White Peak Wire Works Duo
Bourbon Barrel & Calvados Finish | Various ABV
Opportunity Knocks
When I sat down with my wife at the end of last year to plan our travels of 2026, a tentative plan was drawn to visit either Iceland or Spain in the summer, to catch the solar eclipse.
We even had accommodations booked, before a family announcement forced us to abandon our plans. My cousin was getting married in Georgia, and obviously we weren’t going to miss that. Before I go on, I’m sure some readers will assume I’m talking about Georgia, the US state. To clarify, I am referring to Georgia, the West Asian country.
There are no direct flights from Hong Kong to Georgia, but there are many options for stopovers, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Russia and China were all viable options. For a long time Turkey was our first choice, but when it came time to book our flights, the tensions in the Middle East were at their peak. While Georgia was not a part of the current conflict, it wasn’t guaranteed that the wedding would eventually take place in Georgia.
So instead of stopping over at one of the aforementioned locations, we decided to take a longer route and stopover in London instead - for two reasons: first, we have a lot of family in London (and even more in the rest of the UK) and additionally, if the wedding couldn’t go on as planned, at least we could travel within the UK or to neighbouring countries, such as Iceland or Spain for that solar eclipse.
Thankfully, at least from a traveller’s perspective, the political tension in the Middle East hasn’t escalated since, and we were able to travel to Georgia as planned. While Georgia was wonderful to us, I can’t help but focus on my time in London in these pages, because I was finally able to visit one of the most revered whisky shops in London, the Whisky Exchange.
image credit: reddit
I have been to my fair share of whisky shops, but the Whisky Exchange at Borough High Street in London may well be the one that rules them all. In terms of official bottles, it’s by far the most complete collection of whiskies I’ve ever seen and neatly organised by regions. Of course there are many bottles from independents as well.
There were so many whiskies that I’d heard of but have not seen, such as Port Charlotte 18, Oban Special Release 2025, Glen Scotia Campbeltown Malts Festival Release of 2026, Glenglassaugh 15, a few Ardnamurchan releases, a few NcNean releases, and so many more. However, a little surprisingly, what caught my attention was the shelf of world whiskies and English whiskies in particular.
This really was a who’s who of English whisky in 2026. On the shelf were bottles from the Lakes Distillery, the English Distillery, Circumstance, Filey Bay from the Spirit of Yorkshire, and a few more that I’ve never heard of. What really caught my attention though, were a few bottles of Wire Works from White Peak Distillery.
Perhaps I’m a little bit biased, after all, as during the Glasgow Whisky Festival weekend of 2024 I did get a chance to meet Tom from White Peak at the Under the Table Tasting. He served up a delicious cask sample, as well as educating us on the concept of petite eaux, or small waters in English. The idea is to use a low ABV “spirit” instead of regular water to proof down the whisky, a more detailed discussion can be found here; it’s a fascinating geeky read if you haven’t read it before.
It was through my encounter with Tom and his whisky that I got to know the Wire Works brand and the White Peak Distillery. Ever since, I’ve been on the lookout for one of the bottles to arrive in my market. Unfortunately it has yet to materialise, so I helped myself to a bottle on Scotch Whisky Auctions, scheduled to be picked up in November when I arrive in Glasgow.
But at the Whisky Exchange, I couldn’t help but have my eyes glued onto the Wire Works bottles - two of them in particular; one aged in bourbon barrels and another finished in Calvados casks. I turned around and looked at Mrs McAtear, “I can’t decide which one to get”, the response came “Why not both?”
And so I pulled the trigger on both of them, which I will present to you in today’s review.
Review 1/2
White Peak Wire Works Bourbon Barrel, matured in ex-bourbon barrels, core release, 53.4% ABV
£56 paid and general availability
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
On another day this could be an 8/10
Nose
Coastal with tiny hints of smoke. Lots of citrus fruits - lemons, limes, oranges - all very zesty and there’s a sharp fizz as well; very refreshing.
Palate
A nice continuation from the nose, with the fruits presenting themselves more vividly now. The same combination of lemons, limes and oranges, but the lemon takes centre stage, still fizzy, but creamy at the same time. The smoke is working very well with the fruits, bringing a savoury side to the whisky. The finish is medium, with the smoke and lemon lingering on.
