State-38 owner Sean Smiley didn’t set out to become a distiller. His foray into craft spirits happened after a mishap with a batch of home-brewed beer. “I made a bad batch of beer,” he recalled in an interview with a local TV station last summer. But he’d already spent $40 on the batch and didn’t want to pour all that precious ethanol down the drain. “I came up with the idea to make a still. I built one from Home Depot and Bed, Bath, and Beyond pieces and pipes, and sure enough I was able to vaporize and capture that alcohol… I felt like a magician.”
There’s no word on how the distillate from that “terrible” batch of beer tasted, but Smiley, an engineer by trade, was hooked, and continued experimenting. His hobby eventually grew into a business when he opened the doors to State-38 in 2013. The Golden, Colorado distillery’s name is a tribute to the state (the 38th in the Union), and it’s one of a growing crop of Colorado craft distilleries popping up in the wake of downtown Denver’s Stranahan’s.
Most of Smiley’s products are tequila-like agave spirits. He sells bottlings in the familiar blanco, reposado, and añejo categories, but can’t legally call them tequila because they’re not made in Mexico, and he produces a vodka and gin made from the spiny succulent. He also makes two whiskeys, a bourbon and this malt whiskey. It’s named for Smiley’s great-grandfather, a WWII war crimes prosecutor of Scottish descent.
State-38 WI McKenzie Scottish Peat Smoked Whisky is made with peat-smoked malt sourced from Islay, as well as cherry wood and coffee-smoked barley, and then aged in new American oak barrels. A blurb from the distillery notes a “vibrant peat smoke front and rich chocolate finish,” as well as “strong caramel, vanilla, and cinnamon” from the barrels. Let’s see how my impression stacks up against those tasting notes:
Tasting Notes: State-38 WI McKenzie Scottish Peat Smoked Whisky
Vital stats: State-38 Scottish Peat Smoked Whiskey is made with imported peat-smoked malt, double-distilled, and aged an unspecified length of time in new American white oak. Bottled at 40% ABV, retails around $55. I tasted bottle 129 from batch 2.
Appearance: Light gold in the glass and faintly cloudy.
Nose: My first impression is of toasty whole grain and an indistinct funkiness. That grain note is quickly overtaken by powerful, salty peat smoke. I see cured ham and rocky seaside vistas.
Palate: Much as the nose promised, it’s savory and salty, with more strong peat, along with pastrami and black pepper. There’s a mild milk chocolate note in there, too. Campfire smoke and salt linger on the finish. Drying on the palate, but in an ocean water way, not a tannic way.
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Final Thoughts and Score:
This is a big, brawny bastard of a whiskey, perfect for people who like scotch, strongly-flavored deli meats, and dominating conversations. Unsurprisingly, given the provenance of the malt, it’s more like an Islay single malt than most of the other American malt whiskeys I’ve had, which is probably why it’s labeled as a “Scottish peat smoked whisky” and not an American malt whiskey.
I don’t quite get the level of complexity advertised by the distillery—although, granted, I don’t drink super-smokey scotch too often—but nonetheless, it’s an enjoyable experience if you’re in the mood for a craft whiskey that will make you feel like you’d do okay in a bar fight.
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