Waterford Hook Head Irish Whisky Review!

No, there's no "e" in this Irish whisky - although the "e" is optional, and makes no difference. This is Waterford, the young Irish single malt distillery from Mark Reynier, former co-owner & co-resurrector of Islay's Bruichladdich. Maybe that's why there's no superfluous "e"?

It's no secret that Reynier was against the decision to sell Bruichladdich to Remy Cointreau back in 2012. Hard to believe that was nearly a decade ago! Reynier's independent bottling company Murray McDavid was part of the deal as well, leading to him parting ways with the Scotch whisky industry entirely after more than sixteen years in the trade. He then turned his attention south, to Ireland, where the whisky/whiskey industry is in the midst of a slow resurgence. Having come from a successful distillery that is & was renowned for its young, fresh, barley-driven single malt Scotch whisky, he is now making young, fresh, barley-driven single malt Irish whisky. But there's much more to Waterford. Reynier was determined to continue the innovative concepts he'd helped drive at Bruichladdich regarding transparency and the terroir & provenance of their whisky and its ingredients, particularly regarding the barley. But with Waterford he has taken these concepts to a much higher level with much more detail. The distillery has access to 19 different barley varieties grown on 35 different farms, all within Ireland. Most Waterford releases are single farm origin single malts, meaning that each batch was distilled from one crop of barley from one single Irish farm, kept separate throughout the entire production process. Which is about as much provenance as you could possibly get in whisky, and this is a practice that only a few distilleries in the world can manage - most of which are much smaller in size. 

Waterford Distillery is located in the city of Waterford in south-east Ireland, around two hour's drive south of capital city Dublin. The site was formerly a Guinness brewery, built by Diageo in 2004, although there has been a brewery on this site in Waterford since the late 17th century. This is a very modern distillery though, both in terms of aesthetics, and approach, and equipment. Rather than the traditional mash tun used in malt whisky, Waterford boasts one of the few mash filters used in the entire industry. This high-tech piece is a more efficient modern method of separating the wort from the mash, and is something more commonly seen in breweries, but also in grain and/or rye whisky distilleries where traditional mashing is much more difficult. A much finer grist with a higher flour content can be used in a mash filter, resulting in more fermentable sugars in the wash, and it's also a much faster process - there's no need for multiple rounds of water like there is with a mash tun. The distillery's mill is quite a technological thing as well, it's actually a 'hydromill', essentially meaning that the grain is milled under water for better efficiency. These extra steps with milling & mashing are designed to give more grain & barley character in the Waterford spirit, coupled with higher efficiency. Malting is not done on site, but happens just an hour's drive north at a commercial facility in the town of Athy. Maturation doesn't happen on site either thanks to spatial restrictions at the distillery, which is what often happens when your distillery is in the middle of a town, but the Waterford warehouses are close by, closer to the ocean on the southern coast. As you'd expect from Mark Reynier's background, everything else is also done properly. Distillation is slow, spirit cuts are narrow, and bottling is done at 50% ABV without chill filtration or added colouring. It's almost like he's had some success with that recipe before...   

Not all of Waterford's single malts are single farm bottlings, but this one is. This is Waterford Hook Head Edition 1.1, making it the first Waterford bottling distilled entirely from barley grown at Hook Head farm, which can be found ten miles south-east of the distillery, right on the coast. Keeping with that ethos of traceability & terroir, all Waterford single malts have a "terroir code" printed on the back label, which when entered into their website gives you just about every piece of information you could possibly want - maybe even a little too much! The Propino barley used for this bottling was grown by Martin Foley on Hook Head farm and was harvested in August 2015. It was distilled in the sixth week of 2017, and matured for 3-years, 8-months and 26-days before 30,066 bottles were filled in February 2021. So it's a young whisky, but the distillery was only founded in 2015 after all. That terroir link on the website also gives an extreme amount of information on the farms soil and the local micro-climate, and also the yeast variety used (Mauri) and how long the wash was fermented for: 142 hours in this case. It also gives you a list of every cask number that went in to the vatting, along with the type of cask, the volume filled into each cask, and the previous contents where applicable. In this bottling we have 46% first-fill ex-bourbon casks from Heaven Hill Distillery, 22% virgin American oak casks sourced from Kelvin Cooperage, 15% French wine casks from Margaux, and 17% Vin Doux Naturel (VDN) fortified wine casks - mainly marsala hogsheads, but also a couple of sherry butts. Phew! That does seem quite a heavy and intense cask recipe for a whisky that wants to show off as much barley provenance as possible, but then it is also quite young, so I'm sure that'll balance out. 

There are a few different bottlings of Waterford to be found in Australia, most are priced around $160 AUD. But I found this Hook Head 1.1 - well actually it was recommended to me by Dave at Gold Coast bar The Scottish Prince - on the shelves at our largest liquor retail chain for just $120 AUD. It seems to only be stocked at their large "precinct" stores, and there are only two of those in my state, but they'll deliver from their online store. At this price it was hard to argue!

Waterford Hook Head 1.1, 3-years old, 50%. Waterford, Ireland.

Propino barley grown on Hook Head farm, harvested August 2015. Distilled 2017, aged in 46% first-fill ex-bourbon, 22% virgin American oak, 15% French red wine and 17% fortified wine casks, bottled Feb 2021. 30,066 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Simultaneously sweet & bright, and earthy & spicy. Sweet fruit, Allens snake lollies (so tropical fruit jubes), pear nectar, and a touch of juicy sweet white grape. Steeping (damp) barley, a little spearmint around the edges. Clean, fresh soil, touch of lemon rind. Creamy peppercorn sauce, sweet vanilla and toasted oak in the background. 

Texture: Light-medium weight. Clean, spicy & earthy. No heat at all. 

Taste: More peppercorns, fresh soil, and some toasted almonds. Not as sweet as the nose, heading towards dry, and more malty & spicy. The pear nectar and sweet white grape are still there, but more in the background along with the creamy & sweet vanilla. Lemon rind, acidic & lightly bitter, and a touch of white peach. Very slight hints of salinity around the edges.  

Finish: Short length. Balanced between the earthiness, pear nectar and creamy vanilla, drying out quickly with more toasted almonds, bitter lemon rind, dry grass and some pickled ginger to finish. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: Hides its youth quite well, until the finish at least. The sweet pear and ginger spice are usually tell-tale signs of course, but they actually seem to work well here, balanced by the malty earthiness and sweet fruit. It does come to a halt in the finish though, turning dry while fading very quickly. I'm sure that'll be remedied with some more age, hopefully adding a little more depth as well. But at $120 AUD, and at 50% ABV and without chill filtration or colouring remember, the value is definitely there in this Waterford. At that price level it's far from a disappointment, in fact it's a very enjoyable fresh, light whisky with a good touch of character, particularly from those earthy notes which were quite unexpected. Certainly does feel like there's plenty of "terroir" on show here. I look forward to more Waterford in future!

Cheers!