Behind the Brand

Miles Munroe, Master Blender for Westward Whiskey

Lee Diaz, ReserveBar Staff Writer

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Since 2004, Westward Whiskey has been instrumental in supporting the prominence of American Single Malt as a prevailing whiskey category. Leveraging a wide range of experience, Miles Munroe is making his own mark in this space as Westward’s Master Blender. As a former bartender, beer brewer, and rock ‘n’ roller now leading innovation for this whiskey brand, there is no doubt that his approach and vision is projecting an astounding path for Westward. We sat down with Miles to discuss how his work in the industry began.

WHAT LED YOU TO EXPLORE WHISKEY AS A POSSIBLE DIRECTION?

For me personally, it started quite a while back – distilling was something I knew I wanted to do. I was working in fine dining while I was a musician. Actually, a lot of us ended up in the restaurant business while we were touring and playing music. It's just part of the lifestyle. That led me to really appreciate food, wine, spirits, beers – and a whole spectrum of flavors. That's what drew me in. At that time, I was pretty young when I ended up bartending, and was helping to manage a Whiskey Bar in Kansas City, Missouri. They had this huge selection of gorgeous whiskeys that quickly made me realize that while I had been drinking whiskey, I didn’t know if I was appreciating it as much as I thought I had.

That led me down the path of reading more books on whiskey, going into more tastings, and getting more education in the space. This also coincided with a band I was playing in – the drummer was the buyer for a chain of bottle shops in Kansas City. He was their beer buyer. This was 2003, so craft beer at the time was just exploding and having its moment, really just shining. So I would bring these bottles of whiskey and he would bring in these bottles of beer. We would try all these things together and talk about flavor, quickly realizing that these two things went together really well. It's just kind of one day the light bulb went off. I bet craft beer makes really fantastic single malt whiskey. And that's what I was interested in doing – it was making single malt.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO PRODUCT SINGLE MALT PROFESSIONALLY?

I liked bourbon. But single malt always had my heart. This began my journey down a path that started with learning. I figured I would go to brewing school, then become a professional brewer here in the United States for a while before eventually being able to make single malt. This was now about 20 years ago. And at that time, I didn't really know of anyone making single malt in the US – there were a couple but they were tiny. And they definitely weren't distributing to Kansas City. So, I moved to Portland, Oregon, where I am now still. I studied with the American Brewers Guild in an intensive course for the science and engineering of brewing. Then I became a professional brewer for about four years.

It was actually through another brewing school alumni that I got connected to the distillery, which was known for making Aviation American Gin. And while everyone knew about Aviation, they were also quietly making and aging single malt whiskey. It just was pretty kismet, really, that I hooked up with this team. What was interesting was that when I met Christian Krogstad, the founder of the distillery, I discovered he too was an ex-brewer making single malt. My friend Andrew Tice, who I knew from brewing school, had just been brought on and is also a wonderful brewer. I met these guys and others on the team that had experience in brewing. And they said, “Look, we're experimenting with all different kinds of ale yeast strains, and a few different kinds of two-row malted barley, different kilns, and different roasts to see what we like. We really think that a lot of these beer techniques can be used in making whiskey and produce pretty fantastic results.” And with that, I knew I found my people.

WHAT DID YOUR EARLY DISTILLING WITH WESTWARD WHISKEY LOOK LIKE?

I started distilling almost right away when I joined the team. It was such a small operation that when I got hired on, I was the only distiller. I think at the time we were a company of maybe 15 people. We were in a tiny closet-sized distillery, with one still, and whiskey production had been pretty sporadic. So when I was brought on, we were really looking to get to consistently making whiskey. And what that meant was that we needed beer wash. We needed that wash for distillation, and the distillery was so small that we didn't have any kind of wash system in place. What Christian had been doing in the past was just reaching out to brewers here and there to make the wash worts. Portland's got a pretty big brewing scene at this point, with 80+ breweries in the metro area (it's outrageous), so we weren't hard up in trying to find a brewery that would make our wash worts. And our wash was super – just kind of medium kilned base malts, two-row malted barley – all brewers have it. We're also using that “Chico” strain, the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale yeast strain, which all craft brewers have. It's ubiquitous in the industry.

We realized that we were going to have to get a lot more wash sourced, and we knew that we would need a somewhat bigger brewery to help with that. And Breakside Brewing had just opened their production facility – they had gone from this tiny, basement brewery, to this much bigger facility. With that move, they now had this big, 30-barrel beer system that they were just getting online. They were on board with helping us out and giving us wash. But of course, you know, what happens when you start partnering with a brewery: experimentation. “What other yeast strains are you guys running? Why don't you make us a stout recipe and send that wash over? Let us come over and brew with you guys. Let's experiment with different flavors, different grains, and different yeast strains.”

