The Best Whiskey Release of the Year!

Hey all, welcome back to SLB Drinks. We have a very special show today, Trenton. Anytime you bring down an American single malt, I'm already, my interest is perked, period. But this is Westward's milestone release for 2024. Blows my mind. 2023 was absolutely fantastic. I can only imagine what they have in store this year. It was, and I think this is their 20th anniversary. So I was wondering at first like why their bottle might be different. This might just be like a 20th anniversary type of a thing. Okay, I did not know it was their 20th anniversary either. This is the first time seeing this as of, I think you dropped it off a couple days ago, but. Yeah. How awesome is that? Packaging, just phenomenal. I'm sorry. I did it last time too, didn't I? I tell you what. Is that how a book opens? I don't read. That's probably true, probably true. Packaging is just, just phenomenal. The bottle, look at that topper. Holy cow, that's amazing. You could injure somebody with this. That's amazing. And I know you're gonna be impressed with me. Not usually do I surprise you that much because I don't know if you folks knew this about me or not, but I'm pretty predictable, aren't I, honey? I'm pretty predictable. You might be one of the most predictable people that I know. I am. I have not tasted this at all since you dropped it off a couple of days ago. I've eyeballed that puppy. I'm so proud. I waited. I've eyeballed that thing. I can't count how many times, but I want to make it as genuine as I can for this tasting. So I did not try it. We opened it up and I did not try it. Kind of shook. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm surprised at myself. Trust me when I tell you. I'm gonna do the very best I can with this. I'm not a master distiller by any stretch of the imagination, but they use a Solero form of aging. So basically there's some extremely old whiskeys that are in this blend. Every year they're just putting different whiskeys in it. They're premium barrels. They're putting in this vat. It's usually in a vatted system. I'm coming up with this on my own. So if the Westward people are watching, if they want to correct me in any of this in the comments, please do. We'll pin it. Then we'll pin it, truly. But it's usually in some form of a vatted system and then they'll dump in different whiskeys. So then the older stuff is always there and they draw from this. They draw from that every year for this particular milestone release. So there's no other casks that I'm aware of used in this maturation such as wine casks, sherry casks, rum casks. I did not see anything about that. It's simply pure, beautiful, wonderful American single malt whiskey. I'm excited. I don't know if, did you at least smell it? I smelled it and I about fell over. I have to be truthful. My heart rate increased just a little bit. Yeah. Now, last year's bottle was 86 proof. I was just gonna get to that. You did? Good. Yeah. Last year's bottle was 86 proof. Trenton, you know why it was 86 proof? No. Yes, I do. Tell the good folks why. When we were talking with Miles, he said that's because it tasted the best at 86 proof. That's right. And I like that. And the master distiller said, that's where it tasted the best. And I love that. I love that authenticity. Yeah. To where, you know, everybody knows, you know, the cliche thing to do is dry the proof up. Higher proof, higher proof, higher proof. When he was tasting, he thought it tasted the best at 86 proof. Now, this particular release is at 97 proof. So that high. I'm sure. Yeah, it's a little bit higher. So I'm sure he felt very comfortable that this was tasting great at 97 proof as well. If, Westwood, if you're watching, if you want to invite us to the tasting sensory panel for the proof, the correct proofness on this, we would love to join in. That'd be fine. It would be fine. Just based off the smell. Yeah. I mean, I gotta just get into it because I can't wait any longer. Okay, right off the bat, guys. Rich, syrupy, goodness. Deep, rich, velvety. It even smells velvety. If you were to age something in like a used Cinnabon barrel, that's what this would be. Wow. That's, that's accurate though. It's kind of tart too. I'm still getting a little bit of a prune note in there too. That's just glorious. I get, do you get like a little tart? Like a, like a sweet tart or like some kind of tartiness. How about dried cherry? Possibly. But overall, honestly, the majority of the aromas that I'm getting is what Trent said right there. Cinnabon. Dude, it's just like icing. Cinnabon. If that's even a thing. It's just like pure icing. And I too, I get a little bit of this like funkiness. I don't know if it's like a honey or some kind of like fermented syrupy kind of a note, like a fermented. Can you ferment maple syrup? Or does the tree naturally ferment syrup? I couldn't tell you, I don't know. Well, they do have some of their, do they have their notes on here? Aromas, okay, I'm just gonna