Hyde Whiskey – a St. Patrick’s Day festival dram or not?

What better way to review some Irish whiskey on this 17th of March 2021. That’s right, it’s St. Patrick’s Day!
So we’ll gonna find out if Hyde Whiskey is something to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland with pride ☘️😉

First up we need to give some credits to Robbert from Confessions of a whisky freak for arranging an online tasting with Hyde Whiskey. We’d encountered before with Hyde, but haven’t done a line-up tasting before. So we were happy that Robbert asked us, and some other Dutch Whisky “Grammers” 🥃🇳🇱.

We’ve done this tasting some time ago and revisited the samples lately to give it a fair shot. We’ll start off with a quote by Hyde Whiskey to give you a small insight on what Hyde Whiskey is all about:

“The HYDE family have been involved in the Irish drinks business for over twelve generations since 1640. HYDE is presidential quality Irish whiskey named in honour of Ireland’s very first president Douglas Hyde. President HYDE was an inspirational figure who helped to define Ireland’s national identity.”
https://hydewhiskey.ie/about/

You could imagine that they’ve set the bar high on their quality because of the presidential quality. And because of their history, Hyde Whiskey should be a perfect match on St. Patrick’s Day.

We’ve received four samples of Hyde Whiskey with an information folder on all of their line-up. Just to show what we didn’t receive 😅. Luckily they’ve send a wide range of samples containing: grain, malt and a blend!

Hopefully you’re reading this with a dram in your hands, and best to do so with an Irish Whiskey, because it’s about time to go in that exploration mode instead of just info and jibber jabber 😜

Hyde No. 3

Type: Single Grain
Age: 6 year old
ABV: 46%
WB: 79543

Nose: “Gin”-like, Rosemary, Vanilla.
Palate: Juniper and pepper.
Finish: To sharp

Nose: Candyfloss, cinnamon and vanilla.
Palate: Fruity with some spices and a slight cinnamon taste.
Finish: medium but spicy sharp.

Score: 67/100

Score: 76/100

Hyde No. 4

Nose: Candy Sour (Green Apple Sour – Haribo) and cinnamon buns.
Palate: Caramel and sultanas.
Finish: Sharp and some cinnamon.

Nose: Red fruit, Earl Grey tea, a bitter note and white pepper.
Palate: Strawberry, a bit musty (in a strange way) and slight spices.
Finish: Short.

Score: 75 / 100

Type: Single Malt
Rum Cask Finish
Age: NAS
ABV: 46%
WB: 86813

Hyde No. 6

Type: Blended Whisky
Sherry Cask Finish
Age: 18 year old Malt & 8 year old Grain
ABV: 46%
WB: 100521

Nose: Vanilla, creme brûlée, toffee, red fruits and raisins.
Palate: Definitely sherry influenced, sweet raisins, creamy caramel, toffee fudge and honey.
Finish: Vanilla and oaky.

Nose: Dark Chocolate, sherry, red fruit and vanilla.
Palate: Laurel, honey licorice and caramel.
Finish: a pleasant medium to long finish.

Score: 81 / 100

Score: 80 / 100

Hyde No. 7

Nose: Sultana’s, orange and lemon zest.
Palate: Dark chocolate and vanilla cream.
Finish: Sharp, lemon zest and oaky.

Nose: Raisins, dark chocolate, sultana and red fruits.
Palate: Mint leafs, and typical PX sherry notes.
Finish: Medium to long finish.

Score: 78 / 100

Score: 81 / 100

Type: Single Malt
Sherry Cask Matured
Age: 6 years old
ABV: 46%
WB: 118179

That was an interesting line-up… that’s for sure 🥃🤔
We both weren’t a big fan of the No. 3 and No. 4 release. It was just to young and therefor not balanced and /or complex enough. The rum cask did gave some influence, but probably it wasn’t a very active cask, or the Hyde spirit isn’t a great match with (these specific) rum casks.

The No. 6 and No. 7 on the other hand are way better! That’s not strange considering the age of No.6 and the fact that No. 7 was fully matured in sherry casks in stead of “only” finished. For the price quality you won’t go wrong with these two releases, but their are other good and possible better options for around €40,- 🥃👌🏼

We still have one problem with a choice Hyde Whiskey made… and that’s the decision of blending an 18 year old Malt with an 8 year old Grain 🙄…
We know the ratio is 25% Single Malt matured for 18 years in a first fill, toasted, 250L Hogshead, ex-Oloroso Sherry cask with 75% Single Grain matured for 8 years in a first fill, flame charred, 200L, ex-Bourbon cask.
But still…
We would love to try that 18 year old on it’s own 🥃😉

Definitely some kudos to Hyde Whiskey for bringing out their whiskey’s @ 46% ABV and for an interesting price point! So to conclude on this years St. Patrick’s Day… If you’re in for a single or maybe two drams of something special? Pass on! But if you just want to sip on a dram, or celebrate it like a true Irishman… grab a bottle an crack that bottle!

Slàinte 🥃☘️

Dutch Whisky Brothers