Waterford Single Farm

Mark Reynier is no stranger to the world of whisky. He was responsible for the renaissance of Bruichladdich, bringing his wine expertise and the importance of terroir into the equation. He opposed Bruichladdich being sold to Rémy Cointreau, which is why he eventually left when the take-over took place in 2012. Unwilling to give up on the industry he had grown to love, he acquired a former Guinness brewery in Waterford, Ireland, and transformed it into a distillery, continuing the tradition of single malt whisky in which terroir plays an integral part. It’s in that state-of-the-art facility on the south-eastern coast of Ireland, that they have the finest materials at their disposal: pure spring water from ancient wells, passionate distillers, and some of the world’s finest barley.

In Reynier’s terroir-centered philosophy, barley is king. The most important is the location and manner of growing and harvesting. Waterford has contracts with 46 local barley farmers that cultivate the grass in 19 distinct soil types, and each farmer’s barley is distilled separately, capturing the essence of the land it was grown on. Each week a single farm’s barley is distilled, with total transparency and traceability ― you can check the current and past ones on their regularly-updated website. Each bottle comes with a TÉIREOIR code you can enter into the website to get access to a wealth of content related to the release.

The Irish barley for the Rathclogh Edition 1.1 comes from the farm of Richard Raftice. It takes its name after Rathchloch, a stone fort that overlooks Raftice’s farm. The terroir here results in early ripening and sowing due to the shallow and quick-drying soil that was deposited by glacier meltwater. The casks used were 31% first-fill and 19% virgin American oak, 25% French oak, and 25% sweet fortified wine oak that used to hold Vin Doux Naturel. All-natural, barley-forward, and completely transparent, each bottle comes with the TÉIREOIR code that grants access to bottling information, barley, maps, and more.