tell you what they have. I honestly swear on my life, we have their little, their release here for this. Their paperwork on their aromas, Trenton. Honeysuckle. So that's what you were saying. It does say dried cherry on here. Mocha, rich raisin, and toasted almond. So I think with that Cinnabon thing you're saying too is that mocha raisin type. You think? Oh yeah, without a doubt. It's just, it's so lovely too. I don't really even know what a raisin tastes like because I don't like them. That's just glorious. And that's probably the note that I'm smelling too, rather than a prune, tastes probably more of a raisin. But guys. It's lovely. I need to grab a seat. I don't know what to say. I almost drooled. I swear it almost ripped out of my chin. I don't know what to say. I'm kind of at a loss. I'm kind of at a loss for words. That, okay, let me just say this right now. We're not being paid in any way, shape, or form. We're sponsored by Westwood Whiskey. Are we Trent? No. You do the business side of things. Unless he's taking money under the table. I'm not. That I'm loving about, but no, we absolutely are not. Now, I will say this too, before we get into a lot of the tasty notes. This is not an inexpensive bottle. This is a once a year, luxury bottle. It's priced at $250. Okay, just so everybody knows. That sip was one of the best sips I've ever had in my entire life, surrounding whiskey. That includes bourbon, rye, scotch, Japanese whiskey, Irish whiskey, American single malt whiskey. I'm not gonna lie, last year when I heard that they were coming out with this bottle, it was gonna be like 200 bucks. I think it was last year, 250. I can't remember. 86 proof. I was a little bit concerned about the proof point, and that's just mostly because I wasn't too experienced, and I'm still not very experienced in single malts, let alone American single malts. I know what I like. I don't know how they ended up with that much flavor, with like a 10 proof point bump. Come on. I think now, the 2023 trend, because I sip it every once in a while, it is strong, rich like that too, but it revolves for me more around a little bit of some prune note. It's been a while, so I'm just talking out loud, so I'm trying not to be inaccurate, but that raisin, the prune, there's just some goodness, and there's chocolate, chocolate in that bottle as well. I'm not getting a whole lot of chocolate out of this one, are you? I get a little bit of a mocha note, I guess, but the big thing for me is just really nice cinnamony, maybe like a vanilla type of a note, some icing, and just this really nice, it's still, it's got this funkiness to it though, and I think that's just how Westwood does their single malts or something, or maybe I'm just not describing it correctly. You were gonna be shocked at this as well, but I was actually sipping a few weeks ago, the 2023 release, and I were sitting right over there, and I handed it over to your mom, and I said, try this, because it's 86 proof, you know, she smelled this not bad, and then she sipped it, and what did you say, honey? I could sip this. I could sip, are you serious? That's what she said. But I said I would probably add some ice. She did, she said she'd probably add, no, no, that was. Would you try this one? I would try that. Let's get her a Glenn. Well, let's do it. Is this mom-approved? If mom approves, then we know we're on the right track. No, but I mean, I can get behind this sentiment, we've been fortunate enough to try a lot of products on the show in the last, I don't know, we've been doing this for about three, five, whiskey, mostly whiskey, for three years, and like the cocktails and stuff since 2019, so about five years up to this point. I could definitely, without a doubt, put this in like my top 10, maybe even top five things that I've ever had in my life. And that like, just unreal, wow. It's very, very good, and as I'm continuing to sip it, I'm finding a few new things. I gotta pour more. And you've heard me say it before, when I have a whiskey that I could pour an ounce, an ounce and a half, and spend an hour with, and discover new things every time I get into it, or close to it, you know, within reason, to me, that's what really, really is the telltale story of how much I enjoy a whiskey. We just gotta, for my. I wonder. Did you taste it yet? Oh, shoot, you did. I missed it, I was rambling, I apologize. I gotta see this. Come on behind the camera, honey. Guys. Miles, my wife will drink it. And that's not even with ice. That's neat. Neat. And that's higher proof than the one that she liked last year. Yes, from last year. I was shocked, I just, you know, I always gotta give her a few things here and there just to see. Most of them, I get the face, you know, the, oh, oh, you guys drink that. What do you say that tastes like? I don't know how you get that. That's usually what I get. Right, it's true. In and out, she's not being mean, but that's just, she's just, she just doesn't get it. It just doesn't really