- If the thieves can’t sell it, will they just drink it all themselves?
Crafting fine whisky is a long and arduous process. It can take decades for the spirit to age to the point where the master distiller finally finds it acceptable.
That’s why the recent massive whisky heist must really sting for Westland Distillery.
A thief or thieves stole a massive amount of whisky from the Washington distillery. More than half of the facility’s entire stock disappeared all at once.
This wasn’t just any booze, either. Among the thousands of bottles was a rare anniversary batch of one of the distillery’s whiskies, which had been 10 years in the making.
Altogether, the stolen alcohol is worth a neat $1 million. Yet, what’s possibly even worse is that the whisky is quite literally irreplaceable.
After all, the distillery can’t just whip up another batch of it. Or, well, they could, but that would take another decade.
If there’s any silver lining to all this, experts believe it will be very difficult for the thieves to flip their haul. The booze is very rare and there’s a lot of it, which will certainly set off any whisky aficionado’s alarm bells if it ends up being sold on the cheap.
Finest of the Fine
The crime happened already on July 31, but due to the ongoing investigation, Westland Distillery is just now going public with it. The theft took place at the distillery’s warehouse in Burlington.
At this location, Westland stores various whiskies it produces — including Garryana. This whisky, produced in limited batches and aged in titular Quercus garryanna oak casks, is one of the distillery’s finest.
And it’s not just the manufacturer tooting its own horn when they say its fine. Garryana has won numerous awards, including third-best whisky in the world for the 2023 edition, and every batch is more or less guaranteed to sell out.
This year, Westland had something even more special up its sleeve. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Garryana’s introduction, the distillery was releasing a special edition of the whisky aged for 10 years.
This batch of whisky had been maturing for as long as Garryana had existed. With a production run of only 7,500 bottles, it’s a rare treat indeed.
Papers, Please
However, that rare treat is now in wrong hands. The criminals managed to pull off their ginormous booze heist by making it seem like no crime was happening at all.
The thieves showed up at the Westland warehouse with a full-sized fright truck. The driver stepped out and handed the staff a stack of paperwork, stating that they were there to pick a load of whisky destined for New Jersey.
There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the order, so the workers loaded up the truck with 12,000 bottles of spirits. In addition to the Garryana 10-Year, the hauls included a batch of Westland single malt and Watchpost blended whiskies.
With that, the driver took off, not to be seen again. A week later, when Westland inquired whether the New Jersey middleman had received the whisky, they asked: “What whisky?”
A Hard Haul to Unload
Now, 3,000 bottles of the Garryana 10-Year are missing, alongside with more than half of the warehouse’s stock. Altogether, Westland says the stolen whisky is worth nearly a million dollars.
“This is an unfortunate and pretty extraordinary situation,” Westland’s managing director Jason Moore told the Associated Press.
Even more than the financial loss, however, Westland is mourning the loss of all the work and effort that went into the whisky. Garryana 10-Year is a unique product for Westland, and for craft distilleries in general.
“The providence of the Garryana is important because it’s their first 10-year-old whiskey. Basically, age statements state how old the whiskey is, and in this country, you have a lot of craft distilleries that aren’t quite 10 years old. So, for a craft distillery to be able to release a 10-year-old is an accomplishment,” said Mark Gillespie, a whisky expert who hosts the WhiskyCast podcast.
If Westland — and friends of fine whisky in general — can take solace in anything, it’s that it will be very difficult for the thieves to sell their haul. The entire American whisky scene will be keeping a sharp eye on any strangely cheap second-hand Westland bottles that show up.
“If somebody tries to offer you a case of Westland whiskey right now, I’d call the cops,” said Gillespie.
That said, there is a good chance the bottles are destined for other shores. Gillespie said that when huge quantities of fine spirits are stolen in one go, they usually end up in Russia.
Even then, though, trying to transport all the distinguished whisky will be a challenge. Hopefully customs agents have their eyes open.