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Key Facts

GROWER Ed Harpur
FARM Bannow Island
EDITION 1.2
HARVESTED 7 SEPTEMBER 2015
DISTILLED WEEK 25 2016
Maturation 3 years 10 months 22 days
ABV 50%
No. of Bottles 9,000
For Market Europe & Asia
Bottled July 2020

BANNOW ISLAND, CO. WEXFORD

Well, we’d just about bottled the first edition of Bannow Island and it sold out, quick as a flash. That wasn’t our intention – and our distributors informed us that the demand across Europe had been ‘unprecedented’ for a new brand. So we found ourselves back in the bottling hall. Edition 1.2 is a little bit older than the first – almost four months in fact. In an ideal world we might have left more time before revisiting a farm, but we wanted to ensure plenty of whisky was able to get people in the early days.

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 15 April 2020
Sent for Bottling 8 July 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: Honey with oils that grip the glass.

Nose: Malty, ripe pears, raisins, floral, lemons, warm vanilla custard, pink lady apples, marzipan.

Taste: Fruity, honey, caramel, malted biscuits, hit of spice heat, toffee popcorn, lemon drizzle cake.

Finish: Long lasting oiliness with a spicy heat that turns dry.

WOOD

cask no. cask type cask fill cooperage fill date farm
2992 Premium French 139.85 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2993 Premium French 225.17 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2994 Premium French 223.44 litres Tonnellerie des Domaines 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
285 Premium French 226.46 litres Tonnellerie Saury 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
309 Premium French 221.16 litres Chêne 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4005 American First-Fill 201.85 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4006 American First-Fill 202.56 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4007 American First-Fill 202.37 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4008 American First-Fill 195.93 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4009 American First-Fill 203.08 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4010 American First-Fill 203.08 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4035 American First-Fill 193.23 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4036 American First-Fill 195.24 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4037 American First-Fill 200.43 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4038 American First-Fill 203.3 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
4039 American First-Fill 198.23 litres Jack Daniels 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2686 American Virgin 199.72 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2687 American Virgin 200.71 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2688 American Virgin 206.3 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2689 American Virgin 199.13 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2690 American Virgin 203.17 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
2691 American Virgin 201.93 litres Speyside Cooperage, KY 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
1577 Vin Doux Naturel 504.22 litres (Oloroso) 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
1578 Vin Doux Naturel 509.32 litres (Oloroso) 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND
1579 Vin Doux Naturel 496.86 litres (Oloroso) 23 June 2016 BANNOW ISLAND

Composition

36% FIRST FILL U.S
21% VIRGIN U.S.
17% PREMIUM FRENCH
26% VIN DOUX NATUREL