jive with her. Yeah. But I'm wondering if maybe American single malt might be her window into whiskey. Might be. It's adorable. I mean, this stuff is just, it's great. This is adorable? That's what I said. All right, I love it. I don't know what else to say. I mean, it is a little short, so I can wear it. I know I sound weird, but it is, it's just, it's lovely. I sipped on it again, I got a real light fruit note in the front, too. Try it again. I don't know, I don't know about a fruit note. For me, though, it's mostly just like this really elegant bakery cinnamon roll Yes. type of a thing. No question. I could, like, I get this, like, a little bit of a prune or like a raisin or something. I do get that quite a bit. I got a little bit of a stone fruit note in the front of the pallet. And I could, I also get a little bit of like an amaretto type of a thing in here. That is really good. Yeah, I do get a little bit of that. That's really good on your part. But I can tell you right now, like, we have a lot of videos coming with some of the more, it's like hunting season, right? There's a lot of allocated stuff coming out. I would go out on a limb here and say this is going to be in a top five, without a doubt, in one of our videos at the end of the year that we can do to kind of culminate all of the stuff that we're talking about. This would be inclusive into the top five whiskeys. Yep. For 2024, and I can't see any reason why it's not gonna land there. No. I can't tell you if you'd be first or not because it's just not my opinion. We have a panel of tasters and scoring and things like that. Come on, Justin. Yep, and Michelle. Yep, we all do it. Yep, all of them, yep. And your mom for whiskeys. Yep, we gotta get her in there. She's gonna be a taster for that. She may not want to do bourbons and ryes, but you know, hey. Gotta do it. It would be interesting to see if other people that don't like, is this whiskey bourbon, what is this? American single malt whiskey. It's whiskey. Okay, so for those that don't like whiskey typically, because at the meetups and stuff, a lot of the men that I speak with will say that their wives don't like it. It would be interesting to see if that's the consensus for a lot of people. Absolutely. Yeah, I agree, honey. I agree wholeheartedly. I've sipped it like five times now. I'm mind blown. Wow. This is by far, by far, the best tasting one I have ever tried. All right. I think that says it all, folks. You have no idea how insane that is for us to hear that, but that's awesome. I am glad you like it. I really am. Well, I mean, big congrats to Westward. I don't know if I said this in the beginning, but this is their 20th anniversary thing. It is? Yeah, yeah. Fantastic. I didn't get that far with it. Okay, glad you mentioned it. I didn't even know Westward was a thing up until about a couple years ago. So that's just me. Maybe I'm ignorant. I probably am, but I'm also not a, Chris Angle. We owe Chris. What would you guys say if we said the last name again? Cop leap that out, maybe. Yeah, maybe beep. We owe our good friend, Chris, because he bought it over as a Christmas gift when he was here visiting. I do not, this is numbered. I would imagine that there's a limited quantity of these. This is coming out today's Monday, September 30th. This will come out tomorrow. I will put a link, if we can find some spots where you can purchase it online, if you're interested. I'll toss that in the description below. This, honestly, I could see this being a gateway for a lot of people for into American single malts. I know it is a little bit more on the expensive side for a gateway thing. It is, and everybody has their limitations, and I respect that. What I can tell you for me, personally and individually, it doesn't even really sip to the 97 proof. It is extremely smooth, and I even hate to use that word with this particular whiskey, but it is. It is. It's extremely smooth. It's velvety, rich, oily, full of flavor. She's still drinking it over there. It's wonderful. I mean, it really, really is. So to me, and I say all this to say, to me, that's a bottle that I would happily pay $250 for, and I'll only open it up on occasion when I really have time to be thoughtful, think about it, enjoy it respectfully, and or somebody comes down that I really wanna share it with. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I would happily pay 250, especially with some of the pricing that you're getting for other limited releases now. They're like, just about everything's 200, 250 bucks, and some of them don't technically cut the mustard tenure, right, but I'm just naming names, man, but yeah, great job, great job to Westward on this one. I'm looking forward to cracking mine when I get it, and yeah, wow, just absolutely insane. All right, guys, that's all we have for you today. As always, we ask you to please drink responsibly. See you next time right down here with Trent and me in the good old basement bourbon bar. See you later. Oh.