It feels like it's been a minute since we've had an American Single Malt to email about, so I'm excited it's this one. In fact, unless I'm mistaken, this is the only ASM on my (working) Best of 2024 list so far. With the marriage of the Sauternes finishing barrel, fans of desserty, high proof bourbons are sure to love this one.\xa0
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Mark McLaughlin and Arch Watkins have a compelling
history, spanning from flying EA-6B Prowlers in the Navy to opening their doors of Old Line Spirits to the public in 2017. With the initial goal of working on bourbon and ryes, they moved to Samish Island in 2016 where they first learned to make American Single Malts at Golden Distillery (one of the country’s first dedicated American Single Malt distilleries). While working to get their own facility in\xa0 Baltimore open, they connected with Ryan and Brady of Middle West Spirits to help lay down barrels of their American Single Malts to not lose momentum.\xa0
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Since then, they've built quite a large list of offerings from their standard American Single Malts to a diverse selection of their double oak series - an array of finished single malts from cognac to port to maple syrup.
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Today's offering is a blend of 4-7 year old American Single Malt aged first in white oak, then finished 2 years in a Sauternes cask. In our opinion, this single barrel may be the best gateway to American Single Malts we can think of.\xa0
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The nose is decadent and complex, a fruit cocktail of red fruits, grapes, melons, and citrus \xa0- all sugary with toffee and oak continuing.
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The palate hits with citrus spices at first, definitely showing its proof. What comes after is a cascade of creamy stone fruits and sugared grapes, one after the other after the other. This a balanced, creamy, yet enveloping whiskey.\xa0
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It’s a touch floral, with honey, apricot, cranberry, toffee, and dark chocolate lingering on saturated and trailing with perfect oak.\xa0
