American Single Malt Whiskey

Puget Sound, USA

Copperworks Distilling Company's American single malt whiskey from Seattle, produced at their waterfront distillery near Pike Place Market. Using Pacific Northwest malted barley — including varieties from Skagit Valley — and a pot still distillation approach, Copperworks produces a lighter, more elegant whisky than Westland: less new oak influence, more focus on distillate character and malt purity. Their Release 001 program numbers each limited release. An important voice in the emerging American single malt genre.

Pairing intelligence

• digestif: Aged Gouda's caramel, butterscotch, and crystalline texture bridges with the whiskey's American oak vanilla and dried fruit notes. Fig jam's sweetness echoes the spirit's grain sweetness; Marcona almonds' toasty fat rounds the alcohol presence. Rosemary crackers' herbal bitterness provides contrast that resets the palate. A digestif and cheese pairing with genuine aromatic coherence.
• digestif: Copperworks' malt-forward, ale-yeast character and vanilla-oak sweetness mirror dark chocolate's bittersweet profile; sea salt amplifies both the spirit's finish and the chocolate's intensity.
• casual: A heavily peated single malt finds remarkable affinity with dark chocolate and espresso; the orange peel cuts through the smoke and amplifies the whiskey's fruit.
• aperitif: Smoked salmon's smokiness bridges directly to the whisky's own smoke character — both carry Pacific Northwest terroir in their production process. Rye's earthy grain character provides a textural bridge to the spirit's grain complexity.
• cheese: The heavily peated single malt and the smoked blue cheese form an extraordinary bridge: smoke meets smoke, while honeycomb and pear provide the sweetness that tempers both elements' intensity.