It's been a while between Irish whiskey reviews. In fact it's been a while between Irish whiskeys for this reviewer - particularly of the single pot still variety. They're just not something that I seek out, generally. But this 21-year old Redbreast could change that!
In my experience, Irish whiskeys can be great, but they're often not. The core range bottlings from the likes of Jameson, Bushmills, and Tullamore blends generally don't float my boat, with low bottling strengths and lighter, more grain-driven character. And while the likes of Teeling, Connemara and co. are more characterful examples if you ask me, they're also leaning towards the Scottish style than what most of us expect when we're looking at an Irish dram; they're mostly double-distilled rather than triple-distilled, most of their offerings are single malts, and in a couple of cases they're even lightly peated. On the other hand, Redbreast is a brand that I haven't had much experience with so far. I've tried the entry level 12-year old and 15-year old, but that's it. So this 21-year old example is quite the interesting proposition, being a well-aged single pot still Irish whiskey, being matured in first-fill bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, and perhaps most importantly being bottled at 46% ABV and non-chill filtered. Unfortunately I can't find any word on artificial colouring, and looking at this whiskey in the glass it could go either way. But we can forgive that since at least the other two boxes on our wishlist, strength and filtration, have been ticked. Being a 21-year old whiskey at 46% in 2021 this is not a cheap proposition, but it's still quite reasonably priced at around $350-400 AUD down under. It also seems to be quite scarce, like most of the popular whiskies & whiskeys around the world that are enjoying the current explosion in demand, which of course is also affecting pricing in many cases. Thankfully many of our local importers, distributors & retailers have resisted increasing their prices beyond their normal mark-up, while those who have jumped on the chance to drastically boost their profit margins - a.k.a. price gouging - are sticking out like sore thumbs. Hopefully that all settles down as the world slowly returns to some semblance of normality, but who knows!
Since this is my first review of a single pot still Irish whiskey, and my first review of a Redbreast, we have a few things to cover. Firstly, there is no Redbreast Distillery. This is a brand of whiskey produced by Midleton Distillery, the massive complex that is located in County Cork near the western coast of southern Ireland. And when I say massive, we're talking about a production capacity of over 65-million litres of spirit per year, through three large pot stills and three column stills - so roughly three-times the maximum output of the recently-expanded Glenlivet Distillery in Scotland, although it still pales in comparison with the huge grain whisky plants - the largest of which, Diageo's Cameronbridge plant, produces well over 100-million litres of grain spirit per year. Midleton Distillery is also responsible for Jameson, Powers, Writers Tears, Irishman, Red/Yellow/Green Spot, Method & Madness and also the namesake Midleton brand, among others, and a few of those brands are not under the ownership of Midleton's corporate overseers, Pernod Ricard, which would make those independent bottlings. That's all a bit of a strange concept from a Scotch whisky perspective, and is more similar to the practices of the bourbon / American whiskey industry, where much like in Ireland a handful of huge distilleries produce multiple brands of whiskey - Buffalo Trace Distillery, for example, produces around twenty different brands, all with multiple SKUs, at the one distillery. And that's not including the myriad of brands that are 'non-distiller producers' a.k.a. independent bottlers also sourcing their whiskey from the same place. And that's much the same as in Ireland, even more so in fact when you consider that as recently as the 1980s there were only two whiskey distilleries in the country. That has changed more recently with over 40 distilleries now active, and many of those being smaller and more "craft" oriented than the large corporate operations. On the other side of that coin, many of these more recently-commissioned distilleries are being opened by companies & brands that are already established with spirit and product that is sourced from elsewhere. But in the continuing market boom they have made the move to build their own distilleries, generally with a view to eventually move their entire operations there, moving away from their "sourced" whiskey. Teeling, Hyde and Tullamore D.E.W come to mind there, but there are quite a few other examples.
