Today's review is on an exclusive bottling by TWE, Redbreast 30, 1989 that was initially matured in ex-bourbon barrels until 1995 and then placed in a single port cask for another 25 years. I found myself not really fond of the sandalwood/fake perfume notes that are present in Japanese whiskys and found that the Irish whisky have a much nicer expression of floral/sweet notes. My first Irish whisky was introduced by a very good friend James Phang who was another great contributor in my education as a whisky student. Redbreast is the largest seller of Irish whisky made from single pot stills (single pot still whisky is made with both malted and unmalted (green) barley unlike single malts whiskies that only uses malted barley). It gives richer barley sweetness as compared to single malts and has a rich body to the whisky.
Initial Nose: Japanese grapes, red fruit, demerara sugar, Jam, Figs, coffee
Nosing after time: wood varnish, honey, raspberry jelly, juicy can fruit cocktail, spear mint (Despite the high abv this dram retains a refined beautiful/delicious fragrance that holds over time and is not too aggressive)
Palate: Berry compote, blueberry, raspberry, cranberries, red wine gummies, baking spices, cedar wood. Good body and balanced oiliness on the texture
Finish: extremely long finish of gummies, spices with a slight mint finish after the sweetness fades (not the sweet but the actual herb)
Juicy juicy juicy.... That is the profile of this wonderful dram. With a great expression of red fruits and being chocked full of wonderful sweetness, this is a dram to enjoy. Drinking this dram is like having an after meal dessert of fruit cocktails. The marriage of sweetness paired with the minty baking spices screams a celebration. This is a great expression of a whisky that gives a fruit "Punch!".
Redbreast 30 (TWE) 1989
Redbreast (1989, 30 year, Ex-Bourbon w/ Port Cask finish, ABV 57.2%)
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