Whisky's boom years seem to be over. Following the bankruptcy of the Swedish brand Mackmyra in September, Ireland's renowned Waterford Distillery has also gone bust, putting an end to one of the most ambitious projects of the last decade.
When Mark Reynier acquired an old brewery from Diageo in 2015, he had a vision: to produce the best possible whisky, while also focusing on terroir, which had previously been underrepresented in the whisky world. He had pursued this approach at the Bruichladdich distillery, where he had played a key role in its 2000 revival. This time, however, terroir was to become the defining trait of the new Waterford brand.
In April 2022, Waterford finally presented its first whisky: 1st Cuvée: Pilgrimage , a blend using grain from 35 farms which sparked a little hype around the brand. This was also due to the innovative bottle design, which deliberately broke with convention. Many more bottlings were to follow, but they still lack a core range, which is certainly due to the young age of the distillery.
Whether fans of the distillery will ever be able to enjoy one is very much in question, however, as the distillery appointed two liquidators in late November after the company failed to raise more capital. This is the culmination of several weeks of efforts by Waterford Distillery and its main creditor, HSBC Bank, to put together a recovery plan for the business. It is likely that the insolvency administrators will either try to find a buyer for the company in the coming weeks or sell off its assets, including its whisky stocks or the distillery itself.
This is tragic news. Nothing I can say will be enough to describe my feelings at this moment. The whole Waterford team has done a great job. They were very committed and I'm sorry that I let them down. Mark Reynier
Waterford Whisky's latest financial statements show that the company achieved €3 million in revenue in 2022, compared to 3.3 million Euros in the previous year. Their balance sheet attributed the 300,000 Euros decline to the choice of sales partner in the US. Their books also revealed that the company had accumulated 7.7 million Euros in losses, which were offset by whisky stocks worth 40.1 million Euros.
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