Redbreast is a product line produced by Midleton Distillery in Ireland. This specific expression is a sherry finished offering that takes the Redbreast pot still product and finishes it for some time in sherry casks. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is NCF | NCA.
This is full-bodied yet refined Redbreast: the Spanish oak sherry butts shaping the red berry fruits, apples, marzipan, and creamy yet oily consistency. Clean, sweet oloroso finish. Qué delicioso!
Honey sweetness counterweights the spice with soaked oak at every step. A very long finish gives the best from a blend of sugar and spice with swells of clove.
Big, spicy flavors sweep over the palate in waves: vanilla, waxy honey, apple butter, dried apricot and dried fig, drying to chamomile tea and oak midpalate, and winding into a rich honey finish.
I would recommend this for a bourbon drinker that is trying to explore the Irish whiskey category or an Irish whiskey drinker that wants a good pour that is a little outside of the box.
I bought it hoping for the Redbreast character and a really notable sherry presence. That really isn't what I got. The sherry finish is not bold, but I grew to appreciate that there is nice balance here.
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House Review
Nose:
Faint ethanol, buttered rolls. Honey, toffee and rich sherried fruits. It's not at all like a sherry bomb, more light dessert with some sherry in the background.
Taste:
Medium mouth feel. Pepper, vanilla and toffee are the big notes here. There is some sherry character - notably figs, raspberries and light blackberry - but it's mostly backseat to the rich Irish profile. There's a lot of buttery caramel, doughy cake / dinner rolls, and toffee. The sherry is faint.
Finish:
Short, but sweet. Sherry is faint but blends nicely with big caramel toffee notes and some leather.
Overall:
I really waffled back and forth over the life of this bottle. Some days I was bored, some days I liked it. I bought it hoping for the Redbreast character and a really notable sherry presence. That really isn't what I got. The sherry finish is not bold, but I grew to appreciate that there is nice balance here. Irish whiskey typically isn't the most robust or complex spirit out there, at least in my opinion, but I found the sherry being restrained added a nice level of complexity. In wavering between a 5 and a 6, I'm giving this a 6/10.
Score:
85
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources
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