Slàinte Mhath
The whisky industry’s wild rover, Mark Reynier has found contentment in an Irish venture which has just borne fruit
A whisky maverick embarks on an exciting new venture
JUST as time and wood can impart certain nuances on maturing spirit, I reckon physical surroundings can influence the human condition.
Case in point is Mark Reynier. The former managing director of Bruichladdich distillery is regarded by some as an industry maverick.
His bold credentials were established when he brought the dormant Islay operation back to life in 2002 – despite a chorus of naysayers.
Bruichladdich seemed to bring out the vintage raconteur in the former wine merchant.
He revelled in the discovery that the stillhouse webcams, for example, courted the close attentions of American spies on the lookout for the production of weapons of mass destruction.
Another dalliance with military superpowers came when fishermen pals salvaged a mysterious yellow submarine – later found to belong to the Ministry of Defence – adrift near the distillery.
And, rolling back the eons, Mark was at the centre of a story revealing how Islay’s Rinns peninsula, the very source of the Bruichladdich’s spring water, was once joined to the Peruvian coast – where there is a town called Islay. Mark never missed a beat when spearheading the international twinning opportunity.
Around five years ago – having since left Bruichladdich after its sale to Rémy Cointreau in 2012 – Mark converted a former Guinness brewery in Waterford, south east Ireland, to a distillery. The first release has just come onto the market.
By my estimation, the last half decade must have elicited a veritable almanac of historical humdingers, military near misses and extraordinary coincidences. Surely?
“Nope,” Mark says, matter-of-factly. “It has been absolutely plain sailing.
“You’ve seen it all before – you know the pressures, the frustrations and the disappointments, the highs the low, and excitements. You take it in your stride. “With Waterford I bear no scars, it’s a Rolls Royce.” Or a Rolls with a Scottish engine – powered by a Reynier caper-of-old.
“When we bought Waterford it came with 40 million euros worth of new brewing kit.
“Brewing is two thirds of distilling so it was my original instinct was that it wasn’t beyond the wit of man to add on the distilling bit.”
This entrepreneurial spirit also enabled Mark to develop an elaborate plan to repurpose and transport two giant stills from another distillery.
“Through a contact called Demolition Dave we liberated the two stills from the Inverleven distillery, near Glasgow, after the huge site closed in 2003,” Mark says.
“Dave punctured a hole in the distillery wall with a ball and chain and we chartered a barge on the River Leven and shipped the stills north to Bruichladdich, for spare parts, after paying the scrap value.”
In the end the stills were never used but Mark had them shipped to Waterford where they are now being restored.
With Scottish craft at the beating heart of this operation, Mark has dropped the “e” from whiskey – as Irish whiskey is otherwise known.
The product, however, is a reflection of the immediate surroundings. “I was also always told by the late, great Duncan Mcgillivray, Bruichladdich’s brilliant general manager, that the best barley he ever saw came from right here, in south east Ireland.
“The climate is so much more suitable here, ameliorated by the gulf stream.”
Mark has forged connections with 40 local farmers providing the raw materials. Frequently using the French term terroir – which means “the environmental factors that affect a crop” – Waterford’s focus is very much on this basic component part. The barley for each bottle can be traced to a single farm.
“We have a terroir code on each bottle that yields an unparalleled amount of supporting information about the terroir, the farm, the farmer and distillation,” says Mark.
Waterford’s first expression is called Pilgrimage as Mark says it’s been an epic spiritual journey following the barley.
There’s a definite sense of a maverick mellowing. That said, I think Waterford is another port in this colourful journey. Mark reveals he’s planning his next spiritual venture – in Grenada.
“I am about to start distilling in a totally new-built cane rum distillery, jacked out of the jungle.”
But that’s a story for another edition ...
For now, it’s quite nice to see the industry’s wild rover basking in a sense of contentment.
“All we need is right here – it’s perfect,” Mark adds.
“It has been an epic spiritual journey barley” following the