FIRST SIP: Redbreast 15 Year Old

Redbreast is one of the Irish whiskey brands with which virtually everyone is familiar. Produced by Irish Distillers in the same New Midleton Distillery in Co. Cork as Jameson, the Spot line by Mitchell & Son, Powers, and Midleton Very Rare, the Redbreast brand maintains an air of achievable luxury that makes you feel like you got a true bargain if you happen to find it on sale. In addition to the 15-year old expression reviewed here, Redbreast produces its flagship 12-year, a Lustau edition finished in Bodegas Lustau sherry casks that we love (reviewed here), a 12-year cask strength (reviewed here), a 12-year small batch, a 21-year, and an uber top-shelf 27-year Ruby Port Cask expression that we have in our collection but haven't opened yet and probably won't anytime soon. 

This is such a good whiskey that it's hard to overstate how much we like it. It tastes...luxurious, like you should be celebrating something big just by enjoying it. It's smooth like you might expect out of a quintessential single pot still Irish whiskey, but in a way that blasts out the flavor rather than obscuring it in the name of smoothness. 

We pick up notes of caramel, woody spice, and maybe a little berry in the 15. None of it is overpowering but it is all immensely satisfying. The finish is outstanding. We're not kidding when we say that it goes down so well that it seems an entire bottle could be gone in an evening, although that would be a bad use of a great whiskey by the end (and we'd surely regret it in the morning). 

Redbreast 15 retails for $90-120 in the US. 

Redbreast 15 Year Old: 94 POINTS