Smoked old fashioned | Ripe pear | Honey

Pleasant peat overtone | Campfire smoke | Frosted Flakes cereal | Brown sugar | Earthy, nutty undertone

Orange peel | Toasted oak | Hazelnut | Lingering peat

Copperworks Distilling Co. is a distillery located in downtown Seattle, Washington, and has been operating since 2013. Copperworks American Single Malt Whiskey starts as a craft beer (without hops) made from barley grown in and around Washington. It is then distilled twice in traditional copper stills handcrafted for the distillery by the leading maker of Scottish pot stills, Forsyths. The company ages their whiskeys in a temperature-controlled warehouse. Copperworks focuses on single malt whiskey, and variables across releases include the variety of barley, aging time, and characteristics of barrels used for aging.

According to the company, “Peatsmith explores the unique flavors that local smoke contributes to [their] whiskey. Crafted from barley that is malted with smoke from peat harvested from Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.” They go on to say, “The peat is harvested from nearby Shelton, WA. The initial release is crafted from 7 casks, all char #3 from Kelvin Cooperage, and matured for just under 3 and a half years.”

Peatsmith is surprisingly well-balanced, considering peated American single malts can be easily dominated by their peat-driven flavors. Peat is still prominent throughout, however, it’s never overpowering to the point where it hides the other flavors. An intriguing smoked old fashioned aroma introduces the whiskey, along with ripe pear and honey. Peat picks up on the palate, and remains an overtone of the whiskey from that point forward. Campfire smoke, Frosted Flakes cereal, and brown sugar complement the peat, along with an earthy, slightly nutty undertone. Orange peel develops on the finish, pulling back remnants of the smoked, old fashioned aroma, which is joined with toasted oak and hazelnut. Lingering peat wraps things up.

Overall, this is a well done whiskey that brings in peat and campfire smoke without overpowering some of the sweeter, more familiar flavor notes. At only about 3.5 years old it leaves room for more developed barrel-driven flavors to develop with more aging time, but in its current state, it’s nicely executed.

The whiskey in review was bottled on 7/10/2024, as denoted on the back label.