Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt Review [In Depth]

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt

by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt Details

Distillery: Westland distillery (sourced and selected by Lost Lantern)

Type & Region: Single Malt, Washington State, USA

Alcohol: 54.9%

Composition: 100% malted barley

Aged: 9.99 years

Color: 1.4/2.0 on the color scale (tawny)

Price: $150

From the company website:

Lost Lantern hand-selected this cask from Westland Distillery in Seattle. Westland makes single malt from barley that is chosen to maximize flavor and to grow well in the Pacific Northwest. A transformative voice in single malt, Westland is on the forefront of creating whiskey that truly reflects where it’s made.

This was made from malted barley heavily peated with Scottish peat and aged for exactly 9.99 years in a new oak cask. The nose leads with savory smoke and notes of scorched apple and roasted meats. It tastes like a marshmallow s’more, fresh from the fire. Smoky, fresh, and elegant, this is American single malt at its finest.

And why, you ask, was it aged for 9.99 years and bottled literally one day short of its tenth birthday? Well, for two reasons. First, to make a statement: what’s the difference between a 9.99 year old whiskey and a 10 year old whiskey? Not very much. And second, because our friends at Westland have yet to release their own 10-year-old whiskey. In fact, this single cask is to our knowledge the oldest Westland ever released. And we feel it is their right to be able to launch the first-ever Westland 10 year old, if and when they feel like doing so. We didn’t want to take that away from them.

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt overview

Lost Lantern is back again with another release from Westland, the Seattle, Washington-based distillery founded in 2010. On that thought, I think Seattle has similar weather to Scotland’s. This single malt is part of a 4 bottle line-up of 10 year old whiskeys with 1 bourbon, 2 ryes, and this single malt. But wait a minute…I never mentioned that this was 10 years old.

To repeat what Lost Lantern already mentioned, this release isn’t 10 years old, instead 9.99 years (but if you round up it is 10), because they didn’t want to be the first to release a 10 year old Westland Single Malt, beating Westland to it. They wanted Westland to keep their thunder and have the first one. After that, it’s totally fair game.

I love that Lost Lantern provided so many details on this American single malt. This single barrel of single malt was peated to 55ppm (a medium amount) and aged for 9.99 years in a 200 liter (52.85 liter, about the same volume as a bourbon barrel) new American oak cask. The barrel comes from ISC Cooper’s Select and uses a light toast and heavy char. The spirit was distilled and then diluted to 110 proof, then poured into the single barrel.

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And just like Lost Lantern Tom’s Foolery 10 Year Bourbon, this is my introduction to Westland. I’ve seen the bottles before, but I’ve never drank the whiskey. I will admit, I like that Lost Lantern keeps introducing me to new distilleries, and Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski (the founders) are carefully curating these releases for/ me. Well…not me specifically, but for anyone who drinks it.

Let’s see what Westland has to offer (and if it’s any good) in this Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt review.

This sample was provided to me at no cost. All opinions are still my own.

As an FYI, I bought and use these Glencairn glasses for everything (they’re the best): Glencairn Crystal Whiskey Glass Set of 6, Set of 4, Set of 2, or just one. Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt smell

I smell dark honey, dense dried peach, ashy smoke, cherry, date, toasted oak, orange peel, and some cinnamon and mesquite. I haven’t read the details, but there has to be a wine cask maturation / finishing in here [after reading the details, there isn’t].

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year Single Malt smells amazing. The dark sweetness and fruitiness accented with controlled smoke is really nice, and the good fullness and roundness help too. While this is peated, it’s not that strong…for a peathead like me. This isn’t Laphroaig, it’s a more gentle peat that floats behind everything else.

There’s not much pop or leap out the glass expressiveness, but it’s still really nice.

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After swirling and rest I smell dense honey with dried cherries and dates wrapped in gentle ash and smoke, followed by candied oranges, toasted oak, cinnamon, and mesquite.

