Cork-based bonders Hyde has been wowing drinkers with its rare bottlings since 2015. There’s no distillery, the business is based on buying and maturing new make spirit as well as finishing bought-in mature whiskey. Traditionally the big Irish distillers didn’t bottle their own whiskey. Instead, they sold it to merchants, who would mature it under bond (ie. without having to pay duty) and bottle it under brand names. That’s what Hyde does today.
Conor Hyde’s family has been in the drinks business in Ireland for ten generations. He joked that he and his brother Alan are “the first of the Hyde family not to be born in a tavern or pub in West Cork.” They operate in two ways. One, by taking new-make spirit made contract-made to their specification and mature that all the way through in different casks. But they also buy mature whiskey. What they’re doing is working, because they’ve won every major international whiskey award that you can possibly win.