Are you curious about the origins of Whisky's natural flavour?

Enter your email address for articles & updates - & to hear about new Waterford Whiskies.

IT'S JUST A QUESTION OF MATURATION. BY ENTERING YOU NOT ONLY ACCEPT OUR INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE, BUT ALSO
THE USE OF COOKIES & INFORMATION COLLECTION TO ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Are you legally old enough
(and sufficiently curious)
to enjoy terroir-driven whisky?

Key Facts

GROWER Ed Harpur
FARM Bannow Island
EDITION 1.1
HARVESTED 7 SEPTEMBER 2015
DISTILLED WEEK 25 2016
Maturation 3 years 7 months 27 days
ABV 50%
No. of Bottles 8,616
For Market Europe & Asia
Bottled June 2020

BANNOW ISLAND, CO. WEXFORD

Bannow Island is a striking farm, a sharp contrast to the majority of our terroirs. Under bright skies where scudding clouds move quickly with the Atlantic winds driving behind them, the soils here are challenged by being surrounded on three sides by a raw coastal environment, where the sandy loam tips down to the very shoreline itself. It is a place alive with history – from here the vanguard of the Norman forces – 30 knights, 60 men-at-arms and 300 archers – embarked on the conquest of Ireland in the late 12th century.

Ed Harpur, a grower with a smile on his face and whose mother is clearly one of the best scone bakers in all of Ireland, has been supplying barley for us since 2015 – part of our “first 40” who took up the challenge of being a Waterford grower.

Look directly down on his barley fields and sand is clearly visible, providing a challenge for nutrients – and during mid-summer one can see specks of white on the barley plant’s tips due to their exposure to salt-laden breeze. Over the winter months Ed grows cover crops on his barley fields to keep the soil broken up and the subterranean environment thriving; these crops are grazed by his herd of cattle, who surely must have the best view in Ireland.

The Sound of Bannow Island

The track starts on the south end of the Island with the Atlantic Ocean crashing in on the beach. The atmosphere is built up from various perspectives until it moves on up the island to the barley fields and exposed hillside with the wind howling through a fence wire and meeting the barley. Moving through the fields and down the hill to the north end of the island and the edge of the farm we find a bit of shelter in the grass and the hedgerows and finish up on the shores of Bannow Bay.

BARLEY TIMELINES

SOWN 23 March 2015
HARVESTED 7 September 2015
Arrived at Cathedral 8 September 2015
Went for Malting 18 April 2016
Arrived at Distillery 10 May 2016
Fermentation Started 4 June 2016
Distillation Started 9 June 2016
Distillation Finished 17 June 2016
Filled at Warehouse 23 June 2016
Marriage of Casks 7 February 2020
Sent for Bottling 2 June 2020

Meet Ed Harpur

TERROIR

FIELDS
SOIL

Credit: Teagasc.

series CLASHMORE
type Brown Earth
pdf View Clashmore
description Coarse loamy drift with siliceous stones Clashmore Association (Clashmore, Clonroche, Broomhill, Ballylanders, Puckane, Clongeel, Glenlane, Duboyne, Kilrush, Gortaclareen, Ballyglass series)
elevation 33-86 FEET
sunlight AVERAGE 6-6.5 hours

BARLEY, YEAST & WATER

VARIETY Overture
Yeast Mauri Distiller's Yeast
Production Water Volcanic Aquifer
Fermentation 136.2 Hours

Head Distiller's Observations

Appearance: Light to medium honey colour; the glass is well-coated with very slow legs.

Nose: Malty, red roses, very fresh. Milk chocolate. Warm vanilla custard. Dried fruit, sweet, a perfumed elegance. Bread-and-butter pudding and custard. Walking through a freshly-cut hay field.

Taste: Vibrant, exuberant: white pepper, spicy, cloves, mouth coating with a dried sweetness of salted caramel. Malted biscuits, sherry. Oily and dry finish – mouth puckering.

WOOD

cask no. cask type cask fill cooperage fill date farm
2987 Premium French 229.3 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2988 Premium French 233.62 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2989 Premium French 223.57 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2990 Premium French 225 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2991 Premium French 227.25 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2991 Premium French 80 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3981 American First-Fill 197.12 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3982 American First-Fill 199.28 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3983 American First-Fill 204.28 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3984 American First-Fill 209.08 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3987 American First-Fill 206.55 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3988 American First-Fill 199.49 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3989 American First-Fill 203.7 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3990 American First-Fill 200.71 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
3991 American First-Fill 199.83 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2581 American Virgin 203.99 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2582 American Virgin 201.77 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2538 American Virgin 204.79 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2584 American Virgin 201.8 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2585 American Virgin 202.33 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2586 American Virgin 70 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
1574 Vin Doux Naturel 501.29 litres (Oloroso) 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
1575 Vin Doux Naturel 508.48 litres (Oloroso) 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND

Composition

35% FIRST FILL U.S
20% VIRGIN U.S.
25% PREMIUM FRENCH
20% VIN DOUX NATUREL