Waterford Rathclogh Edition 1.1...

Waterford Rathclogh Edition 1.1 (50.0%): We continue today with the third sample from Waterford Distillery... It is one of their Single Farm releases again and this time the barley is sourced from Rathclogh Farm. The whisky is just a few days shy of being four years old exactly like Dunmore Edition 1.1, distilled in June 2016, aged in a combination of 1st fill ex-Bourbon, new American oak, ex-wine and ex-sherry casks, and bottled in July 2020 exclusively for US market. The batch yielded 13,000 bottles in total. Here is the "link" if you want to reach more info about this particular release, "F016E01-01".

Color: White wine color with a ring of stationary teardrops basically refusing turning into legs.

Nose: Pomelo and yellow grapefruit orchards, dandelion leaves and vanilla. Warming... Apple cider, ground coriander and crispy oatmeal cookies. After adding water: Cardboard boxes, blueberry juice and jonquils.

Palate: A little crafty right at the beginning (duh..!). Black cherry soda, cinnamon apple crumble and green wood. A few drops of water and allowing some time to air works great. It's much better now: Sage, chamomile tea and honey. Asian pear and cookie dough. Strangely very Christmasy now...

Finish: Still warming... Long with white pepper, cloves and allspice.

Overall: In the end I decided to pour all three Editions together for an additional side by side tasting as well... I just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything when I tasted them on different days and wanted to be sure that I am being fair and right. They are actually pretty close to each other when compared but definitely not as close as tasting the same spirit from different casks. If I try to find only a couple simple descriptors for each one I would say Dunbell Edition 1.1 is the one with distinct lemongrass, green tea and synthetic fiber notes, Dunmore Edition 1.1 is the spicy and herbal one with warming honey and Rathclogh Edition 1.1 is the more citrusy, fruity and juicy one compared to former two: fruits hanging on the tree on the nose, freshly sliced, baked and juiced on the palate with the addition of baking spices and some peppercorns in the end. I think it is just a little bit more enjoyable to sip in my opinion. I have one more Edition left to taste and that one is the Organic Gaia 1.1... Thanks to Glass Revolution Imports and Raj Sabharwal for giving me the chance to sample all the Waterford Editions released for US market and thank you all for reading.

Price: $95

86/100