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES IN YOUR DISTILLATION PROCESS THAT HONOR THAT BREWING HERITAGE?

Yes, there’s so, so much. Starting with what people see when they come through the distillery and try our wash.

When it comes to our process at Westward, we've got a four roller mill that we have dialed in to Brewer specs, We want our wash system set as a craft brew system with a mash lauter tun with the screened floor for siphoning off all that liquid leaving the grain behind, so we don't extract a lot of the astringency and the tannins and bitterness, which will absolutely come through and whiskey. Especially because we're going into charred new oak barrels, we want to back off that to let the tannins come from the wood, not from the grain. We know that because as brewers, we understand how you take care of that in the beginning parts of the process. We're boiling the wort as a brewer would, which is essential for our sweet mash. It also caramelizes that wort, so we're getting a lot more of those nutty, biscuity caramelized flavors before you even ferment it.

Once we go into the fermenter, this is a point of pride for us, and it’s why we have people try the wash when they visit. It's a long fermentation and it's a cold one, especially for whiskey. 96 to 120 hours for fermentation, all at about 71 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. That's a beer fermentation that's just what brewers do. We control that temp; we make sure that we keep it super low. In that way, we're creating this really beautiful wash and that's our whole brewers background at work as far as that process goes. Once you're done with your fermentation, you have some time for conditioning, and then when you're done, you’ve tried to build all your good flavor upfront. That's our process.

HOW HAVE YOU CONTINUED TO EXPAND THE VOICE OF SINGLE MALT THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION?

You know, it's been an interesting journey. We got started in 2004, as one of a handful of single malt distilleries in the country. And so, people first of all had to wrap their heads around why we weren’t making bourbon and had no plans to” When it comes to single malt whiskey, I think our advantage is that we’re producing in the US as the category is being defined. The traditional places where you find a lot of single malt are all pretty strict about how they're making whisky. With the traditions and regulations there, there’s far less innovation.

For us, that has meant it was wide open. We were looking at a future of single malt which to us seems really fascinating. Imagine the possibilities. This might begin with experimenting with other yeast strings. Could you imagine trying some wine yeast strains? Let's try a Belgian Ardennes Farmhouse Ale strain, or we've got this James Beard award-winning baker here in Portland – let's get his sourdough starter, and ferment with that. Why not? Let's give it a shot. And that's now something we do every year with an annual production of sourdough single malt, and it's fantastic. It's just that kind of thing that we are able to explore. Another example is in our core line-up, where we have Westward Pinot Noir Cask Finished whiskey. Years ago, you'd see an errant kind of red wine cask here and there, but for the most part with single malt most use sherry or port as go-to’s for finishing.

These are standards now for good reason – they're delicious, and those flavors add a really wonderful depth and complexity to whiskeys. But we thought, we're here in Oregon, and don't want to order Sherry barrels from halfway around the world when we're an hour north of a pretty famous American AVA (American Viticultural Area), the Willamette Valley, which is known for making Pinot Noir. So, alright, let's grab freshly emptied wine casks from these Pinot Noir makers that we know personally, and start putting our whiskey in them.

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN COLLABORATING WITH BREWERS IN PRODUCING WHISKEY?

We also started working with brewers more and more. Aside from the obvious of using the same techniques as brewers, we have also begun getting brewers to the distillery and we're turning some of their beers into whiskey. Can you imagine? “Hey, we love your red ale. Let's turn it into whiskey.” “Your Belgian wit is great. Did you ever want to see it as a whiskey?” So we'll invite those brewers in, clone their recipe, use the same yeast strain, and all the specialty grains. We'll make the whiskey.

With our Stout cask, like your single barrel Cask Strength release, we have a great reciprocal relationship with local brewers. Brewers are always looking for whiskey barrels. So, we give brewers these barrels here locally, and we get them back. And just like that same proximity with the winemakers as these are wet fill barrels, we're getting them back directly from the brewers, usually a day or two after they're empty. They're not rinsed, leaving this wonderful beer character inside. For us, there's no end in sight. We were talking at the beginning here, I said that we experimented so much at the beginning that we're really now just trying to keep up with all these concepts that we've laid down. That allows us to express a range of what we can do in focusing on making single malts – we don't need to make any other style of whiskey.

