McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt

McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is of the Islay tradition of Scotch whisky. Of well-known single malts from Scotland, it resembles the Lagavulin whisky. It is very peat-y. Made from 100% peat-malted barley brought in from Scotland, our whiskey would be a single malt Scotch if Oregon were Scotland. We distill in our Holstein pot stills using one pass distillation, but make a small heads cut and a fairly large tails cut and put about 4 liters of tails into the next still run. The proof at time of distillation is about 150 (75% abv). Then we reduce in proof and barrel-age the rough distillate in barrels made from air-dried Oregon Oak. The present bottling is aged 3 year but we think it is remarkably smooth for such a young whiskey. The result is a smooth, peat-y whiskey with a surprisingly clean finish. Production is very limited because what we put in the barrel doesn't come out for years.