Westward Oregon Stout Cask Finish

This was a cask strength 121.6 proof store pick. The nose was overwhelmingly cacao or baking chocolate and the palate is malty funk and dark chocolate fighting over the room in your mouth not occupied by baking spices. There's almost a hint of spicy peppers like those found in spicy Mexican chocolate stouts. It seems most of these notes can be attributed to the stout barrel, as woody bitterness and chocolate overtones dominate the finish.

Tasting neat. Color is a dark brown copper with average coating legs in the glass. The nose is full of malted grain and chocolate, sweet and even floral. Straight up Whoppers malted milk balls. In the mouth, chocolate malted milk, sweet floral grain, light white sugar. A little smoke and an ethanol hit in the back. Coating oily mouthfeel, rich and sweet. Finish is more dark chocolate, oak barrel smoke, light grassy spice, and mint tingle. Sweet, soft, and long. Westward is making some really great single malt whiskies. This one--finished an additional year in one of their own barrels traded to and used by Oregon brewers making cask-aged stout beers-- takes on the chocolatey characteristics of the stout. Maybe too much. It's delicious and chocolate lovers will find this easy to drink, but it's also one dimensional--nose, mouth, finish, all heavily influenced by the creamy stout finish. Whoppers from end to end! Ice thins the chocolate flavor and lets more malt through. I applaud this experiment in stout cask finishing, but it makes me appreciate Westward's single malt even more for the more complex range of flavors it contains on its own.

Fruity, baking spices and a light chocolate on the nose. Roasty, fruity, light vanilla, lightly sweet, a bit of spiced apples, light chocolate. After coming back to it a handful of minutes later, it has a very strong chocolate/cocoa aroma.

Not my cup of tea