In January, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau amended its distilled spirits standards of identity regulations to include “American single malt” — allowing the nation’s most profound bourbon makers to try their hand at distilling the newest whiskey variety.

Single malt whiskey is often associated with the likes of Scotch, Irish whiskey and even Japanese whiskey and has seen a growing popularity in consumption; yet, until this year, American distillers lacked an explicit category to make the product “in a distinctive American manner,” said Van Carlisle, chairman of the board at Jackson Purchase Distillery in Hickman…