SolanaRoots
Waterford Ratheadon Edition 1.1
Single Malt — Ireland
Reviewed
November 7, 2020 (edited March 8, 2021)
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!
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@PBMichiganWolverine That’s not too surprising...in the race to get a product to market, these early releases seem to compromise on quality. Not everyone can be Daftmill with a 12 Yr bottle as the inaugural release! Nc’nean has a few positive reviews on Distiller though
@SolanaRoots Despite everything being organic or recycled at Mc’Nean, I’ve read the liquid is better in cocktails than neat. Didn’t quite live up to the hype
@Anthology Nice, I haven’t heard of those. Will be interested to read your reviews whenever you acquire!
There’s still a few of the 1:1s available in my neck of the woods. There’s also a couple new 1:1 releases - Rathclogh 1.1 & Dunmore 1.1. I’m eyeing all three!
@SolanaRoots i have. All the 1.1 bottles (3 of them...well 2 now since the Ratheadon is finished), plus the Gaia. Haven’t opened the others
@PBMichiganWolverine Have you picked up any additional bottles besides the initial three that were released? The bottle called Gaia that @Richard-ModernDrinking reviewed sounds really interesting...have my eye out for it
@SolanaRoots the initial batches were impossible to get in US, I think now the 2nd batches are readily available. This one in particular, Ratheadan, was even impossible to get outside Ireland. I think barely a few hundred bottles available..surprisingly, it was cheap—-about $65
@PBMichiganWolverine is indeed legendary. Also, nice tasting :)