Redbreast
Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey
by Brian Donnelly
The World’s Most Awarded Single Pot Still Whiskey
Parent Company: Pernod Ricard
Distillery Location: Midleton, County Cork
Master Distiller: Brian Nation
Master of Maturation: Kevin O’Gorman
Master Cooper: Ger Buckley
Head Blender: Billy Leighton
Fun Fact: The Midleton Distillery has the largest operating pot stills in the world (9 of them to be exact).
History
During the early 1900s, the Dublin based wine and spirit merchant, Gilbey’s, would source distilled whiskey from the Jameson Distillery on Bow Street, and age it under bond, before selling it under their own name. This was customary practice at the time, between whiskey distilleries and merchants. There were many brands produced and marketed in this way, but Redbreast was one of the few bonded whiskey brands to endure over time. The name Redbreast comes from the small “Robin Redbreast” bird, which inspired Gilbey’s chairman, an avid bird watcher.
Grain Recipe
A mixture of malted and unsalted Barley, sourced from farms in the Muster region surrounding the Midleton Distillery.
Water
The Midleton Distillery sources their water from the Dungourney River, which through the green hills of nearby Clonmult, and the deep glen of Ballinacurra, which is one mile outside the town of Midleton.
Malting the Barley
First, the barely is steeped in water for several hours to trick it into germinating. Next, it is laid out on mats at temperatures of (64°F) 18°C in order for the barely to begin sprouting. Finally, once germination has reached a desired point, the malters will kill the germination process by applying heat from dry smokeless kilns. Now, the enzymes in the malted barely are ready to break down the cell walls containing starch, and convert them into sugar to produce alcohol during the fermentation stage. The entire malting process takes about four days.
Milling & Mashing
Before distillation, different proportions of malted and unsalted barley are milled into a coarse flour called “grist,” which is then sent to be mashed. Next hot water is added to this grist, now called “mash.” This last approximately 2 hours in order to allow the starch to be converted into fermentable sugar. The mash is then drained in the Lauter Tun and the liquid extract. This is now called “wort,” and is sent on for fermentation.
Fermentation
The wort is pumped into a large vessel called the “washback.” Liquid yeast is added to the wort, which will consume the sugars producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. What is left is a distillers beer, called “wash.” which is about 10% ABV.
Distillation
The wash is 3x distilled in three hand-made larger copper pot stills. The first distillation takes place in the wash still, where heat is applied and the alcohol boils at around (173°F) 78°C. The alcohol vapor rises through the neck of the still, and copper pipping leads the vapor to the a horizontal condenser where vapor is converted back into a liquid. After the first distillation the spirit is about 40% ABV. The low wines, or the spirit produced from the wash still, is fed into a second still, and now has an 70% ABV. Finally, the spirit is fed into a third still, and has an 85% ABV, before being filled into oak casks for maturation.
Maturation
Matured in large ex-Sherry butts (500L), made from European Oak, and manufactured by hand in Jerez de la Frontera, as well as ex-Bourbon barrels (200L), made from American Oak, and sourced from Kentucky. The Sherry butts held Sherry for 2 years and the Bourbon barrels held Bourbon for 3-4 years, prior to aging Redbreast.® After maturation, the whiskey is blended together by Master Blender, Billy Leighton, in order to achieve a consistent flavor profile and balance.
Redbreast 12 Year-Old
The Redbreast 12 year-old is the brand’s flagship expression and the definitive introduction to the Redbreast range. This product is aged for a minimum of twelve years in a combination of ex-American Whiskey barrels and ex-Spanish Oloroso Sherry Casks, then bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV).
Redbreast 12 Year-Old Cask Strength
The Redbreast Cask Strength is the big brother to the 12 year-old expression and another permanent line extension. This product is Redbreast in its natural full-flavored state, uncut (no additional water added before bottling), non-chill filtered, and bottled at cask strength between 120 - 130 proof (60 - 65 % ABV).
Redbreast Small Batch
The Small Batch expression is produced exclusively for the United States market. This expression is a marriage of 48 or fewer barrels that have been aged between nine and ten years in first and second-fill ex-American Whiskey barrels, then that final mingling of barrels is cask finished for 70 days in 18 first-fill ex-Sherry casks. This product is bottled at 92 proof (46 % ABV).
Redbreast Lustau
Matured first in a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry barrels for 9-12 years, before being cask finished for an additional year in first-fill, hand-selected Oloroso Sherry butts from Bodegas Lustau in Jerez, Spain. This whiskey is non-chilled filtered.
46% ABV (92 Proof)
Redbreast 15 Year-Old
The Redbreast 15 year-old is the only expression in the range with a reduced Sherry-cask influence flavor profile and is more distillate forward. This product is aged in a combination of first-fill and second-fill ex-American Whiskey barrels and ex-Spanish Oloroso Sherry Casks for a minimum of fifteen years, non-chill filtered, and bottled at 92 proof (46 % ABV).
Redbreast 21 Year-Old
The Redbreast 21 year-old is aged for a minimum of 21 years in a combination of first-fill ex-American Whiskey barrels and first-fill ex-Sherry casks, with a higher percentage of Sherry cask finished whiskey in the final blend. This product is bottled in the range’s smallest batch size at 92 proof (46 % ABV).
Redbreast 27 Year-Old
The Redbreast 27 year-old expression is the oldest permanent release in the family of brands. This product is aged for a minimum of twenty-seven years in ex-American Whiskey barrels, ex-Oloroso Sherry casks, and Ruby Port casks and bottled at 109.2 proof (54.6 % ABV). Except for the 15 Year-Old expression, the range has a Sherry forward flavor profile of dried fruits, but the 27 Year-Old expression has a different flavor profile of fleshy and stone fruit because of the addition of the port cask-finish.
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