Hyde No. 6 (Cask Strength)

Type: Single malt whiskey

Origin: Ireland 🇨🇮

ABV: N/A (Cask strength)

Malt Mileage rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reaction: 😊

Back in early 2017 Hyde’s Australian importer, Scott Farrow, handed me a sample of Hyde No. 6 at cask strength while we met over a coffee at Laurent cafe in Melbourne. The sample came with no official information or details.

How intriguing.

Now, I sit down to a dram of this whiskey having just woofed down a platter of pork hock, schnitzel, sausages and a pint of lager at Melbourne’s Munich Brauhaus. Life is good.

I only got my hands on a small sample of this whiskey (which I know nothing about, apart from its name and its Irish origins) so this will be short.

On the nose there is grain, sherry, Mars bar, vanilla and caramel, with herbal notes and a dash of spice. Full-flavoured and flamboyant on the palate, the whiskey’s flavours explode into a flurry like Connor McGregor on beast mode – it is very herbal and spicy (cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg) with wood smoke, char, caramel, cocoa and dried fruit.  The flavours then sweeten into raisin, prune and ground coffee, then the sweetness gradually fades into grain, the palate dries, and I want more! My guess is that this whisky has spent some time in Oloroso sherry casks where it seems to have picked up loads of drying, sweet, spicy and round ex-sherry flavours, especially dried fruit and more dried Mediterranean herbs than Nonna’s kitchen!

If I do end up seeing Hyde No. 6 cask strength on the market, I’ll definitely be picking up a bottle for my whiskey cabinet so it can be pals with my other whiskies. It’s terrific.