Rating: 14/23 I've been liking Westward, but I haven't been willing to drop the money needed to buy one of their weird cask versions. I've been so curious though. Enter this sample, which takes the already unusual pinot noir finish and adds rosé to it. Wild. I'm super curious. N: It has that usual yeasty, malty, sweet Westward funk with hints of buckwheat. Faint whiffs of strawberry and rainbow peppercorn. Odd, but not a lot weirder than most Westward noses. P: Less sweet and more spicy with vegetal, herbal, and lightly savory flavors than I'd expected. It doesn't quite have sulphur, but the vegetation is rotting the faintest bit. That spice is pretty intense though. I'm getting loads of rainbow peppercorns with a touch of barrel char. I get that Westward funk, but it's more bitter than usual, with hints of rubber. Very faint hints of strawberry in with the malt. This is quite numbing and it's less sweet than I expected. I'm not a fan of this variation on the Westward profile. F: Lingering malty, vegetal flavor with a fullness but not a ton going on and not a particularly enjoyable flavor. - Conclusion - For a sanity check, I pulled out my bottle of Westward Single Barrel Cask Strength (Mission Pick) (18/23) is a touch hotter, but not by much. It's sweeter with more fruit, a nicer funk, and rolling complexity. Regular Westward Single Malt (16/23) is mellower than this is, with a bolder funk. There's a similar bitterness. There's a bit of moldy flavor to this in comparison and also a lighter profile. I give the regular Westward the win for sure. That funk reminds me of Gouden Carolus (15/23), but side by side the Gouden Carolus is lighter with more minerality and floral flavors. I think that the Gouden Carolus wins. I'm thinking of a 10 to 15 for this. for starters. I was initially thinking of a 10, but I'm not quite sure that it's that low. Coming back to this a couple of times, I'm landing on a 14. The complexity is growing on me, but it still has some weirdness that I'm not sold on. I can definitely believe that I would like this a lot more if I were working my way through a full bottle. Thank you @PBMichiganWolverine for this sample!