Heavy chocolate malt | Chocolate babka | Draft stout | Aged oak | Clear stout influence | Fantastic

Baking chocolate | Heavy malted barley | Light brown sugar | Chocolate chip cookie | Faint wild berries | Prominent baking spices

Spiced chocolate | Chocolate malt | Whoppers candy | Faint oak | Chocolate focused

Westward Whiskey is located in Portland, Oregon, and specializes in a category of whiskey that’s particularly notable right now, American single malt. Westward offers a variety of ongoing finished single malts, including those finished in Pinot Noir Casks, Rum, and more. Part of their Westward Whiskey Club release series, the distillery employed a new process to differentiate Westward x Fort George Brewery Stout Cask from their standard American Single Malt Stout Cask. The company states that “to develop Westward x Fort George Brewery Stout Cask, Master Blender Miles Munroe led a “double stouting” process, which began by aging mature Westward in freshly emptied stout beer casks before transferring the whiskey into Fort George’s freshly returned Matryoshka Stout barrels to further deepen the whiskey’s rich flavors and aromas.”

If you’re a stout lover, especially a chocolate stout lover, the nose on Westward x Fort George Brewery Stout Cask will instantly snap you to attention. It’s a fantastic combination of heavy chocolate malt and chocolate babka resting on top of a delicious fresh draft stout pour. The midpoint pulls in those same chocolate notes with a heavy malted barley influence, along with prominent spice notes. These carry through to the finish in the form of spiced chocolate and other chocolate-focused notes that linger.

Westward x Fort George Brewery Stout Cask is an enhancement over Westward’s standard Malt Stout Finish Whiskey, but it still leans into its chocolate underpinnings a tad too much. A focus on a particular flavor note works well, but it works better when it enhances a supporting cast of flavors, which seems to be missing here. Overall, though, if you like chocolate, stouts, or just well-crafted finished American single malt whiskeys, this will be one you’ll want to seek out.

The bottle in review is number 227.