irish whisky

Get ready to “nerd out” over whisky with our newest podcast featuring Waterford Whisky. Waterford is an Irish Single Malt with a Scottish passion. Mark Reynier, Founder of Waterford Whisky, and Jake discuss the importance of heirloom grains and terroir in whiskey-making. Waterford Whisky looks to create distinct and unique flavors in the single malt category.

We would love to hear your thoughts on heirloom grains and terroir, and if you think they make a difference in your whiskey!

Stream this episode on your favorite podcast app and be sure to drop us a review while you’re there. 

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Cheers,
Scott and Jake
Bourbon Lens

About Waterford Whisky:

With over a hundred exclusive farms of Irish-grown barley, Waterford searches for natural flavors via three paths: The Single Farm Origin series pursues the individualism of terroir-derived flavor; Cuvées, a mix of the farms to explore harmony and complexity of flavor; and the Arcadian Farm Origin series expresses the intensity of flavor from alternative philosophies and long-forgotten varieties.

Each bottle of Waterford comes with a Téireoir code, with every detail regarding the origins of the whisky. From agricultural data, information on the production process, interviews with the farmer and even a SoundCloud recording of the farm, drinkers are invited to gain a deeper understanding of their dram.

About Mark Reynier - Founder & CEO:

Waterford founder and CEO Mark Reynier has over 40 years' experience in the drinks industry – 20 years in wine, and 20 years in spirits. A maverick entrepreneur who has done perhaps more than any other figure to bring terroir to the spirits world, he began his career in the London wine trade in 1980, formed La Réserve – one of London's premier wine & spirit merchants – before resurrecting the mothballed Bruichladdich Distillery in 2000. The distillery was sold to Rémy Cointreau in 2012. Reynier then bought the former Guinness brewery in Waterford in 2014, transforming a state-of-the-art brewery into a modern distillery. Reynier has also begun proving these same principles in rum through his new brand Renegade Rum in Grenada and in July 2018 commenced building the game-changing $30 million (USD) Renegade Rum Distillery.

Through the 18th and 19th Century Irish whiskey went from strength to strength, but at the beginning of the 20th century, legislation enacted across the sea in the United States practically brought the whiskey industry in Ireland to its knees. 

The United States was the biggest international market for Irish whiskey, and that country's enactment of prohibition forced the steals to stop and the distilleries that housed them often to close their doors. 

One such distillery was JJ McConnell's, a brand that was the darling of Belfast and had existed since 1776. In the decades that followed, the brand lived on only as a memory, a whiskey from another time. But luckily, the brand's story doesn't end there. 

In 2020, the newest and yet one of the oldest names in Irish whiskey started to be seen again from across bars from Belfast to Boston. 

To find out more, we talked to global brand ambassador, Sarah Kennedy, about legacy, rebirth, and what it takes to recreate a fabled brand. 

Elizabeth and Abigail take you through several hundred years of Old World whisk(e)y production, with a few reminisces about time spent drinking there.  Abigail offers you a cocktail to kick off baseball season.