Waterford Organic Gaia 1.1

Waterford

Gaia - Edition 1.1

Single Malt Whisky

Ireland

Mark Reynier, the former co-owner of Bruichladdich founded the Waterford Distillery in 2015. Eager to highlight the notion of terroir, he works closely with a hundred Irish farmers. In 2016, he produced the first organic Irish malt distillate and more recently, like the greatest winemakers, he decided to distill a whisky from a barley grown in biodynamic.
This bottling starts the new Arcadian series, an unconventional range of organic, biodynamic and heritage distillates. This first whisky is distilled from organic Irish barley grown by six farmers: Paddy Tobin, Alan Jackson, Pat and Denis Booth, Jason Stanley, Trevor Harris and John Mallick.
Made from organic barley from six farms, this version is the result of the blending of first-filling bourbon barrels (42 %), new American oak barrels (17 %), French oak barrel (23 %) and barrels containing a natural sweet wine (18 %). When you discover this Waterford, to write that malted barley is at the heart of the tasting is an understatement. Indeed, whether dominant or much more withdrawn, it is always present to the point of wearing rustic tones that particularly highlight the work of the men who gave birth to it.

Tasting note:

Not peaty.

Colour: golden yellow with green highlights.

Nose: fine, racy. Very nicely vanilla and herbaceous (vervein, sage), the first nose is also wonderfully lactic (coco, almond milk) and lemony. When aerated, ripe fruits (pear, mirabelle), green mint and beeswax provide a very pleasant feeling of maturity and freshness to the aromatic palette. Over time, a few spices (pepper, nutmeg, cloves), a hint of camphor and tiger balm bring out the qualities of a delicate and stunning natural distillate.

Palate: ample, rich. With the same vanilla and herbaceous spirit as in the nose, the attack in the mouth proudly claims the carefreeness of his young age. A true backbone of the taste palette, malted barley appropriates the middle of the mouth. It emanates notes of green liquorice, fresh walnuts and orange blossom. Both firm and creamy, the aftertay is finely cocoa and greedy (baked apple, candied pear).

Final: long, silky. Beautifully rustic, the beginning of the finish is country, of course malleted and herbaceous (chamomile, sage, savory). Finely tannic, its mouth touch oscillates between invigorating bitterness (gentiane) and fruity sweetness (grape and yellow plum). A perfect synthesis of the nose and mouth, retro-olfaction switches from distillate to malted barley and malted barley to fruit. The empty glass invites us to smell a very floral malted barley (honeysuckle, lavender, vine flower).

50 % theft. 70 cl

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