Via its Arcadian Barley range, South-Irish whisky distillery Waterford releases out-of-the-ordinary single malts based on specially grown and processed barley. Previously, the series has already seen illustrious entries such as “Organic”, “Biodynamic”, and “Heritage”. Now, another style has been added to the list: “Peated”. For starters, drammers can choose between two different expressions, namely Waterford Peated: Fenniscourt 1.1 and Waterford Peated: Ballybannon 1.1. The former clocks in at 38ppm, the latter is a wee bit fumier with 47ppm. In the next couple of days, I will introduce them both here on my blog, starting today with the diversely smoked, richly equipped, and skillfully arranged Fenniscourt. With its exciting mixture of peatiness, oiliness, sweetness, and “greenness”, this complex whisky marks a great addition to the Waterford range, showing impressively how well the distillery’s grain-to-the-front spirit works with peated barley!

by Tobi

Eye: Light and bright.
Nose: Herby-sweet with oily fumes and bonfire smoke. The whisky’s bouquet has lots of forest honey, sage candy, olive oil, apple peel, citrus zest, barley sugar, and resin drop. The multi-faceted steams and vapors are of a pretty complex nature. All notes interplay greatly with each other, producing a special tapestry of smells that is both stimulating and sophisticated.
Palate: After an initial sugary sweetness, the whisky becomes increasingly floral, grainy, and aromatic – with a delicate smokiness surrounding all. Inside this ball of cooled-off puff, there are apricot chips, apple rings, sunflower kernel, aniseed cookies, violet drops, jellied lemons, and sweetened ginger bites.
Finish: The long finish introduces a minty freshness. Also, it amplifies on honey, herbs, leaves, and fumes. The final image that Waterford Peated: Fenniscourt 1.1 places in my head has me wandering through a rich-green forest, whose narrow paths are obscured by plumes of sweet peat reek.

Type: Single Malt Irish Whisky
Region: Ireland
Age: NAS
Alc. volume: 50 per cent
Bottle size: 0.7 litres
Price range: ~80.00 Euro
More info: https://waterfordwhisky.com/ (Distillery) ; https://kirschwhisky.de/ (Distributor)

*** Whisky bottle kindly provided by Kirsch Import. Thank you. ***