Hyde No.4 Rum Finish

It’s been a few years now, since we tried a single malt from the Emerald Isle. So for April, we’re going to add an ‘e’ to our whisky and sample some fine Irish Single Malt – the Hyde No.4 Rum Finish.

The Hyde family has been running taverns in Ireland since the 1600’s. The current generation of Hydes (Conner and Adam) is the first since then to not have a tavern or pub, choosing instead to concentrate on making whiskey instead of pouring it.

We’ve featured whiskies by independent bottlers before (eg Gorden and MacPhail) – but the Hyde brothers do it slightly differently. The whisky we will sample this month comes from the Cooley Distillery. Once distilled, the new make spirit is transported to the Hyde brothers facility in County Cork where it is aged in a climate relatively warmer than the rest of Ireland (a micro-climate Cork is ‘famous’ for).

The Hyde No.4 Rum Finish Presidents Cask 1922 Single Malt , is a limited run of only 5,000 bottles.  It is aged in bourbon barrels for 6 years maturation, but the real work is done in the final 9 months in very expensive ex dark rum barrels from Barbados. These rum barrels are heavily charred, and lined with dark rich rum flavours that infuse into the whisky.

The nose is delicate and floral. There is honeysuckle and Jasmine, but no overt powerful aromas.
The honey richness is immediate on the palate, with the molassesy rummy character coming through bolstering delicate honey, nutty flavours. The spirit is pure and clean.
Finish is long and warming, with hints of the rum dancing over the palate.