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Thieves Strike Westland Distillery
Skagit County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the brazen theft of nearly $1 million worth of whiskey from Westland Distillery. On July 31, a truck pulled up to Westland’s warehouse near Seattle and presented seemingly authentic documents to pick up a truckload of whisky bound for New Jersey.
The whisky never arrived.
Westland’s freight carrier filed a police report several days later. 12,000 bottles of whisky went missing, including 3,000 bottles of this year’s limited-edition Garryana American single malt. Only 7,500 bottles were produced for release in October, and Westland managing director Jason Moore told the Seattle Times the whisky is irreplaceable. In addition to Westland’s flagship American single malt, the shipment contained an as-yet-unreleased whisky, Watchpost.
The stolen whisky has a retail value of $924,000, according to Moore.
This year’s Garryana release is even more special than usual, because it’s the 10th anniversary edition and is the first Westland release to carry a 10-year age statement. Past Garryana releases have sold out almost immediately, and fetch a premium on the secondary market.
This story will be updated with more information.
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