Westland

Westland Distillery is the Seattle-based American Single Malt producer that essentially defined what the modern American Single Malt category looks like — and the distillery whose multi-year campaign to formalize the American Single Malt Whiskey legal standard (enacted by the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau on January 19, 2025) put the category on equal regulatory footing with Scotch Single Malt and Irish Single Malt for the first time in American distilling history. Founded in 2010 by Matt Hofmann and Emerson Lamb in Seattle, Washington, Westland built itself as a deliberate American answer to the Scotch Single Malt tradition — using 100% malted barley, double pot-still distillation, and aging in a mix of new American oak and used Scotch and bourbon casks.

The Westland production philosophy is built around a deliberate "sense of place" framing tied to Pacific Northwest agricultural and forestry inputs. The brand sources malted barley from Pacific Northwest farms, uses native Garryana oak (Quercus garryana, the Oregon oak species that grows wild across the broader Pacific Northwest) for the brand's distinctive Garryana single-barrel program, and produces a peated American single malt that uses Washington-state peat rather than the standard imported Scottish peat. The result is an American single malt with a flavor identity distinct from any Scotch or Irish reference point — heavier on PNW agricultural character, lighter on the maritime-peat character that anchors most Scotch single malt expressions.

In December 2016, Paris-based Rémy Cointreau (the French spirits group that also owns Rémy Martin Cognac, The Botanist Gin, and Mount Gay Rum) announced its acquisition of Westland for an undisclosed amount, completed in 2017. The acquisition gave Westland access to global distribution and capital while keeping the operation in Seattle under the existing founding team, with Matt Hofmann remaining as Master Distiller through 2024 before departing to launch his own follow-up projects. The Rémy Cointreau ownership has positioned Westland as the company's primary American single malt brand globally.

The product range covers Westland American Single Malt (the flagship — the foundational American Single Malt standard release), Westland Peated, Westland Sherry Wood (sherry-cask aged), Westland Garryana (the rotating single-malt program aged in Garryana oak), and a substantial range of cask-strength and limited annual releases that have built the brand's serious-collector reputation. The Seattle visitor experience runs through the working production floor in the city's SoDo industrial district, with tours and tastings that walk visitors through the brand's foundational Pacific Northwest sense-of-place editorial framing.