There are several of these single sherry cask Redbreasts floating around the (secondary) market. I thought it was a fun idea when the first of these dropped, considering the lack of official single cask official Irish whiskies. The prices were less fun, but the casks tended to sell out, so the market spoke. Despite my love for Redbreast, paying $300+ for a teenage Redbreast didn't compute. So they all passed me by.
It was nice to get in on a bottle split of a single cask that was exclusive to an actual Irish retailer, but it will be my one-and-done review of single sherry cask Redbreast.
Country: Ireland
Distillery: Midleton
Style: Single Pot Still
Age: 15 or 16 years
Maturation: first-fill sherry butt
Cask #: 17126
Outturn: 600 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 58.6%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(from a bottle split)
THE NOSE...
...at full strength: A sherry titan, leading with beef fat and cherries. Then mint leaf and pine sap. Hints of figs and Manuka honey. Cheesy nutritional yeast occasionally drifts through the background.
...at 46%abv: Not much change, other than a shift away towards nuts, and away from beef. Some Raisinets too.
...at 40%abv: It's 75% oak spice, 15% toffee and 10% milk chocolate.
THE PALATE...
...at full strength: There's more dried fruit here than in the nose. PLENTY of tannins too. Carob, dates, prunes and black raisins sit in the foreground. Salt and savory in the background.
...at 46%abv: It gets leafier, subtly herbal. More baking chocolate and salt, less savoriness. Even more tannins come to the surface.
...at 40%abv: Oloroso Oloroso Oloroso. Tannins, black raisins and raw nuts.
THE FINISH...
...at full strength: A bright Oloroso note arrives first, with meaty and peppery notes in the background. A moment or two of tannins and mint.
...at 46%abv: Bitter oak and peppercorns. Tannic AF.
...at 40%abv: Oloroso, salt and tannins.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
The folks at Whiskybase love this stuff, and there is certainly a wide audience to whom it would appeal. I am not part of that audience, and thus my opinion will probably prove unpopular. This is just hyperactive cask juice to me. It's a ketchup sandwich.
I didn't dump it down the sink because there's something fascinating about this sort of faceless, nameless whiskey. It could be from anywhere. It's probably the future. B-minus whiskey 24/7.
But I'm going to knock it down a few more points because they ruined 600 bottles of Redbreast.
Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - probably north of $300
Rating - 78
