8 Years Old | 61.3% Alc/Vol | Ex-Trinidad Rum Cask | Lovingston, Virginia

This eight-year-old American Single Malt from Virginia Distillery Co. is a funky one, and I mean that as the highest compliment. VDC has been making some of the most interesting single malt on the East Coast, and this cask is a perfect example of why. Imagine eating a piece of fresh-baked lemon bundt cake while walking through an old, damp, decaying forest. That is this whiskey. The rum cask adds something wild and earthy that you just do not get anywhere else. Add a little water and the lemon sweetens right up, and suddenly there is even more going on underneath.

7 Years Old | 61.1% Alc/Vol | Fort George Stout Cask | Portland, Oregon

Westward makes one of my favorite American Single Malts. This particular cask spent more than four of its seven years in a barrel that Fort George Brewery used to age their Matryoshka Stout. What came out is one of the most integrated whiskey-meets-beer-barrel expressions I have found. Espresso, dark chocolate, dates, figs, blackcurrant jam on wheat toast. The finish is long and rich and holds every bit of it together.

9 Years Old | 51.5% Alc/Vol | 2nd Fill Oloroso Hogshead | Seattle, Washington

Six days short of ten years old. This Westland American Single Malt from Seattle spent more than seven of those years in a 2nd fill ex-Oloroso Sherry hogshead, and it shows in the best possible way. Cherry cordials, browned butter, and red roses on the nose. Blood orange and cashew on the palate. Add a little water and everything gets coated in silky milk chocolate. Westland already makes exceptional whiskey. This cask takes it somewhere special.

7 Years Old | 64.7% Alc/Vol | Bergstrom Pinot Noir French Oak Barrique | Portland, Oregon

Another Westward cask, and a very different one from #0008. This seven-year-old American Single Malt spent more than four of its years in a Bergstrom Winery Pinot Noir French oak barrique. If you know Bergstrom's wine, you know what that barrel brings: dark fruit, depth, and French oak with real character. Blackberry compote, dark chocolate, beeswax, and fig. Add a little water and a pop of grenadine comes through and lingers right alongside everything else for a long, long time. At 64.7%, it has the most power in the release. Handle accordingly.

7 Years Old | 62.4% Alc/Vol | New American Oak Alligator Char | Gig Harbor, Washington

Heritage Distilling out of Gig Harbor, Washington does not get talked about enough. This four grain bourbon with a mash bill of 55% corn, 25% wheat, 15% rye, and 5% malted barley, has been sitting in a new American oak alligator char barrel for seven years and the result is exactly what a great American bourbon should taste like. S'mores, oatmeal raisin cookies, rye spice, and just a hint of cherry cough syrup, which sounds odd and somehow works perfectly. The finish is lip-smacking and long enough that you will reach for another pour before it is done.

7 Years Old | 62.3% Alc/Vol | New American Oak Alligator Char | 10% Chocolate Malt / 90% Barley | Gig Harbor, Washington

Chocolate malted barley is normally a brewing ingredient, used in stouts and porters. Heritage Distilling took 10% of it and built a whiskey mash bill around it, and the result is the kind of thing that makes you stop and think for a minute. Dark chocolate comes first, more complex than a straight sweet chocolate, with fresh orange and apricot and a note of fried sage running underneath. Add a few drops of water and a mango sweetness appears. This is the second barrel of this style we have bottled, and this one leans darker and more complex than the first.