Hibernia Distillers was founded by brothers
Conor and Alan Hyde of
Hyde Whiskey, in
2014. Currently based in
West Cork, this new operation is not a distillery, but a bottler of Spirits. They have released several expressions.
Their President’s Cask range currently has 2 expression in their line up. The
President’s cask No. 1 is a Sherry finished 10YO single malt. Hyde uses a secondary maturation process, in which two different casks are used to age their Sherry finished Whiskeys;
Bourbon and Sherry.
First the the
Whiskey is aged for 10 years in first fill, 200 liter oak Bourbon barrels. This Whiskey is then finished for 10 months in toasted Oloroso Sherry casks. These ‘Hogshead’ casks are made from white oak, sourced from the
Cadiz in the Andalusia region of Southwest Spain.
The charred
Bourbon casks impart a sweeter vanilla and caramel flavor, while the Sherry casks add a spiced fruity character. This special release won a
Double Gold Medal at the 2016 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and
“Best Single Malt Irish Whiskey.”
The Hyde President’s cask range also features a
10YO Dark Rum finish. They use two different casks to age the single malt. First it is aged in flame charred, first fill, 200 liter oak Bourbon casks for 10 years. For an additional 8 months it is finished in 200 liter charred dark Caribbean Rum casks.
Premium dark Caribbean Rum casks are quite elusive, not to mention far more expensive to import all the way from Barbados to Ireland, but Hyde believes that it adds a
rich fuller character to the Whiskey.
All of their Whiskeys are
non-chill filtered, cut using only pure
Cork spring water and bottled in
small batches and then presented in handcrafted cases.