The teams at Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery and sister company Wold Top Brewery have launched Filey Bay IPA Finish Batch #2 and Barrel Wave 2023.
Joe Clark (left) and Jenni Ashwood, from Spirit of Yorkshire, and Alex Balchin, from Wold Top Brewery
Matured first in former Bourbon casks and then finished in second-generation IPA casks, Filey Bay IPA Finish Batch #2 is fruity and biscuity, with green apple notes and a slightly hoppy flavour profile that makes for a distinctive single malt. It is described as “light, fruity, and biscuity, with notes of green apple, pear drops, lemon cake, and hops”.
Barrel Wave 2023 beer spent more than a year in casks that latterly held Filey Bay whisky. It extracted the creamy, vanilla notes from the wood, while leaving hops and apple notes behind. Within hours of the beer being disgorged, the casks were refilled with mature Filey Bay whisky and left to finish further for several months.
“Single malt whisky matured in IPA casks is a very rare thing, and ones from field to bottle distilleries like ours are even rarer,” said Joe Clark, Spirit of Yorkshire’s whisky director.
“Filey Bay IPA Finish Batch #2 is a unique whisky on many levels, tying together the farm, brewery, and distillery perfectly into one whisky. These casks have now done two cycles of IPA, yielding two batches of beers. Barrel Wave 2021 is 9.1% ABV and spent eight months in cask. Barrel Wave 2023 is 8.5% ABV and spent 14 months in cask.
“The charging of the casks with the beer after whisky in turn imbues the casks with wonderful flavours, readying them for filling with mature whisky again for further finishing to create our latest IPA Finish.
“Without our farm, brewery and distillery, it would be impossible to create casks or a whisky quite like this. These very special casks are amongst the most unique in our warehouse and, now being second generation, some of the rarest in the whisky industry.”
Wold Top Brewery director, Alex Balchin, added: “Barrel Wave 2023 is a beautifully rounded, smooth, full-bodied beer, where hints of soft citrus fruits and hoppy bitter notes marry with the light, creamy, vanilla flavours of the Filey Bay whisky.”
