Irish Distillers Limited, owners of the Midleton Distillery and many of the brands that are synonymous with Irish Whiskey, made a big splash this year by releasing several special editions that show off their monopoly on the classic Irish style of Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey (now called Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, by law). Two of those releases, Barry Crockett Legacy and Powers John’s Lane, were priced distinctly out of my comfort range and I’ve duly ignored them. However, when IDL released a cask-strength edition of my favorite Irish whiskey (and one of my favorite whiskeys ever), Redbreast 12 year, I clamored for a bottle. Intelligently priced at $60 – $65 retail (at 57.7% ABV, it’s almost 50% higher strength, so pricing it at less than 50% above the non-CS standard bottling is responsible pricing, in my opinion), and it’s damn good!
Nose: Poignant alcohol tickle, making it difficult to get an accurate nosing. After a rest in the glass, I get a blast of coconut milk, cinnamon, honey-sweetened iced tea, and vanilla. In fact, it has all the ingredients of a chai latte. Several more minutes of resting benefits the dram significantly, revealing soft maltiness, subtle lemon, and sugary vanilla icing.
Palate: A torrent of coconut and spice is followed by mouth-numbing concentrations of alcohol. When the haze clears, I get warm notes of brown sugar, caramel macchiato, a metallic twinge of copper (like licking an old penny), and a peppery herbal twist.
Finish: Mildly bitter, and of medium length. The coconut shows itself and fades, followed by black pepper, almond skins, vanilla saltwater taffy, and finally some charred oak.
With Water: Water brings out the sweetest notes in the nose – mostly vanilla ice cream and processed (white) sugar. It does the same to the palate – softening the rougher edges of the alcohol. It makes the dram sweeter and easier to drink (a plus), but reduces the complexity and totally washes out the coppery oily meaty notes (a minus). Your choice!
Overall: A powerhouse dram of Irish whiskey that’s more Flogging Molly than The Irish Rovers. At once hectic and well-packaged, it demonstrates the intense concentration of flavor possible at cask strength while also showcasing the finer notes of damn fine pot-still Irish whiskey. If single-malt scotch is a refined sporting gentleman, this dram is a bare-knuckle boxing Irish dockworker with a dozen pints in him. If you like Redbreast 12, you’ll like this better. If you don’t care for cask-strength or robustly-flavored whiskey, stick with the Redbreast 12. This one is loud, brazen, and powerful – you won’t soon forget the category of Irish whiskey with a glass of this in front of you. Sláinte!
I’m anxiously waiting for this to hit the shelves in my area.
I love the Redbreast 12 yr, can’t wait to try the cask strength version!
Hey Noob (I assume I can call you that). I read your reviews of Redbreast (or is it Redbreasts?) they are both very informative about this great whiskey.
I’m just wondering why you gave the cask strength version a lower mark. It seems to me that the cask strength should have the same if not higher mark. After all, the regular Redbreast is just cask strength with water added. So even if the flavors are too intense in the cask strength version you can add as much or little water as you want to it. I assume that if you add enough water to the cask strength until it gets to 40% abv you will have the same as the regular strength version. Plus the cask strength version is almost 50% stronger but it costs less than 50% more. So its a better value I think. Just curious.
Peter, what you say is definitely true. However, I rarely water down cask strength whiskies to ~40%, mostly because it takes some marrying time before the two are fully settled – usually longer than I like to wait. For that reason, and others, I drink (and compare) cask strength whiskies as they are, or with just a touch of water.
For anyone reading this and trying to decide between the two, I’d start with the 12 year, and then buy the cask strength later. That way you know what it’s “supposed” to taste like, and can adjust the second bottle to your liking with water.
Try John’s Lane. I was very skeptical that I’d like it, given that it’s the same age as normal Redbreast and is the same kind of thing, but costs substantially more. I don’t know what they did differently but it managed to be worth it and then some.
I’ve thought about it, but that’s a lot of money for something I haven’t tried. Same with the other Midleton special editions. My wallet says “ouch!”.
Hi Noob,
Been drinking Black Bush for years…recently tried Red Breast 12 yr. 86.6 and thought it was great. Just got my first bottle of Red Breast 12 yr. cask strength. I am completely enthralled by the flavor; it is beyond my ability to praise!
peter