Waterford The Cuvee Irish Single Malt Whisky (700ml)
Volume: 700ml ABV: 50% Age: No Age Statement Country: Ireland
Using their own Single Farm barley crop to pursue the individualism of terroir-derived flavour. The Waterford Distillery is simply a unique Irish whiskey experience which is rightfully claiming to be the world’s largest producer of organic and biodynamic whiskies. In Ireland’s Sunny South East, warmed by the Gulf Stream, temperate, moist air crosses fertile soils to produce a verdant landscape – & the world’s finest barley. Since barley is the source of malt whisky’s complex flavours, it makes abundant sense to focus on where and how the barley is cultivated. Those flavours are shaped by place, by the soils that nourish its roots, by the microclimate in which it ripens. By terroir.
Waterford boast using the most state of the art equipment to enable them to ferment their whisky for over 120 hours. To keep the different types of barley seperate, to make whisky unhurried.
Waterford rigorously apply the ancient terroir methodology to today’s verdant landscape of Ireland, home of the world’s finest barley. Now for the first time in single malt whisky – unashamedly inspired by the legendary châteaux of France – they reach the apogee of this radical philosophy.
The Waterford distillery, the technological marvel they call the Facilitator, enables them to create elite whisky – farm by farm, terroir by terroir. State-of-the-art equipment marries with ancient knowledge, locally grown Irish barley with extended fermentations, unhurried distillation & an array of exceptional oak. It has provided a unique library of Single Farm Origins – each expressing its own identity, its own voice.
This unprecedented spectrum of flavours must now reach its crescendo: they have celebrated & explored the singles; now they produce their more immersive concept album. For layered together in this cerebral fusion of flavours, these component Waterford Whiskies come together, culminating in our ultimate experience: textured, complex & compelling.
The Cuvée, a synthesis of Single Farm Origins, an enigmatic gestalt, a milestone in the Waterford Distillery journey. The definitive Waterford Whisky. Their LodeStar.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Red apples, fresh dry soil, breadcrust, green foliage, lavender, digestive biscuits, oranges, barmbrack, over ripe banana skin, a summer flower bed, fresh mint, coffee cake.
Taste: Clove sweets, white pepper, oily, grapefruit, lemon zest, dark chocolate, dry toast, cherries, granola bar, dried herbs, aniseed, green olives, 3 peel marmalade.
Finish: Pepper up front with oily spiciness that softens, starts dry but then gets mouth-watering & lingers where I close my eyes and relax!