One of our favorite American distilleries has partnered with one of our favorite outdoor gear brands to make a limited edition bottle. Filson and Westland are a match made in whiskey heaven for a few reasons, and you should absolutely read through them while tracking down a bottle of this new Coldfoot American single malt.
Coldfoot is named for the remote and storied town of Coldfoot, AK.
“The story of the stampede to remote Coldfoot is a perfect symbol of the grit, perseverance, and ambition this region has imprinted on both brands,” Westland explained in its release. “A small group of ambitious prospectors followed a different path that headed even further north, into even more rugged territory to a camp called Coldfoot. Of the 2,000 ‘green hands’ that set out on the stampede, only 200 stuck it out to stake a claim there. The rest got cold feet.”
Westland and Filson is one branded partnership we can get behind.
These two companies have been friends for years, but a collaborative partnership bottle is an unexpected treat to find both of their names on. Westland’s whiskey-making process is honest, thoughtful, and doesn’t cut corners (one of last year’s releases made our list of best new whiskeys in 2019). As a company, Filson has the same ethos: Make it well, even if that’s harder. Both companies could very well have slapped a label on something mediocre—but trust us when we say they did not here.
Filson made merch, in case you were wondering.
A collection of Coldfoot gear, including hats, tees, and hoodies, will be available with the new launch.
This isn’t Westland’s first whiskey of the year.
If you’re a fan of the brand, you’ve already missed the official “Peat Week” release, which, as you might guess, uses a heavy amount of peated barley in the final product. Westland does as many as a dozen releases throughout the year, including single barley varietals, peat week, its native oak Garryana series (one of our favorites) and if you’re a fan of April Fools’ pranks, hoo buddy….
Coldfoot whiskey is about 5 years old, with a slew of cask and barley influences.
Westland stated that the whiskey was aged for 60 months, in a mixture of first-fill ex-bourbon casks, new American oak barrels, and Oloroso sherry butts. That’s enough time (and enough flavorful oak) for the American oak to add buttery vanilla notes, and the Oloroso butts to impart some deeper ranges of flavor, nuttiness, and a pleasant cacao dryness.
Official tasting notes point out waffle cone and dried blueberry and marble rye, and those malty, rich, earthy notes really make this another standout whiskey. They use a hint of peated barley, but the peat, in this case, is a much sweeter, earthy peat influence (and way more subtle) than what you might typically associate with, say, Scotland.
Less than 1,000 bottles of this first edition were created.
It’s true: Westland made this a tiny release, mostly available in Washington State. Just a total of 978 bottles were made of this batch of Coldfoot. As it’s priced at $99, it’s likely to be a sell-out at the release party, which means if you live on the East Coast, you’ll probably be looking for this one on a secondary market.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/37IpwAP
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