Waterford Organic Gaia 1.1

Another of Waterford’s early releases, this being made from organic barley and the first (that I’ve had, anyway) to use barley sourced from multiple farms. At the time, the volume of barley needed for a fermentation was too high for a single farm to produce using organic methods (or at least the yields from the part of the farm using those methods).

Waterford Gaia 1.1, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on September 4-13, 2016 from organic Overture barley from a handful farms fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 136 hours and matured in 1st fill and virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 3 years, 9 months, and 20 days before bottling on August 24, 2020 producing 24,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep gold, 0.8.

Nose: Cookie/dough/bread with a decidedly banana vibe. Apple/vaguely tropical like kiwi. Slight musty honey.

Taste: Apple/tropical fruit, bready (specifically banana).

Finish: Banana bread, some spice. Wood.

Waterford’s distillery style is still here again, and the banana stands out more here than in other I remember. I’m not sure what organic barley does for whisky, and there isn’t enough here to show me, but I’m interested enough to try a single farm origin expression down the line when they have it and it’s had time to age and compare it to a similarly aged non-organic expression.

Score: 81

Waterford Sheestown 1.2

 

Another of Waterford’s early single farm origin releases, this being another one that’s a bit older than most of the ones I’ve had already and is a fourth farm source.

Waterford Sheestown 1.2, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 17-25, 2016 from Irina barley from Sheestown farm harvested August 18, 2015 - fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 131.5 hours and matured in 1st fill and virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 4 years and 9 days before bottling on September 28, 2020 producing 30,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep gold, 0.8.

Nose: Doughy, buttery cookie, something else. That something is kind of like honey. 

Taste: Fruit like pear and bitter orange. Malty, spicy, doughy/creamy.

Finish: That same citrus with some malty/spicy honey. Medium.

Waterford’s distillery style is still there, but the fruit on this one is indeed different. Other times it’s been tropical and/or banana, but not here. This is the first have had from this variety of barley, as well as this farm, so I can’t say which contributed to that. This is a bit shy of the slightly older Ballymorgan 1.2, but having had 4 years in the cask, this is quite good and again indicative of how nice this will be once the distillery’s been operational long enough to bottle properly aged whisky.

Score: 85

Waterford Ballymorgan 1.2

Another of Waterford’s early single farm origin releases, this one a bit older than the ones I’ve had already and the third farm source.

Waterford Ballymorgan 1.2, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 1-4, 2016 from Overture barley from Ballymorgan farm harvested September 13, 2015 - fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 136 hours and matured in 1st fill and virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 4 years, 1 month, and 2 days before bottling on September 28, 2020 producing 30,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep gold, 0.8.

Nose: Buttery cookie, banana, malt. Wants to be tropical fruit. 

Taste: Banana, doughy/creamy, same tropical fruit hint, cinnamon, green apple.

Finish: Malty chocolate, thick coat. Medium.

From the four I’ve had, Waterford clearly has a distillery style. I’m enjoying them a bit more as they get a bit older, so I’m still looking forward to some properly aged expressions. The various farms, and to an extent editions, do indeed vary subtly and that’s kind of neat to taste. Again, looking forward to more of them, with a handful of samples of these early releases coming in the next couple weeks.

Score: 88

Waterford Bannow Island 1.2

 

One of the things I was looking forward to with Waterford is comparing the farms against one another and against future harvests/bottlings. I’m not bothering with a side by side on this one since it was really just a second issue of 1.1 due to unanticipated demand. But, here are my notes about this on its own.

Waterford Bannow Island 1.2, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 23, 2016 from Overture barley from Bannow Island farm - sown on March 23, 2015 and harvested September 7, 2015 - fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 136.2 hours and matured in 1st fill and virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 3 years, 10 months, and 22 days before bottling on July 8, 2020 producing 9,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished, 1.1.

Nose: Doughy, malty, floral, hint of tropical fruit. 

Taste: Banana/bread, malty, light tropical fruit (the lighter variety, not lightly present).

Finish: Malty chocolate, vegetal/grassy. Medium.

