THE DISTILLERY FROM THE FUTURE

Since 2015, a unique distillery has been operating in the town of Waterford, South East Ireland. The Waterford Distillery was founded in a former industrial complex, once a Guinness brewery, which was completely renovated in 2003 and closed after only ten years. The body is therefore that of an ultra-modern plant, light years away from the idea of the traditional distillery of the past, but the beating heart is animated by a philosophy that is decades ahead of its time in terms of craftsmanship and attention to detail.

The project is led by Mark Reynier, an old acquaintance of Scotch whisky, who in 2001 took over and relaunched Bruichladdich, the historic distillery on Islay, on a grand scale. After this experience, Mark realised his dream and took to extremes something that had been seen at Bruichladdich in a small way, namely putting the raw material at the centre of the entire production process. For this reason, a liquid library has been created in Waterford, a huge archive of new make spirits that leaves a precise trace of everything that has been distilled over the years.

A decisive fact is that each individual harvest is malted separately and as such arrives at the distillery to become whisky. Otherwise we have a distillery with a modern and conventional approach: fermentation is very long, up to 140 hours, and is started with selected yeasts. After that, a pair of computer-controlled pot stills carries out a double distillation. The ageing barrels are very varied, formerly Bourbon, Sherry, Marsala and other wines, but they are obviously not the focus of the project, as the aim remains to keep the influence of the terroir in the foreground.