Apricot | Peach | Malt | Mild oak | Light cinnamon | Touch of green tea | Well executed

Malt | Honey | Vanilla wafer | Mild citrus | Strightforward

Malt | Toasted grains | Waffle cone | Pinch of sage | Lean

Talnua Distillery opened its doors in 2019 in Denver, Colorado by husband and wife team Patrick and Meagan Miller. Heavily influenced by their Irish ancestry, the company states that the distillery’s name “is born of the Irish-Gaelic words ‘Talamh’, meaning ‘Land’, and ‘Nua’, meaning ‘New’.” Their Heritage Collection is billed as an American single pot still whiskey.

Talnua’s Virgin White Oak Cask Whiskey is the company’s standard offering, putting approachability above all else. Aging in virgin oak casks will be familiar to bourbon drinkers, but the company’s mashbill of 50% unmalted barley, 50% malted barley adds their own unique spin. For those curious about American whiskeys with a malt-focused mashbill, Talnua Virgin White Oak Cask Whiskey is a great place to start as it's very accessible and doesn’t try and challenge the drinker. It’s a soft introduction to what malt-focused whiskey offers that a traditional bourbon doesn’t. With that though, the whiskey is on the simple and straightforward side. It’s clean and crisp but thanks to its 86 proof, are perhaps a bit too muted for the more experienced. Thankfully the company does offer a range of more complex offerings for those up for a challenge. Talnua Virgin White Oak Cask Whiskey doesn’t seem to be engineered with the intent to blow the doors open, but more of a gentle door opening the greater world of American made single pot still whiskeys.