Another Mission Wine & Spirits selected single barrel American single malt. Bottle 025. Barrel 295. 64.17% / 128.34 proof. N: Cherry, banana, vanilla cream, pie crust, dash of coconut. Mixed berries with caramel and some woody notes. Ethanol starts to have an impact after a few nosings - it's not strong smelling, but you feel the numbing effect. It's a really nice nose, but it lacks a bit of the refinement and/or power you might get from a high proof single malt Scotch. P: Toffee, salted caramel, butterscotch candy. Brown sugar and caramel bread pudding with just a drizzle of vanilla mixed in. Bit of almond and maybe a caramel apple. Finish is sweet with more caramel and butterscotch. Very light baking spice heat. And just a hint of crisp apple hiding behind all the sweet malty notes. Also, big and thick mouthfeel with an oily coating nature. This is a really nice collection of malt flavors, but it's a bit one-sided in that way. It would benefit greatly from getting some fruit from a finish in sherry or red wine or any number of other types of barrels. This is the first Westward I've tried, and it's probably a terrible idea to start with a single barrel release because I have no idea what this barrel would otherwise feed into - it's entirely possible that Westward's base single malt offering does have some sherry finished whiskey in the mix and then is more balanced. And then this outlier of a barrel, as probably most single barrel offerings are, is simply a presentation of one particularly delicious element in that base offering. Well, I'll have to piece this together backwards. That to say, this may be my first Westward, it will not be my last. On the whole, off balance or not, this is quite tasty and I'll have no hesitation in returning to the brand. _______ Please come join a bunch of regular Distiller reviewers are chatting spirits in real time on Discord: https://discord.gg/4nfePCdyKM. (If the link is expired, post a comment and I will post a new one.)