The Dregs
No doubt this is a youthful whisky, and it’s not trying to hide it. Although it doesn’t have an age statement, there is a QR code on its label, linking to a YouTube video featuring Tom himself, introducing this whisky as 12 casks laid down in late 2018. Since the video was dated December of 2024, I assume this whisky would be 6 years old, or very close to 6 years old. While the video was quite cool, perhaps a factsheet like Ardnamurchan or Compass Box would work better - and this becomes an issue for the next whisky…
Score: 7/10
Review 2/2
White Peak Wire Works Calvados Arrivée, matured in ex-bourbon, then first-fill ex-Calvados casks for three years, limited release of 987 bottles, 49.2% ABV
£65 paid and still some availability
Score: 7/10
Very good indeed.
TL;DR
I’m being stingy, no one would argue if this was an 8/10
Nose
Coastal and salinity is still the main theme, but compared to the Bourbon Barrel, this one is more rounded on the nose. While the citrus fruits are all here, there is an obvious addition of apples, specifically freshly cut apples - perhaps not surprising with the influence of Calvados, which is an apple brandy produced in France. A very subtle hint of smoke here. If I didn’t know that the spirit was lightly peated I probably wouldn’t have picked up on it.
Palate
The zestiness manifests itself on the palate too, with the salinity also a lot more prominent. The apple note is also very nicely presented, specifically apple puree. The citrus combo of lime, lemon and orange are also present on the development. Hints of cooking spices emerge; curry powder? I’m not sure, but I think that’s what the light peat is offering.
The Dregs
Another very good whisky: let’s see where the QR code brings us… Disappointingly, this one only points us to the YouTube page of White Peak Distillery, instead of any specific video. Turns out the fact-finding mission was fairly straightforward. I just had to visit the distillery webpage and the information is all there: more on the label and the use of QR codes later. This is a small-batch release of 987 bottles released earlier this year. It was notable to me that White Peak say that this whisky was finished in Calvados casks for three years, because to me that’s a secondary maturation, especially for a relatively young whisky. They haven’t mentioned when the spirit was distilled, so I don’t know the age of the whisky, but does it matter if the whisky is this good?
Score: 7/10
The Final Dregs
Goodness… Wire Works really is the next big thing, or at least they ought to be. The quality of their whisky is unquestionable, and it does feel a bit harsh that I’m not giving an 8 to at least one of the whiskies. Both of them have pushed hard for an 8, and to be perfectly honest, as I work through these bottles I may really bump it up to an 8, but I really want to get this review out there in case some of our readers are on the fence with either of these bottles. I would recommend them at these prices every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Now, about the use of QR codes. As far as I know Ardnamurchan is the first and, so far, only distillery that’s using it correctly. The main reason to use them is that there is so much information they could provide, and it’s simply impractical to print it all on the label. There’s also the issue of maintaining the URL as time passes; which proved to be one frustrating problem for Waterford, where none of their links are operational as intended now for obvious reasons. The use of QR codes here on these two Wire Works releases is frustrating me because it isn’t really providing much extra information. The information could have been provided on the label - there is more than enough space - but unfortunately that space has been taken up by some blurb about its heritage, long fermentation and slow distillation. While all that is interesting, some practical information relevant to this release would have been more helpful.
All in all though, it’s the liquid inside of the bottle that matters, and White Peak Distillery is heading in the right direction with Wire Works. From the sample that I’ve tried from Tom, and now these two whiskies, I confirm that I have become a fanboy. However, White Peak does not have a distributor in Hong Kong, and they probably aren’t going to have one anytime soon, which is very unfortunate.
Much like Ardnamurchan, Glasgow, Lochlea, and many others, Hong Kong simply isn’t ready for new distilleries; what a shame.
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. MMc
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Other opinions on this:
Bourbon Barrel:
Dramface (Wally - our 1,00th article & origin tale!)
The Whisky Lock (video)
Calvados Arrivée:
Whiskybase
Malt Musings
Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.
