Review: Redbreast 12

The most popular expression of the “single pot still” whiskies from Midleton Distillery, Redbreast 12 is thrice distilled from a mix of malted and unmalted grains, and laid down in former bourbon and sherry casks for 12 years, chill filtered, and then bottled at 80 proof.

Nose: bran muffin, wheat bread, maple syrup, french toast, allspice, garam masala, plum, dark cherry, heather, butter, faint orange blossom, damp leaves, almond, sponge cake.

Taste: Thin and sweet at the very first taste, rapidly opening up with strong red and black pepper, salty caramel, with an almost burnt sugar note, toffee, toasted almond, toasted bread, light oak, continuing spiciness as if part of the mash was rye, vanilla.

Finish: Finishes with lingering sweetness fading slowly, the caramel taste lingers longer than the actual sweetness, slowly turns a bit flabby with sweet corn, oatmeal, maple, cardamom, and black pepper as the last traces.

The spice and pepper of this whiskey tends to make me think of cocktails that do well with a warm rye. An Emerald is fundamentally a Manhattan, but with Irish whiskey substituted for the rye, but the difference between a Manhattan and an Emerald made with this whiskey would be slight. Other traditional Irish whiskey cocktails would also work. Overall I’d say it’s a nice whiskey, but I’ll spend a touch extra for their 15 year.

Redbreast 12, (Midleton Distillery, Midleton, County Cork, Republic of Ireland), 40 proof, $55