Thieves steal $1M worth in craft whiskey from Washington distillery

Thieves who left with 12,000 bottles of artisanal whiskey in a rare robbery of American alcohol this summer made more than a million dollars of products – they also kept almost half the stock in a single Malt distiller worked for more than a decade to do.

Now, the Sheriff’s Office of the Skag Investigation Valley, and whiskey enthusiasts wonder if – and where – the coveted bottles of Westland Distillery’s first Garryana whiskey could arise.

The bottles disappeared on July 31, when someone in a truck of goods presented itself at the Westland Distillery warehouse in Burlington, Washington, holding the documents which gave them the right to recover a single Westland, Watchpost Mixed and Whiskies Garryana Single expedition to New Jersey.

But the bottles have never reached their planned destination, and the “sophisticated fraudulent transport program” was discovered a week later, said Jason Moore, managing director of the distillery based in Seattle.

Garryana’s 10th anniversary edition of the 10th anniversary is irreplaceable, Moore said.

“It is an unfortunate and quite extraordinary situation,” said Moore.

The Sheriff’s Bureau of the County of Skag did not immediately respond to a telephone message left by the Associated Press.

It could be difficult to sell stolen products, said Mark Gillespie, the host of the Podcast Whiskeycast which has published more than 3,800 tasting tickets for various varieties of whiskey.

“It will be really difficult for anyone who took this to put this on the market, because what they took was so rare that everyone knows it,” said Gillespie. “We see these flights from time to time in Scotland, where thieves will steal a trailer full of whiskey – and this generally ends in Russia.”

But leaving 12,000 bottles from the United States could be difficult because the bottles are rare and recognizable, and returning it to the United States can be difficult due to the country’s three-level system for alcohol sales. The distilleries must generally sell alcohols to distributors or wholesalers, who then sell to retailers, restaurants and bars. Selling alcohol on the secondary market – as when individuals buy popular bottles, then resell them for a profit – is generally illegal.

This is not true in much of Europe, where auction houses and other companies specialize in sales of the secondary market.

“Garryana Providence is important because it is their first 10 -year whiskey,” said Gillespie. “Basically, age declarations indicate how old whiskey, and in this country, you have many craft distilleries that are not entirely 10 years. So, for an artisanal distillery to be able to release a 10 -year -old child is an accomplishment.”

Westland focuses on whiskeys with a malt, a barley -based alcohol style, similar to a Scottish whiskey. But Moore says that Westland worked hard to capture the terroir of the North West Pacific inside each bottle, using locally produced grains, peat harvested in an Olympic peat bog and a specific type of yeast-sided to bring out the regional flavors.

This is what makes the Garryana special, he said-it ages in barrels made from the Quercus Garryana oak, which mainly grows in the northwest of the Pacific.

Limited edition whiskey regularly wins prizes, said Gillespie, and the 2023 edition has been named the third best whiskey in the world by Whiskey Advocate magazine. The Garryana sells each year, said Gillespie, and with 3,000 of 7,500 boots this year, the price on the secondary market will be led.

Moore said the company had taken additional measures to protect its supply chain and, at present, they focus on customer service instead of the survey.

“What is happening from there is outside our control, and we are delighted to share our whiskey and get involved with the supporters we have,” said Moore. “This is an extremely rare thing, and although it is a setback, we are convinced that we are going to share this whiskey. We are proud to do something that people appreciate.”

Losing $ 1 million in shares would put many distilleries with regard to business, but Gillespie said he expected Westland to suffer the loss, in part because it was acquired by the Remy Cointreau group, based in Paris in 2016. However, he has advice for people wishing to taste Westland products: to stick to the legal supply chains.

“If someone is trying to offer you a case of Westland Whiskey right now, I would call the cops,” said Gillespie.