Whisky Discovery #1368

Hyde No. 1 'Presidents Cask' 10 Year Old 46% abv

Irish Single Malt Whiskey

circa £51.00 70cl

It wasn't that long ago that almost all Irish Whiskey came from either the New Midleton Distillery (Jamesons, Powers, Redbreast, Midleton, Greenspot and others) or Bushmills in Northern Ireland.

Cooley were the first of the new distilleries coming on line in 1987 producing Connemara, Michael Collins, Tyrconnell, and others. It wasn't until 2007 when the next distillery re-opened with Kilbeggan followed by West Cork Distillers in 2008. The next group of start-ups followed four years later, and they're still coming. Irish Whiskey is riding a wave of optimism and every month there seems to be news of a new distillery either coming on-line or new plans are being drawn up.

Hibernia Distillers are one of the latest new names in Irish Whiskey and has recently launched its Hyde Irish Whiskey onto the Irish and international markets, as this demand for Irish whiskey continues to grow. Hyde is a single-malt Irish whiskey, made from 100 per cent malted Irish barley and aged for ten years, named to celebrate Ireland’s first president, Douglas Hyde, who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945.

There's no distillery just yet, but they have ambitions, with plans to start their own production in the near future in West Cork. So the casks for this release were sourced from the Cooley distillery (as read on IrishWhiskey.com) and had been distilled in traditional copper pot stills from 100% malted Irish barley, aged in flame-charred oak first fill Bourbon barrels for 10 years, and finished off in toasted Oloroso Sherry casks from Spain for a further 10 months. It is non-chilled filtered and cut with West Cork spring water, and then bottled at 46% abv and limited to 5,000 bottles, all of which are individually numbered and comes in a bespoke wooden box.

Official tasting notes:

Nose: Delightful peaches & cream, vanilla, slightly custard, barley malt softness, with citrus, sweet, honey, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, orange, lemon, banana, & infused with spices.

Taste: Wonderfully smooth yet complex, creamy yet fruity with notes of caramel and manuka honey, apricot, plumb, and a silky malt texture.

Finish: Rich, Spicy, & Oaky. It lingers in the mouth with a long rich finish.

So What Did I Think?

Colour: Rich Gold

Nose: Sweet with a creamy peachy type flavour initially.It feels unmistakably Irish to me, but would I have said that in a blind tasting? Probably not! Foam bananas come later along with a gentle orange note and lots of lovely ripe grains

Taste: Very smooth and creamy. Tinned peaches and evaporated milk (a tea time trat as a kid!) A soft orange note comes across later along with milk chocolate. The spices come late leaving a sherbet like tingle in the long finish. The empty glass the following morning yeilds plenty of malty chocolate notes.

Verdict:

A nicely balanced Irish whiskey and I'm looking forward to hearing more from this new company. Their next release, HYDE No.2 ; a 10 Year Old Rum Cask finished version will be ready to launch in September, however it will be a long wait until we get to see their own 10 Year Old release.

Slàinte! Dave