First you think you love Redbreast, and then they go and release a triple-distilled single pot still sherry single cask from 1999. Coffee beans, chocolate buttons, nougat, wet leather jackets, macaroon, and black bananas. A sweet sherry baptism of fresh fig fruit and dark toffee, with blackened char wriggling delightfully under the tongue. Thick and oily, a savory tone surfaces, closed by coffee and heavy clove. Chicory coffee and licorice finish. Epic: extroverted northern cardinal to the chirpy European robin. (576 bottles, The Whisky Exchange only) £180

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2016)

Redbreast 12 year old is a classic pure pot still Irish whiskey; where can you go from there? This new 15 year old expression is more muscular (bottling at 46% and not chill filtering certainly helps), but there are trade-offs. It’s a bit closed on the nose (like a great Bordeaux wine that’s too young). I do enjoy the silky/oily texture, the bold resinous oak spice grip on the finish, and the rich nutty toffee, fig, black raspberry, chocolaty, chewy nougat throughout the palate. Still, it’s not as eminently drinkable, refined, or balanced as the 12 year old.

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Winter 2010)

Bursting with hawthorn, red currant, cherry, pomegranate, baked sugar sweetness, roasted spices, cardamom, dark honey, and plum pudding. This pot still whiskey from 1985 is mouth drawing with fruit flesh and skins, tasting of stewed fruits, baked orange, apple, and pomegranate, with a very fine shimmer of spices that sparkles on the tongue. Adding to their canon of single cask Redbreast releases, this is absolutely smashing. €500

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Fall 2018)

Oh, hello there. Meaning hand in hand in two languages, this Redbreast was solely matured in Galician oak seasoned with oloroso for 2 years at the Páez Morilla bodega in Jerez. A slightly closed nose of eucalyptus, menthol, and apple pre-empts a rich, fruity, cherry bomb of dark sugars, strawberry laces, morello, and clove. The fabulous pot still character ends on a sliver of mint as the fruit gently dulls. (2,000 bottles exclusively for The Stillhouse, Midleton’s single pot still club) €65

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2015)

An appealing nose, as an unrestrained spiciness surges out of the glass, uncovering notes of rowan jelly, baked pear, date, and lively sherry notes. Slightly sour baked Bramley apple flavors are sideswiped by a rush of spices on a wave of high-strength alcohol, somewhat anticlimactically suspending further flavor development. Water rescues, coaxing out lemon and gooseberry, with spice-flecked vanilla toffee to finish. (252 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2020)

Cherry, raisin, aniseed, ground pepper, and fruitcake on the nose. The taste experience builds to a spicy clove and pepper fistfight, and while there are glimpses of red apple, it takes time for the spiciness to subside and the other flavors don’t ever really get a chance. Even the chocolate notes on the finish are harried by the spices. Dilution delivers much more enjoyable flavors. (252 bottles)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Spring 2020)