Combining the wine philosophy of his earlier years with the ethos he developed at Bruichladdich, Reynier puts an emphasis on terroir and provenance. This is genuinely natural whisky – uncolored and unfiltered – highlighting the belief that barley is where all of the flavor originates.

Each bottle of Waterford has a terroir (or teireoir, as they write it in Ireland) code on it – when you input that code on their website, you get all the info on that area you could possibly want, from the soil type to the weather... hell, it’ll even tell you the name of the farmer’s dog!

When it comes to the production of the spirit, Ned Gahan is the head distiller. Like much of the team at Waterford, he worked at the former Guinness brewery for a decade plus, bringing in-depth beer knowledge to the table. After all, there is no whisky without beer.

Waterford uses two refurbished pot stills that once belonged to the Inverleven Distillery in the Scottish Lowlands and were also used at Bruichladdich. The distillers make the cuts by nose and taste – what they call a floating cut. They cut high at around 66% ABV.

This is whisky that is barley-forward. Light and elegant, the character of the distillate isn't muddied by finishing in flavor bombs of casks. They utilize first fill American oak casks, new American oak casks, French oak casks, and Vin Doux Naturel casks. They’re doing some experimentation too with new French oak, rum casks, and what they refer to as “funnies” – particularly unusual stuff that we may see down the road.

I have 6 bottles of each whisky:

Dunmore Edition 1.1, 50% ABV

Named after the nearby ancient Medieval fort Dún Mór, meaning Big Fort. Barley grown by John Tynan, County Laois on a west-facing lowland terroir.

Rathclogh Edition 1.1, 50% ABV

Named after Rath Clogh, or stone fort. Made from barley grown by Richard Raftice on his low-lying, quick drying glacier meltwater gravel soils in Kilkenny.

Arcadian Series, Organic Gaia Edition 1.1, 50% ABV

The Arcadian Series highlights farmers who work the land in old-school, historical methods. There are six growers in this blend: John Mallick, Paddy Tobin, Alan Jackson, Pat & Denis Booth, Jason Stanley and Trevor Harris.

If you are interested in getting your hands on this First Edition let me know.

Waterford Dunmore Single Malt Edition :$90

Waterford Rathclogh Single Malt Edition :$90

Waterford Organic Gaia Single Malt Edition :$100