Waterford Hook Head | Whisky Lady

Before we started, our whisky host shared that we could expect a salty whisky, a spicy whisky, and a smoky whisky. So we decided to begin our journey into Waterford Irish Whiskies with the one reputed to be the most maritime of the lot! The “Hook Head” is described as:

The lighthouse at Hook Head stands resolute against the full force of the Atlantic Ocean on Ireland’s southern coast, 10 miles from the distillery – so close that Oliver Cromwell vowed to take Waterford ‘by hook or by crook’ in the 17th century. In its shadow, Martin Foley grows barley on clay/loam soils derived from limestone, belonging to the Elton series. Exposed to the full range of salt-laden storms, sea mists & ocean breezes, it’s an extreme maritime terroir.

As you will see – we would indeed agree if salty is an expression of extreme maritime terroir, it is indeed apt!

Waterford Single Farm Origin Hook Head 1.1 (19 Jan 2017 – 14 Feb 2021) Terroir F035E01-01 50% 12,000 bottles for Germany. Retailing for Eur 80

Colour – Light straw
Nose – An almost agricultural whiff at first, malted barley, sweetening the more time it spends in the glass. Shifted between Ovaltine and Marmite. Then we were hit with salty sea spray and how! Joined by something at first dusty then distinctly mineral, wet granite. Followed by a hint of salty honey-coated nuts that then back to saline
Palate – Mineral, oily then sweet, a warming heat more than spice per se, though perhaps there was some white pepper in there. More vegetal than fruit. There was also a return of a milky Ovaltine. The 2nd sip was pure salt – like sucking on a salt rock!
Finish – Lasts yet is super salty and drying in the mouth
Water – With a few drops the sweetness comes more to the fore on the nose revealing a lightly floral element and pushing the saltiness back a bit. It also becomes softer on the palate, more mineral than salty alone. With a more generous splash, this becomes one fine dram, creamy, interesting, and much more up my alley!
Revisit – After sampling all three Waterfords, I returned to the glass to discover citrus koolaid and vanilla, with the saline fully under control!

Overall this was quite an interesting start to our explorations of Waterford. There was no doubt distinctive things were going on. This was no bog-standard social Irish dram. This was an experiment in a glass. And reminded me of the Bruichladdich micro-provenance experiments – just without peat!

This was my favourite… and the one I returned to for the balance of the evening whilst the gents pupped away at their rare cigars.

What more do we know? A whole heck of a lot in this case! It is more a question of where to begin??

Let’s start with Terroir – using the bottle label – we learn that everything comes from Tinnashrule farm in Wexford:

John Crowley farms at Tinnashrule – The Hollytree Crossroads – in the rain shadow of the Blackstairs Mountains, north of Enniscorthy. Here the rolling lowland barley fields lie in the lee of ash & larch woods, benefiting from well-drained loam & clay loam of the famously productive Clonroche series, on glacial drift derived from Ordovician shale & granite.

Want to know about the maturation period? 3 years, 8 months, 14 days. Want to know about the barley? Sebastian. Yeast? Mauri distiller’s yeast. Production water? Volcanic aquifer. Fermentation period? 152 hours. Description of the soil? Fine, loamy drift with siliceous stones and Clonroche series. Barrel composition?

46% American First Fill (presumably ex-bourbon)
22% American virgin oak
15% French premium casks
17% Vin doux naturel

We also have the Head Distiller’s observations on how these elements translate into aromas and flavours in the glass…

APPEARANCE: Light gold with oils.
NOSE: Sweet honeycomb, plums, rolled barley, mint, dark chocolate, orange zest, leather, rose water, aniseed, pear drops and has a warmth on the nose.
TASTE: Cloves, white pepper, dark creamy chocolate, fresh bread, grapefruit, dry but chewy, late spice explosion with a wasabi hit, orange syrup, root vegetables.
FINISH: Long, dry spiciness, which is also chewy.

