Redbreast 10 Year Old

Redbreast has to be one of my favourite Irish whisk(e)y brands. Almost everything I have tasted of this label so far were great whiskeys. One of my favourites from the range is the 12 year old Cask Strength and when I heard that a 10 year old was released on cask strength, I didn’t have to think twice about buying it.

This limited edition was released to celebrate Redbreast’s 30th anniversary after Irish Distillers revived the brand in 1991. Only available online to the members of The Birdhouse, which is the brand’s own club. However, the price (€ 100, -) was a bit steep, especially when you compare it with the cheaper 12 year old cask strength. But I was curious about this Redbreast 10 year old which had not been released since 1971.

What makes this limited edition so special is that this Redbreast is a combination of all three styles of pot still whiskey (light, medium, heavy) produced by Midleton Distillery, where this is normally a combination of two of these styles. Sounds interesting, right?

Also, this not only contains 10 year old whiskey but in fact it’s a combination of three different distillates, ranging in the age of 10 to 15 year old. Each one has been matured in both ex-Bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, before being bottled at a strength of 59.1% ABV.

Redbreast 10 year old tasting notes:

Nose: a hint of tropical fruits. Bananas, a touch of melons. Vanilla. Sweet cherries too. Wood shavings, leather and quite some spices, such as cinnamon and cloves. A drop of honey. Lemons in the back. Later also coconut.

Taste: sweet cherries, cranberries and blueberries. Raisins too. Red apples. A pinch of honey, followed by almonds. Vanilla. Dark chocolate and oak. Also quite some spiciness in this one: crushed black pepper, cinnamon and cloves.

Finish: mid-long to long with the same spices as on the palate. Some oak. Honey. Cranberries and those cherries again.

A rather excellent and complex dram with a great balance between the fruits and the spices. Although I do think the price was a little bit too steep for this one.