Waterford Hook Head Edition 1.1 50% NV

Brennerei	Waterford Distillery
Abfüller	OB
Serie	Single Farm Origin
Abgefüllt für
Destillationsdatum	Not Specified
Abfülldatum	15.02.2021
Land	Irland
Region	Ireland
Alter	3
Cask Type	U.S. F.F; U.S.Virgin; Prem. Fren; V.Doux Nat
Fassnummer	Téiroir code F035E01-01
Alcohol percentage	50
Inhalt	0,70
Zustand	in Originalverpackung
Label	Perfekt
Vorrat	0

Professionelle Bewertungen

Words of Whisky (86)

Rather a little less approachable than the Cooladine, the Hook Head 1.1 is a little more austere.
Nose
Rather earthy with a good amount of malt and whole grain biscuits, as well as a touch of buttered toast and copper. Somewhat farmy and even a tinge of dried seaweed. There's a hint of orange marmalade in the background, as well as a touch of milk chocolate.
Taste
Proper oily mouthfeel with touches of stewed apple and caramel, followed by white pepper, licorice root and ginger, as well as a subtle salinity and chocolate.
Finish
Lingering spices and drying.

Serge Valentin (90)

These blue bottles are splendid, once they're empty, for use as decanters during your blind wine tastings. Provided, of course, that the glasses are blue or black as well. But try finding a quality blue or black decanter, good luck with that! Right, we're here with a single farm, with barley harvested in 2015, so this barley has rested for a long time before being brewed and distilled, which shows that a whisky's vintage doesn't really have much to do with the barley's year of harvest, we're not in Cognac. Colour: straw. Nose: as usual with Waterford – usual, a word that demonstrates how well Waterford has already become part of the landscape – we're on bread, cereals, beer, earth. Moist earth, rainwater, baker's yeast, even pizza dough. Irish pizza, naturally. This time, we remain fully focused on these bakery aromas. With a bit of water: a hint of lemon comes through. That always works. Mouth (neat): we'll keep this short and sweet, limoncello biscuits and panettone. Well, after the pizza, here are some other Italian elements. And I'd swear there's also just a hint of spicy salami, I can't remember what they call it on the other side of the Alps. With water: it's more concentrated, more tense, but it remains a very textured and rather rich spirit. I'd like to rub a bit of new make spirit between my fingers, just to see how it behaves... Finish: long, on fresh bread, amaretti (undeniably) and citrus fruits, this time more on clementines than lemons. Saltier coastal touches right at the end. Comments: it's very relatively restrained, not the most expansive Waterford I've ever tasted, but I like this discreet and confident elegance (what?) rather a lot. And the purity of the whole.

Malt Fascination (80)

Maltfascination.com

I’ve not done the tally, but it feels like Waterford has released whisky from about 300 different farms in Ireland in the last year or so. I understand they’re going for terroir, and you need to be able to compare one to the other, but it seems that under Reynier’s guidance, the distillery is doing the same as Bruichladdich did in the early years after reopening:

Release all the whisky. Not some. All.

Of course, they use a similar set of casks for all of them, in this case First Fill Bourbon, Virgin Oak, Vin Doux Naturel and Frech Oak, if I understand the abbreviations on Whiskybase correctly.

You can check a lot of things on the Waterford website, from harvesting dates to the name of the farmer to a soundscape of the surroundings of the field where the barley was grown. Quite nicely done for the geeks out there!

While I don’t care for the velocity of the releases, as in “I cannot keep up”, I do love that they are so open about everything that’s happening. A lot of brands could learn a thing or two here.

Of course, the main question is whether or not it tastes good.Sniff:
Sweet and malty on the nose. Intense with quite some green, grainy and foresty notes. It becomes slightly bread like after a while.

Sip:
Dry and malty sweet on the pslate, with a white peppery heat. Bread crust, moss, oak, tree bark, barley and straw. A slightly fruity sweet note behind it.

Swallow:
The finish shows some more typical wine cask notes. Like it’s compensating for the lack before it. Maltose and boiled candy.

I don’t think I’m a huge fan of the casks used for Waterford’s whiskies. If it were up to me, I’d go for more timid casks so the spirit gets to shine all the brighter. In this case I feel the wine casks add too much sweetness and just push everything else down a notch or two.

So, while I did enjoy the first few Waterfords, and still have to taste the entirety of batch two (even though I have the bottles and did a bottle-share with them), I don’t really like this one.

BOW (90)