Interestingly there are both descriptions for the exact “terroir” (as noted above) and the “Hook Head” expression. Confused? Shall we compare? The expression is described as:

Taste: spice bomb, cloves, white pepper, salted caramel, licorice, ginger biscuits, lemon zest, chili chocolate
Nose: earthy maltiness, fresh soil, citrus peel, bread crust, clove, white pepper, caramel, milk chocolate, salted popcorn, barnyard, oak green foliage
Finish: dry

Whilst not totally contradictory, there are certainly differences and nuances to each. As for us? Well, that was quite the intro! And now it is clearly time to move on to the 2nd and 3rd Waterford whiskies…

What did we try in our evening devoted to exploring Waterford Irish Whisky?

Waterford Arcadian Farm Origin Heritage Hunter 1.1 Terroir HE01E01-01 50% with a yellow label and bright pink glass top, sold out at Eur 100
Waterford Arcadian Farm Origin Peated Ballybannon 1.1 Terroir P062E01-01 50% with a dark label and smoky grey glass top. This exact whisky isn’t listed on the website, however similar whiskies retail for Eur 94.

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When you hear the word “Waterford” one typically thinks of crystal glasses, not whisky! This is readily understandable given one has a tradition that harkens back to 1783 and the other was founded only in 2016 – not even a decade old!

However, there we were in South Bombay, a fine evening at the end of March 2024, about to embark on a journey into one of the newest and most original players in the Irish whisky revival scene.

In this case, it is notable the choice of spelling “whisky” without an “e” and the claim that the distillery is “40 years in the making“, given the role Mark Reynier has played in founding a distillery devoted to terroir, biodynamic, and cuvées.

Even the boxes tell a story – signaling the type of whisky category to be explored. Would it be a Single Farm with clean firm lines? Or Arcadian Farm with a few lines joining to bring their different elements into a single experience? And where peat is in the mix, the box colour shifts to a smokey grey with black. There is a 3rd concept devoted to Cuvées which we did not experience.

Here is what the folks at Waterford have to say about their Single Farm Origin line “precision of place”:

Each Single Farm Origin is a compelling and intriguing whisky, but also an intellectual challenge to the whisky world’s status quo. Our radical, uncompromising philosophy allows inquisitive drinkers to join our exploration of the frontiers of authentic flavours, to search beyond conventions and to celebrate individuality.

One place, one farm, at a time.

And now what they share about their Arcadian Farm Origin line with a few options “the old ways – organic, biodynamic, peated & heritage”:

We ask what organic farming, or the ancient wisdom of biodynamics can offer to the intensity of barley’s flavour. Our curiosity leads us to discover then resurrect rare heritage grains, one variety at a time; and to experience the pungency of real Irish peat for the first time in generations in whisky. With these radical methods we ask the inquisitive, daring drinker to join us on our unorthodox journey towards the frontiers of authentic, uninhibited flavour.

What did we try?

Waterford Single Farm Origin Hook Head 1.1 Terroir F035E01-01 50% with a light blue-green label and distinctive yellow glass top, retailing for Eur 80… This was my favourite once the highly salty quality was tempered with both water and time!
Waterford Arcadian Farm Origin Heritage Hunter 1.1 Terroir HE01E01-01 50% with a yellow label and bright pink glass top, sold out at Eur 100… Has a spice kick but also so much more!
Waterford Arcadian Farm Origin Peated Ballybannon 1.1 Terroir P062E01-01 50% with a dark label and smoky grey glass top. This exact whisky isn’t listed on the Waterford website, however can be found on a different site for Eur 92… No mistaking this was an exploration of a flavourful peat dram!

The more I looked into the approach here, the more I recognized this is true whisky “geek” territory! Curious what the farm where the barley was grown sounds like? The exact location of where the barley was grown, who did what, and how? The organisms that live in the soil? Old wives’ tales converted into accumulated knowledge, combined with the cycles of the moons around the earth into science. The impact of how agro-business has “buggered the soil”, the importance of barley seeds from before 1967, and the role of air and composting? Enquiring minds will get answers to questions they didn’t even know to ask!

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