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Redbreast
unveils the next instalment in its Birdhouse members
only Dream Cask series with
the release of a 29 year old Redbreast
Dream Cask Oloroso Sherry Edition which
will be available to purchase via a
ballot which goes live live from 17th to
25th May.
Redbreast single pot still Irish
whiskey is once again marking World
Whisky Day, which falls tomorrow
Saturday 15th May, with the announcement of the
fourth release in their so far rather
outstanding Redbreast Dream Cask collection.
Like previous releases this years Dream
Cask release is not technically a single
cask whiskey although you could be
forgiven for thinking it is as the
bottle label does present it as one by
stating the cask number of the the
sherry butt used to finish the whiskey.
This Redbreast Dream Cask 29 Year Old
Oloroso Sherry Edition is the creative
work of Redbreast Master Blender Billy
Leighton and his sidekick Blender Dave
McCabe who between them selected four
whiskeys, on this occasion two
ex-bourbon casks, a sherry butt and a
ruby port seasoned cask:
- Cask 1
– a single pot still Irish whiskey
distilled in 1989, matured in an
ex-bourbon barrel and re-casked into
a ruby port cask in 1995.
- Cask 2
– a single pot still Irish whiskey
distilled in 1991, matured in a
second-fill ex-bourbon barrel.
- Cask 3
– a single pot still Irish whiskey
distilled in 1991, matured in a
second-fill ex-bourbon barrel.
- Cask 4
– a single pot still Irish whiskey
distilled in 1991, matured in an
ex-bourbon barrel and re-casked into
a sherry butt in 2011.
They brought the four casks together
in a single Oloroso sherry butt, Cask
No. 400294, from Jerez de la Frontera in
Spain’s Andalusia region, and left the
marriage of the four casks to mature for
a further 15 months.
Redbreast tells me that the extended
finishing time enabled the individual
wood contributions to come together and
take on a wide spectrum of mellow fruit
flavours and pot still spices. The
result they say is a luxuriously rich
Irish whiskey with notes of dried
fruits, herbs and toasted oak and a
complex aroma of liquorice, leather and
nutmeg reminiscent of Andalusian
bodegas.
The Oloroso Sherry butt produced 924
50cl bottles which have been filled at
at what must be a rather flavoursome
strength of 51.2% ABV, which they tell
me is luscious in flavour with notes of
dark brown sugar, succulent berries and
vanilla perfectly off-setting
Redbreast’s trademark spices.
Master Blender Billy Leighton explains:
"There is no greater joy in my job than
to come across an excellent cask while
conducting a sensory assessment of our
whiskeys. It is from four such
outstanding casks that this year’s
Redbreast Dream Cask was born. To craft
the 2021 expression, we experimented
with new ways of vatting, marrying and
finishing to create something greater
than the sum of its parts and we are
delighted with the result.
"Redbreast Dream Cask Oloroso Sherry
Edition is undeniably special and yet
unmistakably Redbreast and we are
honoured to pass it on to our Birdhouse
members."
The Redbreast Dream Cask 29 Year Old
Oloroso Sherry Edition will be available
exclusively through an online ballot
hosted on Redbreast's online private
members' club, The Birdhouse. The ballot
will be live from 2.00pm Monday 17th to 25th May when
successful participants will be given an
opportunity to purchase a 500ml bottle
for €520.
If that is a little rich for your
pockets, you will find the current Redbreast
whiskey range available from specialist
online whisky retailers such as The Whisky Exchange
and
Master of
Malt
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