Waterford Heritage Hunter 1.1

THE HOLY SPIRITS VIEW
This whiskey began with a single 50g bag of seed. Waterford brought back Hunter, a long-lost barley variety, and grew it on over several years until there was enough to fill just 50 barrels. It’s the first release in the Heritage series, and a very rare chance to taste what Irish whiskey might have tasted like before high-yield grain took over.
 
THE DISTILLERY
Waterford was founded in 2015 by Mark Reynier, who previously led the revival of Bruichladdich on Islay. It occupies a converted former Guinness brewery in Waterford city, and is built on the idea that barley variety, soil and microclimate should count as flavour, not just raw material. Each farm’s barley is kept separate from field to cask, with a detailed traceability system at the heart of the whole operation.
 
THE WHISKEY: HERITAGE HUNTER 1.1
Hunter barley was introduced by plant breeder Dr Herbert Hunter in the 1950s, then largely disappeared from Irish fields in favour of higher-yielding crops. Waterford revived it from a single 50g bag, a limited run of 50 barrels. Distilled in February 2019 and bottled in August 2022, it was matured in a combination of first-fill American oak, virgin American oak, French oak and Vin Doux Naturel casks. Bottled at 50% ABV, natural colour, non-chill filtered, unpeated.
 
TASTING NOTES
Dry earth, lemon sherbet, red apple, rolled barley, sea salt, petrichor, sun-dried hay, a hint of pencil shavings. Palate turns to orange sponge cake and Jaffa Cake, shortbread, porridge, cloves, savoury spice, a touch of prune. Orange oil building with air, green spice, dusty grain, wood char creeping in late. Finish long and spicy, green oak lingering. Savoury, grainy, quite different from anything else on the Irish shelf. Intriguing.
 
Serve: Neat, in a Glencairn glass. Give it a few minutes, as it opens beautifully, and a few drops of water bring out the orange.