As I look at whiskey, there are these five elements: grain, water, yeast, oak, and maturation (time and environment). Within those five elements, you have so many different choices; so many different stylistic decisions you can make as far as what you want to do, and even just making small changes in one of those elements will give you very different results. So if you're changing up all five, you know, it's going to be an unrecognizable whiskey from what you’re normally making. There's really no end in sight. However, despite the endless platform to work with, we do have a vision; we're not just experimenting for the sake of experimentation. It is always flavor first. It's always got to be approachable and balanced to a certain degree. We never want to alienate anyone by making some wild single malt that you can't wrap your head around. We want you to enjoy Westward, like we do.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A PART OF BUILDING THE VOICE OF AMERICAN SINGLE MALTS?

It's incredible. Honestly, it truly is. I feel pretty honored to be a part of it. I really do. I couldn’t have even imagined concocting a plan 20 years ago, where I would be a brewer and then eventually I'd make single malt, and eventually be part of pioneering a new category of whiskey in American Single Malt and bringing that forward to help kind of define what that means.

In 2016, we formed the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission, with some other prolific single malt makers here in the United States to figure out some basic idea of what American Single Malt could mean. For instance, I don't think we're going to have regions like Scotland, for a few reasons. One, just that the nature of craft distilling is very experimental. Also, given the size of this country, with American Single Malt styles being made all over the US – with incredibly different environments, and varied climate approaches. So, we're excited to be a part of it.

I think it's key to just make sure that when we came up with the standards, it was mostly to protect the category – so if someone picks up a bottle of single malt made in the United States, they know that it's high quality, and it was made a certain way. But being careful to not restrict creativity also, because that would negate the whole purpose of the effort.

I mean, it's pretty incredible. I've been with Westward for nearly twelve years. And I don't know how many distillers within their career are able to help get a new distillery off its feet, help pioneer a new category of whiskey, and bring it out to the world. It's a special thing.

ARE THERE ANY ROUTINES OR RITUALS THAT YOU VALUE IN YOUR WORK?

Whiskey in general teaches you patience. Coming from brewing where you make something and a few weeks later, maybe a month later, or a couple at the most, it's ready, and you're drinking it and you're enjoying it. Whereas in whiskey, I have spirits that I made 11 years ago that are still sitting and developing. With whiskey in general, there is so much patience needed to see the results of your work.

Coming from an earlier career as a musician and more of a creative person, I will also admit I was not very much into the routine, pretty unorganized, and unfocused. I think it's just the nature of the creative mind. You're just kind of all over the place. I think whiskey has helped put a focus on things for me. When it comes to blending, even just like a day or two before the blend, you can tell we're all getting ready for it. We're watching what we eat, and paying close attention to how things will be affecting our palate. And then, when we sit down, we have certain playlists that we put on while blending – music is essential for blending.

One habit that I have started to apply to Bourbon that I have taken from drinking scotch is drinking it with ice or just a dash of water. The reason I do that is because to me, it takes you on a flavor journey. While ice may close down the whiskey just a little bit, as it melts, the water starts a reaction that gives you different aromas and flavors. So, as you’re sipping it enjoy whatever you may be doing, you’re getting different notes.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE RELEASE THAT YOU'VE WORKED ON?

My absolute favorite is the classic - Westward Whiskey Original. That's just what it all comes down – everything kind of branches out from there. Another one of my favorites was a Belgian Ardennes that we did – this was getting a Belgian Farmhouse Ale yeast from a brewery down the street. I ended up there after work here and there. I came in one time, and they had this Farmhouse Ale on tap – it blew my mind with how good it was. I ended up there the rest of the week, just drinking a few. And finally, I asked if I could have some of this yeast. We kicked off this Belgian Ardennes Farmhouse Ale strain and we changed nothing else with the Westward recipe. But we did ferment it a little hotter because the Belgian strain is like that, and it was outrageous.

I mean, it was so so good! That's definitely one that I truly love. There's another winery here in the Willamette Valley, Dominio IV, that we work with for a Pinot cask. They also produce a tempranillo, and now we’re finishing Westward in tempranillo – it’s incredibly good, the flavor match is outrageous.

HOW DID OUR REALLY UNIQUE WESTWARD SWITCHBACK BARREL COME TO LIFE?

There's a house flavor to everything that we produce – it's kind of a continuous line through it all. And it’s the same for your Switchback pick too, I don’t know if you remember how it all went down. We were at the table and tasted through everything, and then we were just kind of wandering through a number of random experiments and someone was like, “IPA cask? How about that one?” Initially, I hated it, but originally, we thought it'd be fun.

