It’s been a long journey for American Single Malt, and the producers who make these whiskeys in all corners of the country want you to know a few things:
It’s not Scotch.
It’s made only with American-grown malted barley.
And they’re tired of waiting for U.S. regulators to officially approve the category.
“It’s been a while,” says Miles Munroe, master blender for Portland, Oregon’s Westward Whiskey, a weary note in his voice. “We established the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission (ASMWC) in 2016,” an organization of companies that make the whiskey, and put forth a framework defining what the whiskey is—but still leaving plenty of room for distilleries to riff.
In 2019, a coalition including the ASMWC and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), approached the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), urging them to establish a standard of identity for American Single Malt Whiskey, just as bourbon or rye have official definitions. Stalled by the pandemic, it took until 2022 for the TTB to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, signaling the beginning of the process to establish an official American Single Malt Whiskey category.
Fast forward to 2024: At press time, American whiskey-makers were still waiting for that designation to go through.
“The category is moving along just fine without it,” Munroe shrugs.
Indeed. If it seems like the liquor store shelves are groaning with all the new made-in-the-USA bottlings, you’re not imagining it. As of the end of 2023,
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
