Review #773 - Oregon Spirit 5 Year Wheat Whiskey
Based in Bend, Oregon, Oregon Spirit Distillers produces several styles of whisky such as bourbon, rye, wheat, and malt whiskies. Here's wheat whisky from them, and it carries a 5 year age statement. Wheat whisky saw a bit of a resurgence in popularity in 2025; let's see how this one measures up among them.
This wheat whisky uses a mashbill of 74% wheat (all Oregon-grown), 18% rye, and 8% malted barley; it's bottled at a strength of 45% ABV (90 proof).
Oregon Spirit 5 Year Wheat Whiskey
USA - Wheat
Price: USD 45 (2026)
Age Statement: 5 Years
Strength: 45% ABV
Details: Barrel series #171031
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 2 years; bottles at 100% (blind tasting), 90% (blind tasting), 80% (blind tasting), and 70% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Sweeter, with butterscotch, caramel, and vanilla starting the scents, followed by some sweet fruity character: papaya, peaches, then cotton candy. We get soft grainy notes, including a bit of herbal rye or menthol; then it's graham crackers, icing sugar, honey, and soft oak.
Palate: The mouthfeel has a medium thickness. Grain, honey, and vanilla cake combine with some warmth and a bit of maple syrup. It's very sweet; mint, cake icing, refined sugar, and strong peach notes come next. Golden Grahams breakfast cereal combines with some starchy oak, and drying cinnamon builds at the end.
Finish: Mint and menthol notes, sweet syrupy flavors of honey and maple syrup - a nice juxtaposition between sweet and spicy spirit, but it still leans sweet overall. Clove and nutmeg bring a baking side, and we get hints of hay in the aftertaste. It's a medium-short finish.
Final Note: This one surprised us a bit - we haven't had a wheat whisky before that showcased such bright, sweet, tropical fruits on the nose, though their influence was a little more limited on the palate. There are tons of sugary sweet notes overall: honey, syrup, graham crackers, and cake-related notes were dominant, with only a soft wood spice and baking spice bringing some balance. This is a fun, interesting whisky, but it's still a little young and unbalanced.
Value here is pretty good. The price on this wheat whisky has fluctuated between $40 and $45 for the last couple of years in our area; for that price, we think you're getting an interesting, tasty whisky, one that could be a good conversation starter among whisky fans.
Our Rating: 6.5 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 7.42
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Oregon Spirit reviews:
