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Key Facts

GROWER Ger Byrne
FARM Fenniscourt
EDITION 1.1
HARVESTED 10 AUGUST 2017
DISTILLED 10 SEPTEMBER 2018
ppm 38
Peat source Ballyteague, Co. Kildare
Maturation 1344 DAYS OR 3 YEARS, 8 MONTHS, 5 DAYS
ABV 50%
No. of Bottles 11,898
For Market WORLDWIDE
Bottled AUGUST 2022

Fenniscourt, Co. Carlow

Arcadian Barley, from our secret garden of delights, explores the flavours, intensity & honesty of old ways. Out of necessity, since the dawn of time, peat (or turf) has been the primary fuel source in rural Ireland, with its sweet pungency familiar to generations gathered around the hearths of ancient thatched cottages. This same diffused aroma cloaked barley dried over peat smoke by illicit distillers, a custom that died out in the 1850s. 

The lush, inland terroir of Fenniscourt in Co. Carlow has been farmed by the Byrne family since 1870, its rich Elton Series soils nourished by the River Barrow. For this whisky, their barley was kiln-dried during malting  by heat generated from sphagnum-rich peat from Niall Carroll’s cuttings at Ballyteige, Co. Kildare. The terroir’s character suited a medium peating intensity of 38ppm. Along with its sister bottling, Ballybannon, Peated Fenniscourt represents the first marriage of Irish barley and Irish peat in generations.

The Sound of Fenniscourt

An overcast summer's day at Fenniscourt. This track starts out under the trees by the entrance to one of the barley fields. Heading down around the edge of the field, where the quiet is interrupted by the Waterford to Dublin train as it hurtle past on a line that spits the farmland, it’s a brief change of pace. We keep moving along the eastern edge of the field. The breeze picks up a little, blowing through the crop; the hedgerows are still busy and a buzzard flies overhead. There’s a wide headland along the northern edge of the field; the wild flowers here give the bees plenty to do before the rain sets in for the afternoon.

BARLEY TIMELINES

SOWN 17 March 2017
HARVESTED 10 August 2017
Arrived at Cathedral 11 August 2017
Went to Maltings 1 August 2018
Arrived at Distillery 22 August 2018
Fermentation Started 3 September 2018
Distillation Started 10 September 2018
Distillation Finished 17 September 2018
Filled at Warehouse 20 September 2018
Marriage of Casks 26 May 2022
Sent for Bottling 23 August 2022

Peat Smoke

Peat: the original flavour of Irish whisky (even if you spell it the other way). Watch our film, Peat Smoke, for the full story about the lengths we had to go in order to make enough Peated Waterford Whisky to share with the world.

TERROIR

FIELDS
SOIL

CREDIT: TEAGASC.

series Elton Association
type Luvisol
pdf Elton Association
description Fine Loamy Drift, Elton Association soils composed of (Elton, Kellistown, Baggotstown, Mylerstown, Ballylusky, NewInn, Cloonmore, Newtown and Greenane)

BARLEY, YEAST & WATER

VARIETY LAUREATE
Yeast Mauri Distiller's Yeast
Production Water Volcanic Aquifer
Fermentation 187 Hours

Head Distiller's Observations

Appearance: Rich buttermilk with fabulous oils.

Nose: Turf (peat), saltiness, pear skin, woodland moss, hay, lemon skin, dried thyme, malted biscuits, marzipan, cooked banana, sweet floralness, wattle and daub, golden syrup.

Taste:  Farm tastes, dry rub that you would use on a barbecue, bog myrtle, clove sweets , leather, maraschino cherry, barley husks, gooseberry jam. 

Finish: Soft, earthy warmth, dry, finish in gentle waves.

WOOD

cask no. cask type cask fill cooperage fill date farm
10994 PREMIUM FRENCH 222.59 Latour 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
10996 PREMIUM FRENCH 221 Latour 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
11013 PREMIUM FRENCH 220.85 Latour 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
11014 PREMIUM FRENCH 219.94 Latour 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
11042 PREMIUM FRENCH 219.93 Latour 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
11058 PREMIUM FRENCH 223.57 Latour 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12319 VIN DOUX NATUREL 222.96 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12320 VIN DOUX NATUREL 223.45 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12321 VIN DOUX NATUREL 224.79 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12322 VIN DOUX NATUREL 234.91 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12324 VIN DOUX NATUREL 219.96 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12325 VIN DOUX NATUREL 217.95 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12327 VIN DOUX NATUREL 221.89 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12328 VIN DOUX NATUREL 225.36 Sauternes 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18177 VIRGIN U.S. 195.64 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18178 VIRGIN U.S. 196.93 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18179 VIRGIN U.S. 201.87 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18180 VIRGIN U.S. 197.25 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18181 VIRGIN U.S. 195.82 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18182 VIRGIN U.S. 194.59 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18944 FIRST FILL U.S. 190.52 Buffalo Trace 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18945 FIRST FILL U.S. 187.86 Buffalo Trace 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18946 FIRST FILL U.S. 188.94 Buffalo Trace 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18947 FIRST FILL U.S. 196.89 Buffalo Trace 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19475 FIRST FILL U.S. 198.63 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19476 FIRST FILL U.S. 198.27 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19477 FIRST FILL U.S. 199.33 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19478 FIRST FILL U.S. 197.6 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19479 FIRST FILL U.S. 188.75 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19480 FIRST FILL U.S. 189.34 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19481 FIRST FILL U.S. 196.95 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19482 FIRST FILL U.S. 194.82 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
19488 FIRST FILL U.S. 220.8 Jack Daniels  20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18208 VIRGIN U.S. 193.62 Kelvin Cooperage 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
12340 PREMIUM FRENCH 196.29 Lafite Rothschild 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt
18265 VIN DOUX NATUREL 504.72 Oloroso 20 September 2018 Fenniscourt

Composition

FIRST FILL U.S. 33%
VIRGIN U.S. 18%
PREMIUM FRENCH 20%
VIN DOUX NATUREL 29%