Waterford Ratheadon Edition 1.1

Terroir. Outsourced. Potato. Potatoe. Does it make any difference? It sounds as if Waterford believe it most certainly does. I think there is something unique, or old-school, about it. Farm to consumer (no factory) and somewhat refreshing. I am an Irish whiskey fan and look forward to tasting the results of their idea and belief. There is an ever present ethanol note that hovers over the lighter aromas. Irish profile of fresh fruit and sweetness, malt and yeast. Take a bowl, throw in diced green bananas, Granny Smith apples, vanilla sweet cream, cinnamon, barley sugary, Frosted Mini Wheats. Stir around and breathe it in. A healthy breakfast nose. Now take in what is fresh in your aromatic senses and spin that 90 degrees. A thick, viscous, velvety texture coats that palate. Dessert that’s saccharine (to put it mildly). Lemon shortcake, white pepper, graham crackers, fresh ginger, apples, honey all coated with confectionery sugar. The ginger zing follows to the finish as the oak tannins push forward with vanilla and small amount of barrel char. This rides out for an enjoyable medium length. A good, full balance of aromas and flavors. The youthfulness is detectable. Vibrant and bright. The practice of doing it all in-house is intriguing and, in this case, holds true promise. If this matures for another few years, this just may be the upper echelons of whisk(e)ies. Full, undiluted aroma and flavor. Thanks @PbMichiganWolverine for the great sample (and supplying everyone who as tasted this on Distiller thus far). [90/100][Tasted: 3/6/21]

Of all the new distilleries that have popped up in recent years, the only ones to really intrigue me are Waterford and Nc’nean. The collaboration that Waterford is undertaking with Irish farmers is immense and impressive. A true terroir approach. The initial trio of bottle releases were rare on this side of the pond, so I was beyond lucky to try a pour from the legendary @PBMichiganWolverine who graciously shared a generous sample. At three years, this is unmistakably young on the nose & taste...heavy barley and grass notes that require a splash of water to get it to a better spot. But there’s an underlying vibrancy and quality that indicates this distillery is on the right track. Benromach and Bruichladdich have shown me that some single malt whisky can get quite interesting in the 6-7 year range so I’m counting down the days (years). If bottles of Waterford become more widely available and fall in the $70ish range, I can see myself always having a bottle on hand. Cheers and many thanks again PB!

Several weeks ago, I attended an online Redbreast tasting put on by the MIT Alumni Association. I did not attend MIT, which demonstrates it’s good to know smart people. The tasting utilized Redbreast’s sample pack - consisting of the 12, 15 and Lustau - with participants responsible for obtaining the whiskey on their own. I had a bit of trouble finding the sample pack in stock, but located it at The Whisky Shop USA in San Francisco. For reasons unknown, the package started it’s cross-country journey, stopped for several days in Kansas, and then was returned to San Francisco. The Whisky Shop offered to resend it, but alas, it was too late for the tasting. There would be no Redbreast for me. But I still wanted to attend the tasting, and I didn’t want to sadly sit in front of my laptop empty handed. Fortunately, I had the perfect Irish stand-in - a sample of Waterford Ratheadon, courtesy of @PBMichiganWolverine. If you haven’t read @PBMichiganWolverine’s review yet, do yourself a favor and scroll down the page. This is the ultimate in local sourcing and transparency. I love it. Did I love the whiskey? On both the nose and palate, it’s unmistakably Irish - fruitiness, mostly white grape and some lemon, cereal malt and caramel. The unusual part is the mineral note that has been noted in every Waterford review I’ve read so far. That’s no coincidence, because it’s unmistakable and it really stands out against the otherwise classic Irish profile. I had mixed feelings - it’s unique, but while it’s definitely maritime in nature, I found it trended slightly towards fishiness. As a pescatarian, I’m not shy about the taste of fish, but I found it to be a bit incongruent here. The ethanol is prominent, which was not terribly surprising for a young whiskey at 50% ABV, and overall, it runs a bit hot. I added some water, which the Ratheadon accepted beautifully. At an ABV somewhere in the low 40s, the heat is gone, the fruits and the minerality are toned down, and the maltiness takes a more prominent role. In the end, I liked the Ratheadon, but I am enamored with Waterford. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future releases, and I hope to see other craft distilleries emulate Waterford’s model. I’ll get to the Redbreasts eventually, but for now, I was thrilled to try the Ratheadon. Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine!

Number 2 on my PBM flight. All the way from Ireland to NY and then to NZ. This had the misfortune of being tasted after the Hibiki 21 and all it's ancient complexity. You could definitely taste it's youth and more simple nature but hey this thing is a toddler in comparison. Despite the slightly youthful spirit base which isn't quite integrated yet with the rest of the spirit you can taste it's potential. Oily green vanilla banana white pepper and clove. I look forward to hearing more from these guys! Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine

On the nose, I get grass, barnyard, and maybe some cinnamon. On the palate, I get the same grass and barnyard with a big wall of sweetness. Grapes, caramel, vanilla, powdered sugar. Behind it is a pleasant wave of tannin which sticks around for the short finish. It reminds me of a young, craft American whisky. I was interested in what the variety of very active casks would bring to the party, but it's kind of all over the place, although the wine casks are most dominant. Perhaps more maturation and marrying time would help. I'm betting that would completely drown out the barley though, which is supposed to be their gimmick. I bought into the hype, and honestly, I'm pretty disappointed.

This is the brand new Irish Waterford distillery’s Ratheadon ( yes...sounds like a dinosaur, right up there with pteranodon). A few key facts about these guys: it’s single farm focus, with a concentration in terroir. And how cool is this——there’s a tracking code by bottle which you enter into their website, and a series of deep details are made available. So, my bottle came from Ratheadon farm, Irina barley sown Aug 11, 2015, fermented May 10, 2016, 2 day distillation, matured till February 6, 2020 and bottled June 2, 2020. Only 2000 bottles, with only 1400 made for sale...and ONLY in Ireland. Even provides a Google map of the terroir, soil type ( surface water clay), cask composition, and how many liters were in each cask!! My god, 700 tastings in over 10 years and I’ve never seen such level of detail! Needless to say...with such small micro-production, these first releases (farms from Bannow Island, Ballyclavin, and Ratheadon ) sold out in minutes...and we’re not talking silly money. I paid only $60 for mine. You’ll see them now in secondary for 3-5x the original price. I don’t comment usually on art and bottling—-but was really impressed by the bottle. Elegant dark blue, heavy, with a solid glass stopper. Okay—-so, they have clearly the transparency, technology, price affordability, and focus on quality ...but how’s the liquid? For $60...I wasn’t expecting much. At first...Until obviously I saw the details. But wow...for $60, I don’t think I’ve had anything better. This is not like any Irish I’ve ever had. As with most 42%+ ABV, I had to add a few drops of water to mine. The nose was at first underwhelming—-typical malty, bread-y. But the palette shines—-fruit is there, but it’s combined with a maritime salty taste. Almost like a Talisker 18. In fact, tasted blind, I would’ve mistaken this for Talisker 18. At such a young age, it’s mature...a product of obsessive focus on quality. Of the new distilleries, I think it was Bimber that had impressed me most with new offerings. Before that, probably Kilchoman...and that was 10 years ago. This is better. Hey...newbie distilleries in US and Scotland...ya’ll should be taking notes from these guys...