Waterford Ballymorgan Edition 1.1...

Waterford Ballymorgan Edition 1.1 (50.0%): Welcome back to the marvelous world of Mark Reynier and Malt Factory folks..! The second ride is about to start, take your seats and make yourselves comfortable. It will be fun..!

If you are not familiar with Waterford Irish single malt whiskies and the whole backstory attached to the releases (yet) I strongly recommend to take a short pause here at this moment, click on this link to go back to November to my first Waterford post "Dunbell Edition 1.1" and read the introductory paragraphs. If you are done or if you already know what's going on get ready to start with the second flight of four new Waterford whiskies... This time they are exclusive releases for European and Asian markets and the first sample on my desk is Ballymoran Edition 1.1. Like always if you want to get all the info you can possibly imagine about this bottling you can simply click on this "link" (F013E01-01) and visit Waterford's own site. But if you prefer the short version instead the whisky is distilled in June 2016 and bottled in July 2020 just a month before it reached its four year old mark. The batch was aged in a combination of 1st fill ex-Bourbon, new American oak, ex-wine and ex-sherry casks yielding 9,000 bottles in total.

Color: Oaked white wine with thick, oily and incredibly persistent legs around the glass.

Nose: New oak, Granny Smith apples and river pebbles. Very mineral... Almost like Campbeltown new make mineral. Dried anchovies, sea salt and quiche. If you were not psyched about the fishiness on the nose just allow it to air for a while: Freshly sliced quinces, dried Meyer lemons and vanilla.

Palate: Young and crafty... Rock salt, ground coriander and savory tart dough. Dandelion leaves, grape stems and pomme lambic beer. Dried ginger, ground cardamom and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium long and tongue tingling. Granny Smith apples, salt and pine needles. Ground white and red peppercorns.

Overall: This release reminded me craft whiskies of American Northeast a lot... Obviously because of high percentage of 1st fill ex-Bourbon and new wood barrels in this particular batch but those whiskies from that geography are usually the ones I look most forward to revisiting when they get older. They age beautifully and steady compared to whiskies from warmer and more southern states. Those cold and long winters, hot but relatively short summers and high humidity work great on those barrels. They tend to mature slower for sure but end up being great spirits if handled with patience. Anyway, that being said I am aware that this is the lowest rating I gave to a Waterford release till now but it is the one I am most curious about to see how it will evolve to be honest. Looking forward for the future editions. Thanks a lot to Koray Kaan Özdemir a.k.a. Whisky Monster for sharing this sample with me from his own bottle. 

Price: £70

82/100