American Single Malt.
Recently ratified as an official category by the US Government as directed by the TTB.
Up till this past month the only formal recognition for single malts in the United States were designated for Scotch producers so this is a big step to recognize this growing sector of Americas' whiskey scene. And I for one, as you may notice from the selection pictured, am here for it!
The Finalized Rules:
- Fermented mash of 100% malted barley produced in the United States
- Distillation proof of 160 or less; distilled at the same distillery in the United States
- Stored in used, charred new, or uncharred new oak barrels, with a 700-liter maximum capacity and only stored in the United States
- No neutral spirits permitted
- No allowable coloring, flavoring, or blending materials permitted, except for caramel coloring that is disclosed on the label
This regulation defines the production standards for American single malt whiskey, and what distillers can and cannot state on labels. The final rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, December 18, and the effective date is January 19, 2025
Pretty open ended for the most part, and the industry has embraced these new guidelines that honestly most of the producers you see in this recent blind were integral in pushing the government to create. The small amount of rumbles I have heard are from a few producers that create hazmat examples of single malts and the 160 distillation proof restriction may dampen their embrace of the new guidelines but overall I think it is a great update to the whiskey category as a whole!
So we begin, I selected my favorite 5 single malts from the cellar and once again my wonderful wife facilitated pouring and marking each glass as I settled into some playoff football and cleansed my palate with a couple pretzels and a big glass of water.
After spending about 15min smelling and sampling them, I started jotting notes down and analyzing each glass. I find my preferred methods for a blind is to do a quick sniff and sip on each glass, jotting down a quick first impressions, then I spend 3-5min with each glass picking apart what I like, what I don't like as well as predominate notes and drinkability and coming up with an overall score. After getting through all scores and flavor notes Ill then go back in order of preference and finalize my decisions. Usually then I will take a guess at what each one is.
After my final decisions are made, I'll employ my wife to reveal each offering from my last place to first! And the final results of the American Single Malt blind are...
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