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year Single Malt still smells fantastic. The dense sweetness and fruitiness are so nice, and the peat accents everything very well too. If you drink peated Scotch, consider this a gentle peat. If you’re not accustomed to peated Scotch / whiskey, then this is still going to feel very smoky and weird / terrible.

I wish that there was more vibrance and pop for that next level of complexity and life, but overall this is really well done.

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt taste and aftertaste

I taste honey, cherry, date, smoke, roasted oak, ash, cinnamon, dried orange, and some mesquite and dark chocolate in the back with well controlled heat. Two sips in and I already know that this is very very tasty

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year Single Malt is a rich and intriguing whiskey. The dark sweetness, smoke, and oak feel developed, showing what I suspect is wine cask maturation [in hindsight there isn’t any wine cask here, but it really does feel like it].

The one drawback for now is that nothing pops yet. The definition could be a little better too, but those are all fairly minor critiques.

With “chewing”, I taste denser rich honey, cherry, and dates with more ashy smoke, followed by toasted oak, cinnamon, vanilla, orange peel, toasted malt, burnt bits on barbequed meat, and a little sweet caramel nougat. The drying oils and smoke really kick in after a few seconds of chewing, and yet the heat stays out of the way and is surprisingly docile.

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“Chewing” brings out more flavor and expands the fruit and sweetness, but it doesn’t seem to pull out the explosion of flavor and pop that I had hoped. Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year Single Malt still tastes wonderful, but it definitely dampens any hopes of “Top Shelf+”.

The finish leaves honey, cherry, dates, smoke, oak, and spice with gentle lingering smoke with cherry, date, toasted oak, and cinnamon.

Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year Single Malt is an expertly crafted single malt that easily competes with Scotch that is equally, if not more expensive. This is so damn good.

I’ve unfortunately lost some Glencairn’s while in transit, and that made me very sad. So, I wised up and bought this Glencairn Travel Case that comes also comes with 2 glasses so I don’t need to worry so much about them breaking. I think it’s great, and I think you’ll love it too. Seriously, if you already have glasses, protect them.

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Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year American Single Malt Rating

First off, great job Westland and Lost Lantern for this American single malt. This is my first ever whiskey from Westland and it is excellent. It certainly sets the bar unreasonably high for their whiskeys in the future. When I try their other single malts, I’m probably going to be disappointed because they aren’t quite this good. Hopefully I’m wrong, but it gives me a positive impression of Westland.

Now that I’ve read how this was made and matured…where the hell did all those cherry and date notes come from? It clearly wasn’t from a wine cask because this was 100% aged in an American oak cask. It is not normal for new oak to do that, although oak casks from 50 years ago did infuse those types of dark fruit notes into bourbon (e.g., Old Grand Dad 114 Batch 18, 2006 Pure Kentucky).

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I’m flabbergasted at the discovery, but it’s so much fun to be wrong because I learned so much from it. Bourbon makers need to be using these casks, because I would absolutely love for more bourbons to have richer dark fruitiness.

I wish that this had more pop, vibrance, and expressiveness across the board, but maybe that will come with their next release that’s actually 10…or 11 years old. Let’s be honest though, they already nailed it at 9.99 years. Sheesh, this is amazing whiskey. My brain is still blown at the disconnect between the dark fruit-forward profile and the cask used to mature this

If you’re going to pay $150 for 10+ year old Sherry matured / finished Scotch, I think you’d be equally, if not more happy, to buy this. Seriously, Scotch is awful value right now, and Lost Lantern Westland 9.99 Year Single Malt delivers the goods. This is absolutely worth it if you’re in the market for something like this.

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Meet the Author: Alex

I have far too much fun writing about whiskey and singlehandedly running The Whiskey Shelf to bring you independent, honest, and useful reviews, comparisons, and more. I’m proudly Asian American and can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Japanese.

There are no sponsors, no media companies, and no nonsense. Support The Whiskey Shelf by Buying Me A Shot.

Shattered glass really sucks, so if you’re on the move, this Glencairn-like stainless steel snifter glass should survive your travels. Full transparency, this is an Amazon affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.

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