Seattle, Washington’s acclaimed Westland Distillery has released a new collaboration with their equally beloved neighbors at Holy Mountain Brewing, the result is an extremely limited single-malt whiskey. Holy Mountain Cask Exchange is now on-sale at the Westland Distillery tasting room for pick-up or shipping in Washington state from their webstore.

Holy Mountain Cask Whiskey is over four years in the making, and part of Westland’s ongoing cask exchange program wherein they lend their freshly emptied spirit barrels to brewers to age their beer in, before returning it to the distillery to again age a spirit. This collaboration with Holy Mountain first began in early 2016 when Westland passed on their Port wine barrels to Holy Mountain to age a Belgian-style Dark Strong Ale that would later be released as “A Dangerous Meeting.”

A Dangerous Meeting was aged for a year with wild brettanomyoces yeasts in those Port barrels for a year before it was returned to Westland Distillery in that cask exchange program. Westland then refilled the barrels with their 3-year-old single malt whiskey made from 5-malt barley. The spirit then matured in those barrels for another 3 years before they blended and bottled it up for this highly limited premium whiskey release. The complex grains used in both the rich depth of the Belgian-style Dark Strong Ale and the extremely thick, highly fermentable, enzyme and protein heavy 5-row grains of the single malt intermingle in a smooth oaky finish in the Holy Mountain Cask Finish Whiskey.

Unfortunately Holy Mountain Cask Finish is only available in Washington state and it’s $123.32 for a 750ml bottle, but well worth it as a holiday gift or collectors item for connoisseurs. Purchase it online here.

SPECIFICATIONS
Cooperage: 4 New American Oak Casks (38 months)
Finished in American Strong Beer Casks that previously held Port (35 months)
Cask Maturation Time: 73 Months
Malt: 5-malt
Yeast: Belgian Saison Brewer’s Yeast
ABV: 50%

TASTING NOTES
Nose: Café con leche, waffle cone, cola, almond
Palate: Bran muffin, pecan, mulled wine