Twin Bridges American Single Malt Whiskey

TWIN BRIDGES AMERICAN SINGLE MALT
Single barrel jointly selected by San Francisco Whiskey Society and Sierra Coast Whiskey Club (2025)

MASH BILL – 100% malted barley

PROOF – 114.5

AGE – 10 years (5 years in an ex-bourbon cask; 5 years in an ex-amaretto cask)

DISTILLERY – Westland (bottled by Dry Diggings)

PRICE – $139

WORTH BUYING? – Yes

Talk about unique.

Two whiskey clubs based in Northern California teamed up to select a barrel of single malt from Westland Distillery in Seattle, Washington. They got Dry Diggings Distillery in El Dorado Hills, California, to bottle it for them, since whiskey clubs can’t legally do that themselves. So the whiskey is sold by Dry Diggings. Westland had aged it for 5 years in an ex-bourbon cask. Pretty normal. But then they aged it another 5 years in an ex-amaretto cask procured from a distillery in Vancouver, Canada, called Sons of Vancouver. After a full 10 years of aging, there was enough whiskey left in the cask to fill 156 bottles. They were offered first to members of the two clubs before going on public sale through Dry Diggings. As a San Francisco Whiskey Society member, I jumped at the prospect pretty quickly.

It wasn’t cheap. But I wouldn’t expect it to be. The pile-up of unique factors warrants a substantial price tag. And frankly they could have asked for more and people might have paid it. Maybe had it come from Westward, an American single malt distillery with more national popularity than Westland, the price would have been higher. But anyway I paid what was asked and happily added it to my shelf of weirdo whiskeys.

Early into 2025, I’d decided that for this year of my whiskey journey’s buying I’d skip the usual suspects and emphasize weirdo purchases. What that means can vary. This Twin Bridges bottle qualifies due to what I’ve described of it above. A “weirdo” purchase could also mean something with a notably unconventional mash bill. It could be a rare collaboration, like K&L’s recent Compass Box blend. It could even be a whiskey that’s very well known or quite standard in its specs, but offered at a weirdly affordable price. In any case, riffing off my recent Year of No Buying, by focusing on the weirdos perhaps I’ll buy fewer bottles overall this year while adding more unique experiences to my journey.

Of course, weird doesn’t guarantee good. Is this particular weirdo good?

Here we are, just over a week after uncorking and three pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.

COLOR – soft medium oranges with tarnished gold and brass highlights

NOSE – marzipan, almond syrup, vanilla and caramel, sour red berries of some kind, tart apricot preserves, lemon zest, flaky croissant

TASTE – tart and fruity up front, with apricot and dark cherry, then comes the almond syrup and something like a rich sweet dessert wine (maybe Portuguese Ginjinha?)

FINISH – warm and tingly from the heat yet gentle, with lingering fruit, almond, and croissant notes

OVERALL – A Euro dessert wine of an American single malt whiskey

Very desserty. Had I not recently tasted the Woodinville Ginja Cask Finished Bourbon, my senses wouldn’t have gone to that specific Portuguese cherry liqueur. But I’d definitely have searched my sense memory for European dessert wines and fruit liqueurs. The fruit and almond notes combine with a syrupy quality that all but ensures this whiskey’s place as a post-meal pour. Something sweet to chase heartily seasoned meats or seafood like grilled pork or salty sardines.

I’m also quite reminded of some variations on the Godfather cocktail I’ve made lately. The Godfather hit bar menus in the 1970s. A simple two-ingredient combo of scotch or bourbon with amaretto, the cocktail has no connection to the famous film other than to have capitalized on its popularity. One might stretch an argument that the amaretto aspect vaguely conjures the Mediterranean flavors of Sicily. But anyway, if you poured this Twin Bridges Single Malt over a large ice rock and told me it was a Godfather cocktail I’d believe you.

To test that theory, I made a Godfather. Based on the vibrant and fruity nature of the Twin Bridges, I chose a similarly vibrant fruity BenRiach 23-Year scotch. For the amaretto, Bordiga. The recipe is pretty straight forward—2oz whisky to 0.25oz amaretto, mixed in the glass over a big ice rock.

Nosing the Twin Bridges and Godfather side by side, the former unsurprisingly comes across darker and the cocktail lighter. Both offer their respective orchard stone fruit and almond notes. Tasting them is a similar experience, with the Godfather light and bright, its fruit notes more peach and apricot, and the Twin Bridges dark and syrupy, its fruit notes more cherry and apricot.

So this unique collaboration between Northern California, Washington, and Canada just might prompt me to break out some Italian and Portuguese cook books. A true international journey. Good whiskey doing what good whiskey does!

And though it’s not a bottle I’ll be reaching for every day, and not one I need to back up in the bunker, it certainly has its place. And I very much appreciate the unique assembly of specs, from the whiskey itself to how it came to get bottled and sold. A true weirdo I’m very pleased to have on my home shelf.

Cheers!