WC Test Drive: Rogue Farms Oregon Single Malt Whiskey

Rogue is a familiar name in craft brewery circles – with many of their beers being immediately recognizable to the beer cognoscenti – but it was only recently that they entered the whiskey fray with their Rogue Farms Oregon Single Malt Whiskey. The brewery is based in the seaside town of Newport but the barley used for the whiskey is grown out in the Tygh Valley, in the middle of the state, just east of the iconic Mount Hood. They take the Risk malt grown at Tygh Valley back to Newport, where it is brewed, distilled and “ocean-aged” in oak barrels for three months. The result is a whiskey which has won various awards in the five years since it was released in 2010.

Rogue Farms Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is bottled at 40% [80 proof], so you will not be expecting a harsh introduction and you will not be on the receiving end of one. Rogue Farms Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is smooth and somewhat smoky on its first impression, before transforming into a more caramel-like notes after a few minutes of exposure to the world outside of its bottle. Rogue Farms boasts that there are no additives, chemicals or preservatives in their whiskey and that may be one reason why their three ingredient whiskey – Risk barley malt, distiller’s yeast and Oregon coastal water – is lacking the harsh notes present in many other American whiskies. Rogue Farms Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is fairly reasonably priced and available for approximately $50 per bottle, depending on where you can get your hands on a bottle.

Overall, WC found the Rogue Farms Oregon Single Malt Whiskey to be mostly pleasant – a good whiskey for a first date or possibly a go-to summertime whiskey – and would award it a score of 87 of 100.