St. Patrick’s Day 2026 – Caustic Love
Stout Casks are the best friends of Irish Whiskeys, at least that is my theory. In this case, I had the recipe for the cocktail on hand for at least a year. Now that I got the perfect bottle for it, I had to mix it. At the same time this gives me the chance of yet introducing another Irish Whiskey to you, the Hyde Stout Cask.
The Hyde No. 8 Stout Cask consist of 75 % single grain whiskey and 25 % single malt whiskey. Both parts are triple distilled and aged in ex-bourbon casks. Afterwards, the whiskey gets a finish in Stout casks from Cotton Ball Brewery for five to six months. In the end, the whiskey is bottled at an ABV of 43 % and not chill-filtered.
Malt liqueur
Yes, the Stout Cask comes through instantly when sipping the Hyde No. 8. Yet, the whiskey manages to shine through, too. Beneath all the darker malt flavours you can taste caramel, vanilla and a touch of hot spices. This way the whiskey is complex enough to be sipped neat, but at the same time also can stand up to being mixed.
Based on the Caustic Negroni
I again was inspired by a cocktail from Frederik Yarm. His Caustic Negroni combines two Amaros, a Rhabarbero as well as Averna. I made a twist on this by combining Braulio with Cappelletti’s Amaro Trentino. Apart from that, I replaced the vanilla syrup of the original recipe with an excellent sour cherry syrup from d’Arbo. For a hint of smoke, I split the base between the Hyde Stout Cask and the Wee Beastie from Ardbeg.
0,75 cl Ardbeg Wee Beastie Single Malt
1,5 cl Braulio Riserva
1,5 cl Cappelletti Amaro Trentino
Garnish: Orange Twist;
Song: Paulo Nutini – Let Me Down Easy;
I do not want to praise myself, but this drink really is one of my better creations. Everything kind of comes together and forms something more tasty than the sum of its parts. The Stout cask Irish Whiskeys and the subtle smoke also work excellently with the rest. There somehow is a vanilla flavour lingering in the back and I do not really know where it is coming from. Definitely a drink to revisit and test other amaro combinations in.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. I received the whiskey for free from Hyde Whiskey
