Redbreast debuts 18YO

Irish whiskey brand Redbreast has added an 18-year-old aged in four types of casks to its permanent range.

Created from malted and unmalted barley and triple-distilled in traditional copper pot stills, the whiskey has been aged in a combination of ex-Bourbon, oloroso Sherry, cream Sherry and ruby Port casks. The expression is the first of the brand’s to be aged in cream Sherry casks, which it sources from the Antonio Páez Lobato cooperage in Jerez, Spain. Redbreast 18 Year Old offers berry fruit aromas, toasted almond and cinnamon notes, hazelnut chocolate tones, and caramelised stone fruit sweetness. Bottled at 46% ABV, the expression is available from today (12 September) for an RPP of €225/US$249. The master blenders reveal all “With the Redbreast core range, we have we have the 12-year-old, a 15, a 21 and a 27 – there's an obvious gap,” explains Billy Leighton, master blender emeritus. “The idea was to have something in there to fill that gap. But because we're blenders, it’s not a 15-year-old that's three years older, and neither is it a 21-year-old that's three years younger. We wanted to put together something that could stand out on its own.” “When you think of Redbreast as a style, we're using whiskeys aged in a combination of ex-Bourbon barrels and oloroso Sherry wine casks,” adds master blender David McCabe. “We create the 12, 15 and 21 like this, and when it comes to 27, we introduce ruby Port casks. “The cream Sherry cask is what I suppose is the defining feature [of the 18-year-old], apart from age, that helps to set it apart than the others. To keep the DNA and the flavour similar to the range of the Redbreast family, we are using ex-Bourbon barrels and oloroso Sherry casks – but we're including whiskies aged in cream Sherry barrels, and a very, very small inclusion of whiskeys aged in ruby Port casks, which helped to create a link up the age range to the 27.” Leighton explains that cream Sherry isn’t particularly popular in Spain, with the UK and Ireland being more of a market for it. It’s also not common for whiskey to be aged in cream Sherry casks. He adds: “Whenever you're doing something you haven't done before, you weigh up the risks – not so much the risks in the laboratory when we're mixing the casks and seeing if it works, but more what would be the perception of the consumer? That was the case with Redbreast 27 – it was the first time we had used Port-seasoned casks in Redbreast, as it had always been Bourbon and oloroso Sherry. So before we did it, we said: this is a risk we're taking here. It's 27-year-old whiskey – if it doesn't work, we're in trouble. But happily it worked very well.” Redbreast has a long relationship with Antonio Páez Lobato that stretches to even beyond Leighton’s near half-century with the brand. He explains they’ve been receiving cream Sherry casks for a number of years with an eye to experimenting with them. McCabe adds that fortified wine has been a part of Redbreast’s style since its beginnings in Ireland in 1912, when Sherry was sold from barrels to customers who brought their own jugs. “When the casks were emptied, it was a very natural progression for the W&A Gilby merchants to say: OK, we're going to bring our barrels to the Jameson distillery in Dublin and have it filled with new-make spirit and age it. “These flavours are derived from tradition, and to maintain tradition, we now need to go to a cooperage, build a relationship with one – or two or three now, which is great – and have casks made specifically for us. It's really a link to the past, which is incredible for a brand that has been around since 1912.” Leighton explains that their dedication to tradition goes as far as cask type. Bodegas tend to use American oak casks for Sherry production, but back in the 20th century, these weren’t the casks that were arriving in Ireland. The Sherry would be transported in European oak casks made purely for shipping the wine – which is what Redbreast asks its Sherry partners to season today. “It's one of the little things we like to do to keep up with tradition.” Sharing the load McCabe was named master blender in November last year, when Leighton took on the role of master blender emeritus. The pair still work together, but McCabe now takes on much of the day-to-day work. “When I was master blender, we were not as busy as we are now,” says Leighton. “Up until 2017, it was a team of one – and that was me. Dave came along, which was a big relief to me. He and I worked very closely together up until now, and we're still very close. But I won’t necessarily be in the laboratory every day.” The team has also grown, with two female blenders on board to help McCabe out. He adds: “We've worked really closely since my apprenticeship days, and that's involved us travelling the world. Every time we go to Spain, we'd be renting a car. I'd always do the driving and Billy would always do the navigating. Now with this role change, I'm doing the driving and I have to check the map myself more – but Billy still knows exactly where we're going. “It’s still very much a partnership, but the last thing I want to do is be loading too much onto him now in his free time, but it's great that he's always there still.”