chocolate shavings, sandalwood, and tangy melon rind round out a complex nose that certainly stands apart in the American whiskey landscape.

Taste

While the nose brought savory, the early palate leans halfway between spiced and sweet. Baking spices — clove, allspice, and cinnamon — are met with rum raisin at the top of the tongue through the midpalate. It would be easy for things to get cloying here, but Westland’s latest Garryana edition has a few tricks up its sleeve. First comes a lightly vegetal, peppery component; it exhibits elements of both white and black pepper, but it’s really closer to paprika than either of those. Next up comes a pop of salinity with some additional, fairly nondescript and dry minerality thrown in. The back palate reminds me of a salted caramel pastry; there are points where the two components vie for attention, and a couple lovely junctures where they speak in near-perfect harmony. I would have welcomed slightly more dark oak as a backbone throughout, but even without, the mix of aging casks is clearly doing a lot of work in exhibiting their influence.

Finish

My first few sips result in a surprisingly short finish; in all honesty, that worries me for a brief moment. But gradually, the finish builds to a more-than-acceptable length, with that dry sherry influence leading the way as white pepper and campfire-smoke peaches linger. Still, I’d say both the nose and palate captured my attention just a bit more.

Westland Garryana 9th Edition Rating

89/100

Recap

Westland Garryana’s latest edition is a showcase of dry, complex spice. It’s remarkable on the nose and quite tasty on the palate; in slight contrast, the finish took longer to develop, though it eventually got to a place I believe will please most single malt drinkers. Westland isn’t the only producer to experiment with Oregon white oak, but it’s almost certainly the most closely associated with garryana aging. Let’s give credit where it’s due: the distillery continues to innovate on that profile, taking risks while producing some real crowd pleasers along the way.

Reviewed On: 10-29-2024