How Flying Tumbler Irish Whiskey Is Made

Our blend of single grain and single malt whiskey is matured in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-oloroso sherry butts. This unique blend offers notes of vanilla, figs, dates, and raisins to the palate.

Today we’ll be chatting through how we created this unique smooth tasting Irish Whiskey blend in tandem with industry experts.

The first step in our blending process is our Cask Selection. Here, we review, sample and select casks from our stocks that have whiskey spirit which has reached the level of maturity and complexity we demand.

Then based on the profile we desire, we set the Blend Ratio. For our inaugural blend ‘The Bird’ we have blended casks of grain and malt whiskies matured in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry casks. Irish whiskeys are commonly matured in ex-bourbon barrels from the US as the American oak imparts a smooth and mellow taste to the whiskey. Ex-oloroso casks are used in our blend of whiskey as the dark flavours of oloroso manifest in tasting notes of figs, dates, and raisins. Oloroso matured whiskeys impart a smooth flavour to our liquid.

Our third step to the blending process is Vatting & Filtering. Our team opens and vats the casks together into a blending vessel in line with our blend ratio. Our blend of whiskey is filtered through a simple wire gauze filter and into the blending vessel. We don't chill filter or add any colouring. A ‘Non Chill Filtered’ whiskey keeps all the chemical compounds in the liquid and we believe that keeping these compounds preserves the important flavours that are otherwise lost in the process.

Our final stage in the blending process is Cutback. This entails our whiskey being cut back with RO water from cask strength to bottling strength. The liquid is then bottled at 43% ABV. Our whiskey is then ready for bottling as 'The Bird'.