The other part of this Redbreast that is a bit of a strange concept from a Scotch whisky perspective would be the term 'single pot still'. Despite the name they're generally not actually produced in one single pot still - rather they're produced at a single distillery like a single malt or single grain whisky. Despite the efforts of the double-distilled single malts that I mentioned above, this style of whiskey has almost become synonymous with Irish whiskey to the casual observer, and Midleton Distillery is the largest producer of pot still Irish whiskey, while also producing blended whiskeys and occasionally also single malts in-house. So breaking down the terms, this is an Irish whiskey that has been distilled in pot stills at one single distillery, but it's not a single malt because there is both malted and unmalted (a.k.a. 'raw' or 'green') barley in the grain recipe / mash bill. The historical reason for this (partial) move away from malted barley was to avoid the English taxes that were placed on malted grains in Britain, and it was also a cheaper ingredient to produce, but it also resulted in a clearer point of difference between the Irish style and that traditionally made over the water in Scotland. Thus the term 'single pot still', which is sometimes also named 'pure pot still' or merely 'pot still whiskey' when the spirit is not produced at one distillery, became exclusive to Irish whiskey, although many of the older brands turned to cheaper and lighter blended whiskies & whiskeys when demand shifted that way. Redbreast is one of the oldest single pot still Irish whiskey brands, dating back to 1912, albeit with a few changes over that time - the original producer of the spirit, Jameson's Bow Street Distillery, closed in 1971, and there was a brief dalliance with producing a blended whiskey under the Redbreast name, before the brand's temporary death in 1985. The name & brand was subsequently sold to Irish Distillers (now owned by Pernod Ricard), before it was re-launched in 1991. The 21-year old expression that we're looking at today first launched in 2013, and if memory serves this is the oldest Irish whiskey that I've tasted to date. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow-whisky nerd. Right, let's get to it, shall we?
Single pot still Irish whiskey, produced from both unmalted and malted barley, triple distilled in pot stills at Midleton Distillery. Matured in first-fill ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. Non-chill filtered, colouring unknown.
Colour: Amber gold.
Nose: Nutty, creamy and spicy. Dry, grassy, spicy grain, almost reminiscent of rye spiciness. Creamy with touches of vanilla and slightly-acidic dark cherry. Warm baking spices (cinnamon, clove & aniseed) and a little burnt caramel - verging on bitter. Baked stone fruit. Quite oaky as well, freshly toasted & sawn new wood.
Texture: Light-medium weight. Richly fruity, creamy & spicy. Brighter than the nose suggested. Very slight touch of heat, pleasant.
Taste: Creamy vanilla, maybe creamy vanilla fudge. Passionfruit curd too, but neither is overtly sweet. Fresh wood and dark, lightly burnt caramel. Those baking spices again but more the cinnamon & aniseed now. Touch of dried orange and roasted nuts. Fresh nectarine, white peach and a touch of fresh passionfruit, maybe a little under-ripe mango as well, all topped off with fresh double cream.
Finish: Short-medium length. More passionfruit, touch of under-ripe mango, burnt caramel and fresh toasted wood. Fresh cream again with vanilla and a lighter touch of cinnamon. Stewed stone fruit & dark cherry - maybe cherry stones, actually. Touch of burnt caramel and that dry grassy grain character show through again towards the end.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: Surprisingly bright & fresh on the palate. While the nose suggested a drier, grain-driven spicy and woody dram, the palate gives a lovely zesty bright fruitiness that is quite refreshing, and fresher in style than the age statement would have you expect. The grain, oak and spice do still show themselves on the palate, but it's all balanced off thanks to the fresh stone fruit and creaminess that cut through that nicely. The lightly burnt caramel note is a little off-putting though and doesn't quite gel with the rest of the notes in the smell & taste, but thankfully it doesn't get in the way too much.
Certainly a quality whiskey with good character and a lovely fresh fruitiness, a touch dull on the nose perhaps but that bright fruity character on the palate saves the show with ease. All told I'm not sure that I'd pick it as a 21-year old whiskey, but that could be down to the triple-distillation and particularly the unmalted grain, keeping things lighter & fresher than might be expected at this age.
It's refreshing and quite important to try these different whiskies / whiskeys and other spirits every now & then, helping to keep things fresh and keep the palate interested. And a single pot still Irish whiskey does give a refreshing change without straying too far from the comfort zone. Certainly worth trying if you haven't had the pleasure - think I'll have to track down a dram of Redbreast Cask Strength now, that'll make for a great comparison!
Cheers!
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