Nose: Unique pot still nose combining sweet caramel, dried fruits and spice.
Taste: Heavy and oily with multiple layers of ginger, dried fruits and sherry. If you’ve never tried a pot still whiskey, then this is the one to start with, really must be tried to appreciate the complexity.
Finish: Long and lingering with sherry and warm spice.
A 100% heavy pot still whiskey with a high sherry ageing percentage. One of our all time favourite Irish Whiskeys.‘Stupendous nose….just a sip is enough to fill your mouth with a multi-layered attack of malt and pepper plus a few sherry notes with the pot still arriving on the 2nd wave and refusing to budge…this is a marvellous whiskey’ – Jim Murray A Taste of Irish whiskey.
Redbreast was a brand name for Jameson’s pure Irish pot still, bottled in bond by Gilbeys with Jameson filling Gilbey’s own casks. Two sherry casks were used for each bourbon cask. The brand was eventually sold to Irish Distillers who relaunched Redbreast as their flagship Single Pot Still brand and is now a huge favourite with both whiskey drinkers and connoisseurs. If you want to try something truly unique and as Irish as it gets, Redbreast is one of your top choices. It never disappoints!
San Francisco World Spirits Competition: Gold Medal 2016
International Spirits Challenge: Gold Medal 2016
Irish Whiskey Masters: Gold Medal 2016
World Whiskies Awards: Gold Medal 2013, 2014
Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible: Liquid Gold Award 2014
Redbreast whiskey harkens back to the days of the whiskey bonders, who used to buy whiskey by the cask and bottle it themselves. The particular whiskey bonder involved with Redbreast was W & A Gilby, started in 1857, and they bought whiskey from most Irish distillers, marketing it under their own brand of “Gilbey’s Castle Whiskey”. By 1887 they were marketing John Jameson pure and unblended Irish whiskey and by the turn of the century Gilbey’s whiskey brands included Castle Grand JJ Six Years Old and Castle Liqueur JJ Ten Years Old (JJ standing for John Jameson). In 1904 John Jameson & Son’s Castle “JJ Liqueur” Whiskey 12 Years Old was being sold and was similar in shape, bearing the red and white label seen on Redbreast bottlings up until the 1960s.The first official reference to the brand name ‘Redbreast’ appears in August 1912, when Gilbeys were selling “Redbreast” J.J. Liqueur Whiskey 12 Years Old, described as one of their “famous” brands.
The name ‘Redbreast’ itself refers to the bird, Robin Redbreast, and is attributed to the then Chairman of Gilbey’s, who was an avid bird-fancier. Gilby’s continued to sell Redbreast in this fashion until 1968 when the bonder trade was phased out but as Redbreast was so popular Gilby’s made a special request to be allowed to sell Redbreast in small quantities in the 70’s and 80’s, with the last bottling under Gilby’s occurring in 1985 when the brand was bought by Irish distillers and was re-introduced as a 12 year old Single Pot Still whiskey. Redbreast Single Pot Still whiskey is produced at the Midleton distillery in Co. Cork.
