Redbreast 12yo Cask Strength has been an all-time favourite in our whisk(e)y collection. So I was beyond excited to try this Lustau edition, which is a perfect marriage between Ireland and Spain, with a little help from American oak.
For the first nine to twelve years, this single pot still whiskey has matured on bourbon- and sherry casks, before being finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry butts for a year. Bodegas Lustau is the name of the producer of the sherry, who partnered up with the Middleton Distillery to create this Redbreast. This was a result of an old friendship, as Redbreast states on their website.
The nose is unmistakably Redbreast, with its aromas of cereal biscuits, smoked oak and honey, but it also contains dates and dried fruits.
The palate is dry and leathery, becomes juicy after a few seconds with mouthwatering notes of raisins, vanilla, dried apples, fruit cake and grapes.
A medium long and drying finish, containing a slight bitterness, with another layer of cereals, raisins, honey, toasted oak, winter spices, leather and copper.
The best way to describe this, is a granola/raisins bar in a bottle. Typical Irish goodness with a thick, interwoven layer of Oloroso cask influences. And before you think it’s incredibly sweet: it’s not. Because the best thing about it, is that the cerealy, bittersweet, coppery Irish character isn’t obscured at all.