Water & Climate

The Blackwater is the great river of the Irish south. It rises in the mountains of Kerry, flows through north Cork and finally meets the sea at Waterford. Blackwater Distillery in Cappoquin sits right on its bank and rightly bears its name. The water used for gin, poitín and whiskey comes from the very landscape the river has shaped for thousands of years.

Then there's the Atlantic. The south of Ireland sits directly in the path of the ocean current. The mild, damp air brings rain rather than frost all year round. For the barley, that means steady growth without long dry spells. For the warehouses, it means air that rarely drops below five degrees Celsius or climbs above twenty.

This steady climate is one of the reasons casks in the south of Ireland mature more calmly than they might in Kentucky or on a Scottish hillside. Without sharp swings in temperature, the wood expands less dramatically. The whiskey draws colour and aroma from the cask more slowly, but more consistently. Taste a bottle from Midleton or Waterford over the years, and you'll notice that calm.

The coast itself shapes the distilleries in other ways too. Skibbereen and Cappoquin both lie just a few kilometres from the open sea. The same salty air drifts through the warehouses as through the fishing villages around them. The same landscape that grows the barley later keeps the casks at a steady humidity. That way, the Atlantic stays present throughout the entire maturation.