REDBREAST 12 YEARS IRISH WHISKEY

What’s more dangerous than dangerous…liking Irish whiskey!  I’ve always had a taste for Irish whiskey dating back to my college days at U of I as the Coler St. Crippler.  Back then we were exclusively drinkers of Jameson, probably the best known commercial Irish whiskey to date.  Bushmills is another old favorite as well.  Recently the Glacier went to a tasting at Big Red Liquors in Terre Haute and among the whiskeys he tried was a 12 year Irish whiskey called Red Breast.

Redbreast is a brand of single pot still type Irish whiskey. The only consistently available expression is a 12-year expression – although a 15 year old expression was released in 2010 and is expected to be an ongoing bottling variation. Redbreast comes in a green bottle, and the 12 year old is 40.0% ABV (80 proof) – whereas the 15 year old is at 46% ABV and is non-chill filtered. It is produced at the New Midleton Distillery by Irish Distillers, a subsidiary of Permond Ricard.  In 2010, the Redbreast 12-year variation was proclaimed Irish whiskey of the Year by whiskey writer, Jim Murray, and was also nominated as #1 buy in John Hansell's Buyer's Guide, which gave it a rating score of 96 points.

Redbreast is one of the few single pot still whiskey brands produced today (along with Irish Distillers' Green Spot), and is the only one with an age statement. Note that all single malts are also purely from a pot still, but single pot still whiskeys use partially unmalted barley, so they cannot be technically called a single malt. Also, single malt whiskeys were generally distilled twice, whereas single pot still whiskeys were generally distilled three times.

I’ll skip my usual busll-shit where I rip on broads with veiled metaphors then segue into a review of this whiskey because this whiskey is awesome, from its sweet notes and spicy undertones to its amazing oak character.  Red Breast is not to be mixed with colas or inferior processed drink to mask its amazing flavor profile!  If you mix something other than an ice cube or a dash of water with Red Breast then you’re a pussy plain and simple!  A dash of distilled water makes an already taste giant a mega giant as the water helps release the hidden flavors trapped from the aging process!  Dare I say that adding a few drops of water makes this one of the best Irish Whiskeys I’ve had!  At around $60.00 a bottle for the 12 year and $80 for the 15 it’s a bit on the pricier side but you’re not buying this for a tailgate, you’re buying this for that day where everything went well and you just want to sit back and relax with a nice cigar and reflect on how awesome you’re life is because you have no debt, a beautiful girlfriend with an amazing sense of humor, and a lot of cool shit that you like to admire...like me!

Cheers!