American Single Malt Whiskey
American single malt does not officially exist (yet) as a legally defined category of whiskey in the United States, but producers generally adhere to the same regulations observed in Scotland. It is produced at a single, U.S. distillery from 100% malted barley, distilled to 160 proof, and bottled at no less than 80 proof. American single malt is often aged in used cooperage, like its counterparts overseas. On the other hand, “American straight malt” – which is a legally defined category – must be aged in new oak containers for a minimum of 2 years, echoing the rules for other categories of American whiskey. Today, American producers continue to experiment with barrel regimens for this emerging category.
Top American Single Malt Whiskey Posts:
A Visit to House Spirits in Portland, Oregon
Swift Single Malt Texas Whiskey Sauternes Finish
Lost Spirits Distillery Abomination “The Sayers of the Law”
The original Colkegan Single Malt Whiskey is best known for the New Mexico-based distiller’s use of mesquite to dry the barley, which imparts a bold, distinctively American smokiness to the final product. Today we are trying something quite different from Colkegan, an unsmoked American single malt. As with the earlier release, this whiskey was also…
With Courage & Conviction now well-established and reinforced by a line of cask-specific single malts derived from that flagship blend, the next frontier in the lineup for Virginia Distillery Co. is cask strength, single cask offerings. We got a taste of that last year with Cuvee Single Cask and, more recently, with an independently bottled…
Stone Brewing Company recently partnered with Foundry Distilling Company of Des Moines, Iowa to create Stone Imperial Stout Whiskey. Here’s how the whiskey is made, per Stone: “The wort of Stone Imperial Stout (liquid resulting from the first stage of the brewing process), was distilled and aged in charred oak barrels, creating the distillery’s first…
The American Single Malt market has been exploding in recent years in a trend that was acknowledged back in July of this year by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) when they officially agreed to recognize the unique category. Well, now Jack Daniel’s is joining the fray as they just unveiled their…
Colorado-based Stranahan’s Distillery continues its limited edition series of finished single malt whiskeys with the release of Stranahan’s NY Rye Cask, which starts with a blend of five- to nine-year-old whiskeys distilled at Stranahan’s and finished for an additional two years in rye casks from Black Distillery in Warwick, New York. (Along with rye, Black…
Colorado-based Stranahan’s has made its limited-edition Diamond Peak an annual affair. For 2022, the brand takes its standard malt whiskey, aged for 4 years in new American oak barrels, then finishes in single malt whiskey barrels from Ireland’s Bushmills for more than 3 additional years. That’s a unique, 7 year old American single malt. Let’s…
Oregon’s Clear Creek Distillery lays claim to distilling the first American single malt, way back before the whiskey boom was booming. Chris reviewed Clear Creek’s 3-year-old McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt over a decade ago and praised it as “better than Lagavulin,” the Islay Scotch to which the whiskey is often compared on account of the…
We’ve reviewed several single malts from Oregon’s Westward Whiskey in recent years, but no one told us the distillery had its own whiskey club! Color us a little envious that we weren’t invited to join. For those interested, here are a few deets: Launched in 2019 and previously available exclusively in Oregon, the home of Westward Whiskey,…
San Jose, California’s 10th Street Single Malt is back with another peated expression — this one finished in French oak pinot noir casks from a northern California winery. (Initial aging is in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, not new oak.) Each year 10th Street releases a different wine cask release. This is our first encounter with those…
Up until this point, every bottle that we’ve reviewed from Single Cask Nation has been scotch, but the independent bottler also offers a variety of spirits from around the world, several of which are distilled right here in the old US of A. In fact, they remain the only independent bottler of cask strength Wild…