Editor’s Note: This whiskey was provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.
The Irish whiskey scene, like the American, is defined in part by a mix of traditional larger brands and a newer crop of craft-style outlets. One of these younger distilleries, Waterford Whisky, was founded by Scotch industry veteran Mark Reyneir, formerly of the forward-thinking Bruichladdich distillery. Exploration of terroir was a big concept at Bruichladdich, and it is something Reyneir brought with him to Waterford.
The Waterford focus on terroir takes it down to the granular, producing whiskeys exploring the barley of individual farms that partner with the whiskey maker to provide grains. As an expansion of this, the brand recently introduced a “cuvee” concept, which marries together matured whiskeys from these single-origin expressions into a “the whole – greater than simply the sum of its parts” idea.
“The natural progression of our unique terroir mission was to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Grand Vins of Bordeaux or the Grande Marques of Champagne, and that is to create our flagship cuvées,” said Reynier at the time of its release. “Our new creative Cuvée Concepts, where we layer together uniquely flavorsome Single Farm Origins, help us to great our most complex, expressive, and profound whiskies.”
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Today’s Offering
Three Cuvée Concepts have been introduced to the United States to form the basis of this new core range. Each one is described as bringing “a new dynamic to the distillery’s trademark barley-forward profile.”
The one being reviewed here today is Waterford Cuvée Fumo. This particular release is made from four of Waterford’s “Peated Single Farm Origins,” each of which uses only Irish peat and only Irish barley for the first time in generations. Bottled at 50% ABV and peated at 55 ppm, the whiskey’s cask composition is 33% first fill U.S., 22% virgin U.S., 19% premium French and 26% vin doux naturel. It is priced at $99.99.
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