Another in my Boilermaker series of beer-and-whiskey reviews, featuring two Portland giants: Widmer Brother Brewing and Westward Whiskey.

It’s a review from last fall, when Widmer’s Brrr Hoppy Red winter seasonal was out, and seemed a fitting matchup for the Westward Single Malt Whiskey. Why? Well, because Westward is one of the brands of Portland’s House Spirits Distillery, which also happens to be one of the city’s largest brewers. The company has a 30-barrel brewhouse in which it essentially produces the beer from which the whiskey is distilled.

Or as the company notes on its website, “Brewed like a pale ale. We begin by brewing an artisanal American Ale from scratch, using locally malted barley, ale yeast, and a slow, low temperature fermentation.” In 2018, Westward/House Spirits was considered the 16th largest brewery in Oregon based on this.

The company also has a track record of working with breweries to craft specialty whiskeys, and one that stuck out with me was (now defunct) BridgePort Brewing, and its Kingpen Double Red Ale. Westward produced a Kingpin Red Whiskey from that which sounded interesting. Well, BridgePort is no more, so in thinking of similar beers to pair with Westward, I still had a can of Widmer’s Brrr on hand at the time, and thought it was the next best thing—a red ale from another longtime iconic Portland brewery.

It was a great pairing! Here were my notes:

Westward’s is a big warm whiskey that’s smooth with vanilla and oaked cream, a touch hot at the back, and it draws out nicely fruity notes from the Brrr. The hops get smoothed over and it draws out some berry, pome, stone fruit notes with a sweet caramel backing. This is a really good, smooth, complementary pairing; subsequent sips of beer bring the earthy hops back, which then enhance the sweetness (sweet heat) of the Westward, which by itself is very good whiskey, with caramel and even some milk chocolate aromas. A++

Highly recommended, and with Brrr now out of season, look for other red ales for a similar pairing. Perhaps Ninkasi Brewing’s Dawn of the Red IRA, or Double Mountain Brewery’s IRA. You won’t be sorry!

And in case you’re interested: Refresher on the boilermaker cocktail.