Much like the 1.1, this is pretty good but young. My notes are more or less the same (different words, but about the same flavors), as expected. I liked this one a bit more on the finish, the 1.1 didn’t have as much of an earthy quality to it. If Waterford was only ever going to be releasing 3-4 year old expressions, I’d be content with what I’ve tried already, but the outlook with some age on it is positive. I’ll be reviewing some other X.1 samples in the coming weeks, but really have my sights set on future, more aged Bannow Island expressions, and whatever standard releases Waterford might eventually put out.

Score: 85

Waterford Ballykilcavan 1.1

While getting a bottle of every harvest/vintage they released is too impractical, I did manage to get a number of samples of Waterford, including this from their inaugural set of releases. I’m very interested in how each farm changes over time, but also how the farms differ with the same process. Not a proper side by side, but I will be mentally comparing this to Bannow Island 1.1.

Waterford Ballykilcavan, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 9, 2016 from Taberna barley from Ballykilcavan farm - sown on March 19, 2015 and harvested August 17, 2015 - fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 150.5 hours and matured in American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 3 years, 11 months, and 18 days before bottling in June 2020 producing 8,640 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Old gold, 0.6.

Nose: Butter cookie, fried dough, fruit tries to sneak in.

Taste: Malty. Green fruit, honey. Off note under it all.

Finish: Off malt, grass, honey.

I’ve read that some of their wine casks early on had issues with sulphur, and I wonder if that is that off note I got. It diminished/I got acclimated before the end of the dram, and toward the end that note in the finish almost became pleasant, but it was still prevalent enough to knock it down a peg for me. Without that it would have been quite enjoyable, though young. Nose-wise it was pretty similar to the Bannow Island 1.1, with a bit of difference, but this also had a different cask makeup as virgin oak wasn’t available at the time this went into casks. That off note (by the way, totally not present in the nose) did stop me from being able to do any real comparisons on the palate. I still think this will be a great distillery once the spirit has had time to age more. I’m also pleased that the nose was really very similar, so even though they’re doing a lot with terroir and trying to demonstrate the differences between the barley type, farms, harvests, etc., there does seem to be a “house style” so I’m expecting a fair amount of consistency going forward without every single expression being drastically unique. In short, if you find you do or don’t like one Waterford release, you can probably expect the same on others (though that could change if more aging brings it around, or they do something wildly different with one batch, such as peating the barley).

Score: 74

Musical Evocation: Haggard – “Awaking the Centuries”

Waterford Bannow Island 1.1

As soon as I heard about Waterford I was beyond excited. Needless to say, when I was able to snag a bottle when it released I was stoked. I really like how they’re experimenting with how the barley affects the whisky. I’m very keen on seeing how the different batches differ from one another, as well as following how one batch of the same farm compares to another. Second to none transparency, nice bottling ABV, super long fermentation time, there’s nothing about this distillery that has me wishing it were different. I’d really love to see similar terroir experiments done with peat, but you can’t effectively test multiple variables at once and they’re focusing on the barley for the foreseeable future. I’ve read Lagg will be doing something like that though, as if I wasn’t already looking forward to them, so I’ve got that at least. Also really like the bottle. The glass cork is an interesting choice I don’t quite understand, but it works.

Waterford Bannow Island 1.1, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled using barley from Bannow Island farm in 2016 and bottled in 2020, with an age statement of 3 years. It spent that time in American oak, virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished, 1.1.

Nose: Doughy, butter. Cookie/sweet bread. Tropical fruit.

Taste: Strong banana, tropical fruit, malty.

Finish: Malt, chocolate. Bit of fruit late, and cut grass. Medium.

With expectations as high as mine were for this, I was very worried I’d be let down, particularly worried they were antsy and might have bottled this too soon. Those fears were unfounded. It’s not like they managed to make a super mature-tasting whisky at under 4 years old, but they did manage a good one. It’s actually one of the more unique whiskies I’ve tried and I’m more eager than before to see how these change over time. I managed to get a sample of 1.2 (as well as a handful of others), so I’ll be comparing that to this soon. I’m not expecting much difference on that particular one as it’s not much older, but it should still be interesting. That doughy quality reminds me of Kilkerran Heavily Peated, though without the peat. That makes me really want Waterford to play around with peat in the future.

Score: 84

Musical Evocation: Týr – “Mare of My Night”