Small Fortunes
During a crisp day back in January, I headed up to Derbyshire the day before White Peak Distillery launched its inaugural Wire Works single malt whisky. Co-founders Max and Claire Vaughan and distillery manager Dave Symes were hosting a small group of journalists in their unassuming and beautiful distillery to unveil its first bottling. It was a momentous occasion – and one which came with a side serving of intrigue.
On our walk towards the warehouse, we came across a barrel that the team were starting to do some experimenting with. It – French for ‘small waters’ – a spirit-dilution practice historically associated with Cognac. “In 2021, we had some discussion around the practice of using in Cognac and thought it would be interesting to trial some similar concepts in whisky as part of a vatting," said Max.
