WATERFORD DISTILLER Y UNVEILS ITS SINGLE FARM ORIGIN SERIES

 BARLEY- FORWARD 
TERROIR – DRIVEN NATURAL WHISKIES

Terroir-driven whisky producer, Waterford Distillery, unveils its highly anticipated first commercial releases since it began distillation in 2015. Influenced by the world’s greatest winemakers, Waterford Distillery obsessively brings the same intellectual drive, methodology & rigour to single malt whisky.

Using 100% Irish barley, widely considered to be the world’s finest, its new Single Farm Origin series is an uber-provenance range of limited edition natural whiskies that explore Irish terroir one farm, once place, at a time. They are expressions of precision and rarity, showcasing barley flavours derived from individual Irish farms and harvests.

The distillery’s ultimate aim is that these component single malts come together create the world’s most unique, complex and profound whisky. But as part of this new series they mark the distillery’s first commercial steps to showcase barley-forward, terroir-driven natural whiskies.

THE  P R E C I S I O N  O F  P L A C E

The first two Single Farm Origin editions use barley originating from unique corners of Ireland: Bannow Island: Edition 1.1 – distilled from barley grown by Ed Harpur on the extreme southern coast of Co. Wexford, where salt-laden Atlantic winds and sandy soils create a unique, if challenging, terroir.

Ballykilcavan: Edition 1.1 – distilled from barley grown by David Walsh-Kemmis west of the Barrow in Co. Laois in the barley heartlands, where his fertile fields are sheltered by ancient woodland.
Bottled at 50% ABV without colouring, chill-filtration or any additives – totally natural – each Single Farm Origin has a RRP of between €70-79/£70 (depending on location) and will be available in specialist whisky retailers from the end of June 2020.

Different Single Farm Origin bottlings, equally unique, will be released to the US and other overseas markets later in the year, whilst Single Farm Origin: Ratheadon: Edition 1.1 will follow exclusively online and from the distillery itself.

Waterford Distillery Founder and CEO Mark Reynier says: “I’ve spent a lifetime in the top end of drinks industry – half in fine wine, half in single malt – and Waterford is the culmination of this rather unusual journey. It’s rare one has the chance to breathe life into to such a provocative concept, one of such of precision, challenge and originality.

“For years folk have been hoodwinked on where whisky’s quality truly lies – once stills, then water, now wood. We want to shine the light on what really makes malt whisky the most complex spirit in the world, the primary source of all that extraordinary flavour: barley.

“I can safely say no stone has been left unturned. No challenge unmet. Thanks to unparalleled logistics, great teamwork, and singleminded focus we can now share our inspiration, this vision, that will one day rebalance the way we look at and enjoy this fine spirit. And this is just the beginning.”

C O M PA R E  &  C O N T R A S T

All of Waterford’s whiskies use 100% demonstrably Irish-grown barley – one farm, one terroir, at a time – without adding any imported grains to meet specifications. Following a strict methodology that originates in the greatest vineyards of France, each farm’s crop is kept separate from field to barrel.

Using a mash filter instead of a mash tun, minimum 120-hour fermentations, and exceptionally slow distillations, Waterford produces the most natural and respectful expressions of barley possible. Throughout the entire process, the distillery keeps track of thousands of data points.

TÉIREOIR : TOTALLY TRACEABLE & TRANSPARENT

Every bottle features its own pioneering TÉIREOIR code, which once entered on the website from the end of June will reveal a host of unprecedented and engaging content related to the release. Using rich photography, and drawing upon the distillery’s unrivalled digital logistics systems, drinkers will be able to explore the place, the harvest, the grower, distillation details as well as view the full spectrum of wood.

N O T E S 

FOUNDER & CEO MARK REYNIER

2020 sees Waterford founder and CEO Mark Reynier reach 40 years in the drinks industry – 20 years in wine, and 20 years in spirits. A maverick entrepreneur who has done perhaps more than any other figure
to apply the rigours of terroir to the spirits world, he began his career in the London wine trade in 1980, formed La Réserve – one of London’s premier wine & spirit merchants – before resurrecting the mothballed Bruichladdich Distillery at the end of 2000. After introducing pioneering cask finishing policies that went on to change the whisky industry, and launching The Botanist, one of the world’s bestselling gins, Bruichladdich was sold to Rémy Cointreau for £58 million in 2012. Reynier then bought the former Guinness brewery in Waterford in 2014 – transforming a state-of-the-art brewery into a modern distillery, and in July 2018 commenced building the game-changing US$30 million Renegade Rum Distillery in Grenada.

SINGLE FARM ORIGIN – THE SOLO VOICE

Barley is the source of malt whisky’s complex flavours. Those flavours are shaped by the place where barley grows, by the soils that nourish its roots. By the microclimate in which it ripens. By terroir. In Ireland’s Sunny South East, warmed by the Gulf Stream, temperate, moist air crosses fertile soils to produce a verdant landscape – & the world’s finest barley. Our Single Farm Origin editions explore this premier region one terroir at a time. Each exclusive bottling represents the precision of place.

THE VI SI O N

There’s been a brewery here on the banks of the River Suir since 1792. Today’s Waterford Distillery, the technological marvel we call the Facilitator, enables us to create elite whisky. State-of-the-art equipment marries with ancient knowledge, local Irish barley with extended fermentations, unhurried distillation with a spectrum of exceptional oak. Thus we can reveal the ultimate expression of terroir, farm by farm, harvest by harvest. Unique distillates, new starting points, & beguiling expressions of place. After maturing for several years in the best of French and American oak, we believe these component “single”, single malts – a solo voice, a solo terroir – each one exhibiting its own nuances, will come together a chorus of flavours layering on top of each other, the total sum of its parts, making what we humbly believe to be most profound single malt whisky ever created. It is this whisky that we are striving for – our ambition, our destination, our raison d’être. Watch this space.