HYDE No. 7 President's Cask Sherry Cask Matured

Strong appealing apricot nose. Sweet and apricot front. Very interesting for sipping.

A complex, Single Malt Irish Whiskey by brothers Conor & Alan Hyde founders of Hibernia Distillers in Skibbereen, Ireland distilled using a copper pot still & aged for 6 years in first-fill Oloroso Sherry hogshead casks. It has an aromatic birth with notes of fresh malt, smoke, orange, chocolate truffles, honeyed stone fruits, baking spices & lemon curd; while a rich & oily life adds notes of stewed over-ripe plums, raspberry, vanilla custard, dried apricots & a hint of shortbread; that leads to a long & spicy death with notes of honeyed spices, caramel & tart red berries. October 2020 / March 2021 / September 2022

Notes of raisins, stone fruits, chocolate, honey, and light wood. Very light on the nose with similar scents. Very smooth and enjoyable with a short finish.

Nose- ripe plum Taste- vanilla, bitter abd spice, stone fruits, burn and sour Finish - warm lastinf bitter

It's amazing how accurate the flavor profile is from Flaviar. I honestly thought this would be my favorite, but it's not. I'm not a big fan of the "oily" profile. The spicy finish is all that saves it.

Hyde number four in my series is No. 7. Following from yesterdays lacklustre No. 6 Presidents reserve, which was an olorosso sherry finished blend of 18 year old malt and 8 year old grain, I now have in front of me a pour of the fully Oloroso sherry hogsheads matured No. 7 ‘1893 Presidents Cask’. No age statement here (apparently six years) but Hyde does declare this liquid to be a Irish single malt and non chill filtered. N: A flat, but welcoming, nose with a chocolate softness and malty presence. Honey, apple and peaches and a hint of nutmeg. With a little time in the glass everything wakes up and becomes, well; less flat. There may even be a bit of orange peel here. The sherry cask is working hard thats for sure. P: Somewhere in-between oily and creamy, a thick mouth coating texture delivers plenty of malt forward character, orange peel, plain chocolate, lots of plum character, and cinnamon spice. Subsequent sips adds some leatheriness. A prominent spirit heat stays high and forward throughout. F: Short-medium. Toffee and oaky-vanilla with a peppery heat. OK. This is the best of the bunch so far. Although that isn’t really a compliment when you look at the playing field. There is a lot going on in here, the nose is a slow starter but has plenty of notes to tease out from an initially flat open. The palate is awash with rich sherry cask flavours and the finish adds some depth of character with vanillin and toffee laden wood. But, there in lies the problem. There is so little of the spirit character other than as an intrusive heat presence and a generic malt forward flavour. The sherry casking isn’t so good as to work on its own. So, whilst the best Hyde yet in my books, it is the cask that wins and seems to be masking an average or worse spirit rather than complimenting or developing it in its own right. Distiller whisky taste #171 [Pictured here with another Western Australian LCT-Pegmatite, this time from Spargoville near the Kalgoorlie Goldfields. This giant hunk of rock features mostly coarsely crystalline quartz, but also perfect tabular crystals of white microcline with albite dissolution seams and a perfect pale green beryl. The pegmatite its from is ~330 m and up to 45 m wide dipping down at 30-50 degrees. A long history of mining of this pegmatite for gem quality mineral specimens drew to a close in 2012 when the open pit and mine shaft were filled in.] Hyde running scores No. 3 Aras Cask Bourbon: 2/5 No. 4 Rum Cask Finish: 1.75/5 No. 6 Presidents Reserve: 2.75/5 No. 7 Sherry Matured 1893: 3/5