Review #304 - Waterford Single Farm Origin - Rathclogh Edition 1.1
After leaving Bruichladdich, Mark Reynier took his ideas of terroir in whisky into the realm of Irish whisky, founding Waterford Distillery in 2016. The distillery maintains a meticulous focus on their barley and spirit, cataloguing much information about the different varieties used to create their unique spirits. One of these focuses relates to barley grown on individual farms, which is then made into whisky and bottled without interference from malt from other locations or years - that brings us to the 'Single Farm Origin' series.
Each Waterford bottle comes with a terroir code on the back label - for this Rathclogh Edition 1.1, the code (F016E01-01) gives us a huge amount of information when entered on the distillery's website:
The barley was harvested on August 21, 2015
Growing took place in the Raheen, Tank, and Hobans fields of Rathclogh Farm in Kilkenny County
Barley was grown by Richard Raftice
Spirit was distilled in the 26th week of 2016
Maturation took place for 3 years, 11 months, and 26 days
13,000 bottles were produced for this release
The whisky was bottled in August 2022
All of that and much, much more - from malting dates to fermentation dates, soil types, elevation, sunlight levels, yeast types, cask composition - more information that we can possibly use. The distillery's dedication to their ideal of terroir is admirable.
One other data point we that we will mention: the cask types used for maturation. This was a combination of ex-bourbon barrels, virgin American white oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks. Quite a mixture there - let's see how that affects the spirit.
Waterford Single Farm Origin - Rathclogh Edition 1.1
Ireland - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 63 (2024)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 80 (2024)
Age Statement: 3 Years
Strength: 50% ABV
Cask Makeup: 36% first fill ex-bourbon, 17% virgin American oak, 21% French oak, and 26% Vin Doux Naturel casks
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; 2016 vintage, bottled in 2020; 13,000 bottles
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 4 times over 12 months; bottles at 50%, 100%, 90%, and 80% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Grain-forward, with lots of light flavors: vanilla, pepper, dry sharp oak, sour apples, and malt. There's some nice character to the spirit, with vegetal notes and a sour character, but also those soft fruits. Dry stone fruit, oysters, and salinity are accent flavors; it becomes more malty and grainy with time, with oatmeal notes. A bit young, as well.
Palate: A medium thickness for the mouthfeel - this is quite bright, raw, and effervescent. Semi-dry oak, malty grain and oatmeal, fizzy lemon-lime soda, and decent salinity start us out; the youth is again evident, with lots of dry, spirity notes. Peppercorns and vanilla pods add a baking spice side, and apple flavors add a soft fruit side. Texture improves with time.
Finish: Malty, chalky, with lingering dry oak and white pepper spice. The fizzy feeling continues into the finish, and there are bits of yellow apple and sugary peach. Black pepper and salt add more spice notes, and the length of the finish is medium or so.
Final Note: Quite interesting spirit, but this is generally a very drying, slightly sour experience, and the youth of the whisky is showing through all the time. It does have a nice mix of baking notes and interesting texture, but we would have loved to see the fruit side develop a bit more, possibly adding some sweeter flavors to balance the tasting.
We were able to purchase this Waterford bottling on offer, which made the price a bit more palatable, but generally, it's a relatively expensive brand, even for its entry level bottles. Value is quite mediocre at this point, but we're interested to see how the spirit develops with several more years of aging.
Our Average Rating: 5.5 / 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: 5.27
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.
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