More to Enjoy
- Raided Score: 82
- Publication: whiskyfun
- Excerpt: Not a total fan, I think I do prefer the brighter and fresher ‘natural’ ones. But then of course, it’s very good. It’s Redbreast, after all.
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- Raided Score: 93
- Publication: Whisky Advocate
- Excerpt: This is full-bodied yet refined Redbreast: the Spanish oak sherry butts shaping the red berry fruits, apples, marzipan, and creamy yet oily consistency. Clean, sweet oloroso finish. Qué delicioso!
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- Raided Score: 88
- Publication: Distiller
- Excerpt: Honey sweetness counterweights the spice with soaked oak at every step. A very long finish gives the best from a blend of sugar and spice with swells of clove.
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- Raided Score: 92
- Publication: The Whiskey Jug
- Excerpt: Redbreast Lustau is awesome… just awesome
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- Raided Score: 91
- Publication: Drinkhacker
- Excerpt: The finish is lengthy, creamy, and spicy — all at once — everything building to a cohesive whole that is well worth exploring, age statement or no.
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- Raided Score: 92
- Publication: WhiskyCast
- Excerpt: The finish is very long and slightly dry with lingering spices and subtle fruity notes. Overall, very well-balanced and vibrant.
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- Raided Score: 91
- Publication: Wine Enthusiast
- Excerpt: Big, spicy flavors sweep over the palate in waves: vanilla, waxy honey, apple butter, dried apricot and dried fig, drying to chamomile tea and oak midpalate, and winding into a rich honey finish.
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- Raided Score: 86
- Publication: Whiskey Consensus
- Excerpt: I would recommend this for a bourbon drinker that is trying to explore the Irish whiskey category or an Irish whiskey drinker that wants a good pour that is a little outside of the box.
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- Raided Score: 90
- Publication: Whiskey Raiders
- Excerpt: I bought it hoping for the Redbreast character and a really notable sherry presence. That really isn't what I got. The sherry finish is not bold, but I grew to appreciate that there is nice balance here.
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Raided Score is a conversion from an external site's score, to our in house uniform scoring system. Please see the FAQ for more.
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Intro:
Redbreast is a product line produced by Midleton Distillery in Ireland. This specific expression is a sherry finished offering that takes the Redbreast pot still product and finishes it for some time in sherry casks. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is NCF | NCA.
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Nose:
Faint ethanol, buttered rolls. Honey, toffee and rich sherried fruits. It's not at all like a sherry bomb, more light dessert with some sherry in the background.
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Taste:
Medium mouth feel. Pepper, vanilla and toffee are the big notes here. There is some sherry character - notably figs, raspberries and light blackberry - but it's mostly backseat to the rich Irish profile. There's a lot of buttery caramel, doughy cake / dinner rolls, and toffee. The sherry is faint.
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Finish:
Short, but sweet. Sherry is faint but blends nicely with big caramel toffee notes and some leather.
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Overall:
I really waffled back and forth over the life of this bottle. Some days I was bored, some days I liked it. I bought it hoping for the Redbreast character and a really notable sherry presence. That really isn't what I got. The sherry finish is not bold, but I grew to appreciate that there is nice balance here. Irish whiskey typically isn't the most robust or complex spirit out there, at least in my opinion, but I found the sherry being restrained added a nice level of complexity. In wavering between a 5 and a 6, I'm giving this a 6/10.
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Score:
6
- Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources