When one thinks of single malt whiskey, the initial thought of location which comes to mind is Scotland. Other regions of the world, however, are also taking on this form of whisky defined as being made at one particular distillery from a mash that uses only malted grain, ordinarily barley. One of those other locales is here in the United States, where a growing number of craft distilleries are taking it upon themselves to come up with some creative alternatives to what one typically thinks a single malt should be (i.e. how it is produced, how long it sits in barrel) .
Some of the American Single Malts from my collection (image copyright Nino Marchetti)
What follows here is a subjective list of American distilleries and the dedicated single malt whiskies they are offering. As the New York Times points out, most American whiskey, by default, could fall into this category, so I’ll focus mostly on those calling their products a single malt in some capacity. Note as well some of these bottlings may have been one off experiments on the part of the distillery and thus are no longer in production. I’ll look to keep this list updated as I become aware of new American single malt releases, and certainly feel free to drop me an email if something is missing.
Last Updated: April 8, 2014 – added Hamilton Distillers
Anchor Distilling (California) – Old Potrero Hotaling’s Single Malt Whiskey
Balcones Distilling (Texas) – Balcones “1” Texas Single Malt Whiskey Special Release
Ballast Point Spirits (California) – Devil’s Share California Small Batch Single Malt Whiskey
Golden Distillery (Washington) – Golden Samish Bay Single Malt Whiskey, Golden Samish Bay Single Malt Whiskey Reserve, Golden Samish Bay Peated Single Malt Whisky
Lost Spirits Distillery (California) – Leviathan I American Peated Single Malt, Leviathan II American Peated Single Malt, Leviathan III, Ouroboros Heavily Peated American Single Malt, Paradiso American Peated Single Malt, Seascape American Peated Single Malt, Seascape II, Umami
Stillwater Spirits (California) – Moylan’s American Single Malt Whisky, Moylan’s American Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky, Moylan’s Double Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Virginia Distillery Company (Virginia) – Virginia Highland Malt Whisky, Eades Highland Double Malt Whisky, Eades Speyside Double Malt Whisky, Eades Islay Double Malt Whisky
Westland Distillery (Washington) – Westland Deacon Seat American Single Malt Whiskey, Westland American Single Malt Whiskey, Westland Peated American Single Malt Whiskey
Wishkah River Distillery (Washington) – Thirteen Corners Virgin Cask Whiskey, Thirteen Corners Traditional Cask Whiskey
Nino Kilgore-Marchetti is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Whiskey Wash, an award winning whiskey lifestyle website dedicated to informing and entertaining consumers about whisk(e)y on a global level. As a whisk(e)y journalist, expert and judge he has written about the subject extensively, been interviewed in various media outlets and...