Redbreast 21

Bit of a story with this one. A while back I had interest in getting away from peat for a while as well as trying out pot still whiskey. I got a bottle of Redbreast 15 and ordered a sample of the 21. Unfortunately, there was an inventory error with no plans to restock the samples so they refunded that and shipped out the rest. I was disappointed because I didn’t want to shell out for a bottle just to try it, but life goes on. Then placing another order a while later they had some in stock again and they made it out to me. Anyway, here’s my review of it.

Redbreast 21, Ireland Single Pot Still, 46% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 21 years in ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso Sherry casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Chestnut Oloroso Sherry, 1.2.

Nose: Musty, leathery Sherry. Coffee beans in chocolate. Vanilla/caramel. Dark fruit dances in between these other aromas.

Taste: Wood, spice, fruit pops in, takes a tropical turn. Distinctly like tropical Skittles, whatever the light blue package was called. Mango and peach are the flavors that stick out most.

Finish: Welcomes in the bitter parts of the nose over the Skittles. Long, only powerful for medium length.

This is a nice take on the style. I like the element of tropical fruit it took me a bit to tease out, but once I did it was very present. It’s got a nice light quality to it, as well.

Score: 85

Bunnahabhain 11 2009 The Ultimate

 

While I prefer the peated expressions from Bunnahabhain, I do like the others enough to want to try them when I get a chance, so I added this to an order. The color and ABV on this one are pretty extreme, it’s one I was looking forward to more than most other unpeated expressions. As I write this up it’s amusing I’m posting this almost on the anniversary of its distillation.

Bunnahabhain 11, 2009 Vintage, The Ultimate, Islay Single Malt, 67% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on March 17, 2009 and matured in a 1st fill Sherry butt for 11 years and bottled on April 17, 2020 yielding 589 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Old oak, 1.8.

Nose: General fruit into a wisp of smoke settling into dark fruit. Classic Bunnahabhain nutty malt. Sherry. Toffee comes in after some water.

Taste: Very hot. Sherry. Oak. It’s a bit oakier with some water.

Finish: After a quick fading of heat, coffee, leather, spiced fruit. Medium-long.

This is pretty nice, but that proof is tough to get past. It’s not overwhelming, but it is quite hot and that makes if difficult to taste much else. The water didn’t help a ton, there, and I was worried about adding much more and overdiluting it. Fortunately, the nose doesn’t suffer the same fate and burn the nostrils like you might expect. A Sherried dram lover would really appreciate this one, I think.

Score: 84

Waterford Organic Gaia 1.1

Another of Waterford’s early releases, this being made from organic barley and the first (that I’ve had, anyway) to use barley sourced from multiple farms. At the time, the volume of barley needed for a fermentation was too high for a single farm to produce using organic methods (or at least the yields from the part of the farm using those methods).

Waterford Gaia 1.1, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on September 4-13, 2016 from organic Overture barley from a handful farms fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 136 hours and matured in 1st fill and virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 3 years, 9 months, and 20 days before bottling on August 24, 2020 producing 24,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep gold, 0.8.

Nose: Cookie/dough/bread with a decidedly banana vibe. Apple/vaguely tropical like kiwi. Slight musty honey.

Taste: Apple/tropical fruit, bready (specifically banana).

Finish: Banana bread, some spice. Wood.

Waterford’s distillery style is still here again, and the banana stands out more here than in other I remember. I’m not sure what organic barley does for whisky, and there isn’t enough here to show me, but I’m interested enough to try a single farm origin expression down the line when they have it and it’s had time to age and compare it to a similarly aged non-organic expression.

Score: 81

Bruichladdich Waves

I picked this up when placing and order and figured it would be neat to have an expression from around the time they opened back up as most of what I’ve had has been fairly new. Not much more to say going into this one.

Bruichladdich Waves, Islay Single Malt, 46% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 7 years in ex-bourbon and ex-Madeira casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Russet muscat, 1.3.

Nose: Dark fruit. Something almost smoky that turns into apple.

Taste: Salty malt, a bit like cookie dough. Subtle spice, green wood.

Finish: Smoky, dry, a bit of bitter grape. White grape juice, maybe?

Hmm, if I didn’t know any better I’d say this was peated. The smokiness on the nose wasn’t quite smoke and was subtle enough where it makes sense just being an unpeated whisky that gets close to being smoky, but on the finish it was pretty substantial at the start. I don’t think they were making Port Charlotte or Octomore when this was distilled, otherwise I’d guess it was from a run right after a batch of either of those. Neat to see a flavor like that from Bruichladdich.

Score: 83

Waterford Sheestown 1.2

 

Another of Waterford’s early single farm origin releases, this being another one that’s a bit older than most of the ones I’ve had already and is a fourth farm source.

Waterford Sheestown 1.2, Ireland Single Malt, 50% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 17-25, 2016 from Irina barley from Sheestown farm harvested August 18, 2015 - fermented with Mauri distiller’s yeast for 131.5 hours and matured in 1st fill and virgin American oak, French oak, and Vin Doux Naturel casks for 4 years and 9 days before bottling on September 28, 2020 producing 30,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Deep gold, 0.8.

Nose: Doughy, buttery cookie, something else. That something is kind of like honey. 

Taste: Fruit like pear and bitter orange. Malty, spicy, doughy/creamy.

Finish: That same citrus with some malty/spicy honey. Medium.

Waterford’s distillery style is still there, but the fruit on this one is indeed different. Other times it’s been tropical and/or banana, but not here. This is the first have had from this variety of barley, as well as this farm, so I can’t say which contributed to that. This is a bit shy of the slightly older Ballymorgan 1.2, but having had 4 years in the cask, this is quite good and again indicative of how nice this will be once the distillery’s been operational long enough to bottle properly aged whisky.

Score: 85