It was actually with Breakside. They were making our wash for us and they told us that they had this great new new IPA coming out called Wanderlust. They told us, “It's a Golden IPA. It's going to have more tropical fruit hops, while not being over the top bitter hoppy.” But they wanted it to be barrel-aged. We didn’t quite know how that would work in a whiskey barrel. However, we had been barrel aging Aviation – I started barreling Aviation when I started working with the company to make an Old Tom, which was that Aviation gin in ex-Westward barrels. So, what would happen if we gave them a barrel that aged Westward, then aged Aviation, and then you put an incredible IPA in it? Sounded good, so we gave a barrel to them.

By the time Breakside was finished with it, that barrel had aged Westward for four years, then had a year with Aviation Gin, at which point it went down the street for the IPA for about 10 months. Finally, they sent it back to us where we filled it with 2-year old Westward. We were thinking maybe the younger brighter whiskey might match well with that incredible barrel journey. And unexpectedly, for the first two years, I hated it – this was clearly a failure, but you know, sometimes you just need time. We just left it alone. I had totally forgotten about that barrel… that is, until you guys pointed it out. And I was like, “yeah, I suppose we can try it.” Apparently, two to three years wasn’t enough – it needed four years in that barrel and then bam, just outstanding!

IF SOMEONE WAS NEW TO WESTWARD, HOW WOULD YOU SUGGEST THEY GET STARTED?

If someone is going to dive into Westward for the first time, I would recommend they start with our flagship, our core four whiskeys. The four tell the whole story of Westward in a few ways. You would start with our Original, the OG turquoise label – that's the trunk of the tree, and everything else that we do branches off of it. That's the one that, to me, embodies Westward and is balanced, and very approachable, but still packed with flavor.

With the Pinot Noir cask, you’ll explore the influence of wine and more of those sweet fruit herbaceous notes, with a little kind of spice from the French oak. From there, you move to the Stout cask where you’ll appreciate more of those beer flavors, being kind of nutty, chocolatey, and roasty. Lastly, you’ll bring those flavors up in volume with Cask Strength to accentuate all of the core flavor components.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE COCKTAILS TO MAKE WITH WESTWARD?

You know, everybody says Old Fashioneds, which are often great. For me, it's the Boulevardier. If you're going to make an Old Fashioned I would recommend the Stout Cask. A New York Sour with the Pinot Cask is amazing. Absolutely. A Lion's Tail is also fun, and we make Paper Planes a lot with Westward – they are super delicious and it’s great to see how well Westward mixes. It's pretty cool to see how well Westward does in tiki drinks, and I know that's a stupid wild thing to say, but Westward works in tikis really well – It really does.

I first started drinking Lion’s Tails at a bar here in Portland called the Rum Club. It’s a pretty fun, famous cocktail bar – and yes, most of what they have is rum. They’re down the street from the distillery and they love us and we love them, so we're there often. Over time, we’re getting to them to experiment with Westward, including in a Lion's Tail. It’s a pretty spicy whiskey Tiki drink. If you can get a Rum Cask Westward release, it really knocks it out of the park in a Lion’s Tail.

WHAT MAKES YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT THAT FUTURE OF AMERICAN SINGLE MALT AND WESTWARD WHISKEY?

It's so cool to see that we've got hundreds of single malt makers now in the United States. I'm a big fan of having more people involved to get more ideas and fresher perspectives. It is a double-edged sword, because sometimes there can be some pretty outrageous ideas. I think what's most exciting about American Single Malt right now is that people are talking about it. You know, we're the distillery here that’s turning 20 this year, right? We've been at it a while, but we started super small, and we're still not that big.

There seems to be a lot more places now and people are really talking about American Single Malt. To me, the most exciting thing is that it's actually on everyone's minds. And now, we even have brands like Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam and Bulleit all putting out single malts over the last year using that term, “American Single Malt.” That's huge. We couldn't buy that kind of publicity, and in the eyes of consumers, it may lend a certain amount of legitimacy to the category. People are talking about it, and they're interested in seeing it as this emerging category, and not just a flash in the pan type of thing. We're planting a flag in the ground – American Single Malt is here.

IN CLOSING

It has been astounding to follow the growth of American Single Malt over the years, and the recent formalizing of the category will serve to support that work. There's no doubt that Miles has played a pivotal role in leading the charge -- and having seen the whiskey that he has produced so far at Westward Whiskey, I am so excited for what's to come.