Review #: 155
Description: Redbreast 12 Year Cask Strength
Spirit: Irish Whiskey
Background: Midleton’s Redbreast line of Irish whiskey, this is like their standard 12 year bottle with a blend of Bourbon and Oloroso Sherry casks, but now without any dilution. This is for batch B2/19. This was supplied by a friend blind and I gave my notes to him before being revealed, so keep that in mind.
Distillery – Midleton
Bottler – Midleton
Brand – Redbreast
Selection – N/A
ABV – 55.8%
Age – 12 Years
Nose – My initial thought is bourbon. Sweet corn, vanilla, raspberry and apricot jam, light cinnamon. The more I smell, the stronger of buttered popcorn I get
Taste – Nice jammy fruit and dark chocolate, caramel and vanilla
Finish – Rye and baking spices come in, some nice balance with toasted oak, light heat lingers
Guess – 105-115 Proof, Maybe 8-10 years, with a decent rye content?
Score: 7
Would I buy a bottle? Yes
Thoughts: This was quite enjoyable. There was a good amount of corn which made me immediately question whether it was mellow corn but don’t worry, I went and tried my bottle and it was definitely cornier, so definitely leans bourbon for me. It didn’t taste like it pushed the bounds of bourbon, but instead it was well above average on each front. Post Reveal: Wow, thrown for a bit of a loop, but looking at it, it makes sense. Definitely picked up a lot of the bourbon barrel but also the dark, juicy fruits from the oloroso sherry barrels. I think I’m going to have to get a bottle of this for myself. More Irish whisky needs to be cask strength.