WESTLAND GARRYANA
10th Edition (2025)MASH BILL – 100% malted barley (Westland Signature Five Malt + Washington Pale Malts)
PROOF – 100
AGE – 10 years
DISTILLERY – Westland Distillery
PRICE – $157
WORTH BUYING? – Not for me, no…
I don’t recall with certainty my first experience with Westland, whether I may have tried it in a bar at some point or if a 2025 one-off oddity, the Twin Bridges American Single Malt, was actually my introduction. That bottle, a pick by two Northern California whiskey Facebook groups, was aged 5 years in ex-bourbon casks, then another 5 years in ex-amaretto casks. It was—still is, I have half a bottle left—a Godfather cocktail in a glass.
Though aged a decade like the Garryana 10th Edition, the amaretto factor makes that Twin Bridges its own unique thing, and not generally representative of Westland’s standard range. So, in a way, the Garryana is my first proper introduction to the brand.
The twist in this case is their use of Garryana oak for some of the casks in the blend. A particularly spicy species of oak, Garryana is native to the Pacific Northwestern region where Westland is located—Seattle, WA, specifically. Other distilleries also use Garryana oak casks, though most refer to it as Oregon Oak. This is Westland’s 10th edition of this experiment, and the first to feature an age statement. The blend also uses whiskeys aged in Pedro Ximenez sherry, rum, and ex-bourbon casks. So it’s not a pure Garryana endeavor, more of an emphasis.
Here we are, four weeks after uncorking and two pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – dusty and rusty medium-oranges with brass and honey highlights
NOSE – rum, dry sherry and sherry tannins, then oak, honey, marmalade, cookie dough, crystalizing molasses sugars
TASTE – the PX sherry influence dominates, eventually making way for a rich caramel note, a splash of the rum, all carried on a wet syrupy texture, accented with some tannic and ABV prickle
FINISH – PX sherry, caramelized honey, sherry wine and oak tannins
OVERALL – sherry bomb
I almost want to say that naming this whiskey after the Garryana oak casks involved is false advertising. It’s the PX sherry influence that dominates from start to finish. Rum is the sherry’s sidekick. The rest are all familiar multi-casked single malt notes one might expect. Altogether this Westland Single Malt strikes me as something not specific to America’s Pacific Northwest, but very like an overly sherried scotch.
Now, I say “overly” sherried. For some whiskey fans, that heavy sherry influence is exactly what they want. For me, it’s become tiring. I sometimes wonder if mediocre distillates are subjected to heavy sherry influences in order to goad them into being more flavorful than they naturally were. Maybe that happens in the industry. I doubt that’s the case here. Here I think we have an honest attempt by Westland to make something special, layering on a handful of cask types to generate a unique celebration of a decade’s worth of tinkering. But the result is for me not at all unique. It’s entirely familiar.
I recently finished off a bottle of Springbank’s Campbeltown Loch. For my money, that’s a blend of multiple factors that results in a familiar yet still very appealing whole. This Garryana 10 Year, on the other hand—and at twice the price—is familiar in a way that feels uneventful.
I hesitated as I wrote that, because the quality at work is evident. The whiskey does have weight and life to it, with a complexity of sweet factors that roll out in layers. But the heavy PX sherry dominates so much as to obliterate a more balanced range of flavors, which might have compelled me to lean in rather than to sit back and shrug.
A lot of people have sung this whiskey’s praises. I wish I enjoyed it as much as they do. One day, my sherry fatigue might pass. But I have a feeling by then I’ll have put this Westland toward many cocktails and/or given it away to a friend who might enjoy it more than I do.
Nevertheless, cheers!
The Right Spirit 