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Thursday, June 16, 2022

Waterford Sheestown 1.1 Irish Single Malt

Yesterday's Ballymorgan gave me some hope that I'll find a good Waterford. Sheestown 1.1 now gets a try. Again, I can't get over the casks being used: First-fill JD, new US oak, French oak, and Oloroso. What was that about Irish terroir again?

But farmers are awesome and I'll pretend like "tēireoir" is more than marketing fluff, so I'll give Philip O'Brien of County Kilkenny (beautiful countryside) a shoutout for his Irina barley here.

Distillery: Waterford
Owner: Renegade Spirits
Region: Waterford, Ireland
Type: Single Malt
Barley strain: Irina
Age: 3 years old (2016-2020)
Maturation: 35% first-fill American oak (Jack Daniels and Seagrams), 21% new American oak, 25% French oak, 19% Oloroso casks
Outturn: 9000 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 50%
Chillfiltered? No
e150a? No
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose is quite floral, going from flowers to flower candy after some time. It also has a good dose of dried berries (blueberries and currants?). Bits of ginger candy and barley too. The palate has a bit of iron and ethyl, but it also has a greater measure of apricot and raspberry jam. It's sweet but tart oranges and tart raspberries balance that out. Iron shows up in the finish, but it disappears in later sips. Roses, raspberries and tart citrus remain.

DILUTED to ~43%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL whiskey

Flowers and berries up front in the nose, corn syrup and yeast in the back. No sulfur. Lots of floral eau de vie in the palate, a mix of berries as well. It finishes with tangy berries, flowers and ethyl.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Found one! I like a Waterford! 10th try is the charm. This is nearly newmake (or poitín), but it's good. And it's difficult to know what the right age would be for this whiskey. The casks may kill it before its first decade is through, and 3.9 years is too damned young. But maybe five years? Six? Will Reynier allow it? I'd say six years is right about......now.

Availability - still available throughout Europe
Pricing - all over the place
Rating - 80

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