Imperial Stout Cask Finish

The Whistler Imperial Stout Cask Finish blend is a project that the team at Boann Distillery have been working on for a number of years. The project featured a number of test batches that never saw the light of day before this, current blend was deemed ready for releasing to the public.

This blend of wheat, malt and grain whiskeys had the perfect combination of vanilla, nuttiness and creamy mouthfeel to draw out the decadent Imperial Stout qualities from the beer cask. The projected began its life, when a number of ex-sherry hogsheads, containing the Whistler 7 Year Old, were disgorged by Boann Distillery and sent to Boyne Brewhouse. Once in the brewery, they were then filled with Boyne Brewhouse’s 10.8% Imperial Stout beer, which was left to mature in these casks for a minimum of 6 months.

Once the beer was fully matured, the casks were disgorged of beer, and on the same day, filled with our bespoke blend for this release. It was incredibly important for the whiskey to be filled into these casks on the same day that the beer was disgorged to avoid any beer remaining in the wood rom acetifying.

This bespoke blend features a combination of 50% wheat whiskey, 35% malt whiskey, and 15% grain whiskey, all individually matured in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished in these Boyne Brewhouse Imperial Stout beer Casks for a further six months, at which point the whiskey was then disgorged and bottled.

This whiskey was bottled at 43% ABV, with no chill filtration or caramel colouring. Due to the nature of the length of beer maturation, this is a once annual release with the first batch seeing 3,000 bottles released.

The whiskey itself is packed with dark berries, bitter coffee and tonnes of milk chocolate character. This is a delightful and decadent whiskey with a great stout character and is likely one of Ireland’s only dry whiskeys.