We've been purchasing a lot of Ireland malts lately. We've got this one today, the 21 year Redbreast, a Yellow Spot, some Writer's Tears... exciting to be exploring different countries.
Redbreast 12 year Cask Strength B1/21. 56.3% abv. $130 CAD. Matured in a mix of bourbon and sherry casks for 12 years.
Sniffing around:
Kyle starts us off with Pineapple.
Simon agrees, it's the pineapple flavoring you get in candy.
Scott goes for pear, raisin. Little sour key/penny candy kinda note. Swedish fish, cherry blaster.
Trevor gets dried apricots. Vanilla. Toasted marshmallow.
We cheers.
''That's cask strength boys'' Simon says. There's still pears there but harder to single out. Tastes a little sherried, little raisin. Fruit punch. Oaky.
Trevor seconds the sherry.
Kyle goes for red wine, black currants. Red blend wine. Tastes like 60% abv red wine.
Scott points to a bitterness, especially on the finish. Long finish. Touch of salt.
Reviews: Trevor's pick so he starts us off. He's having a hard time with a number because he loves the nose but the palate didn't come through. 77 for him. It's enjoyable but the palate is disapointing. Scott lands on 74. This is a bit of a let down. He rated the regular 12 better. It's not bad but at cask strength he was expecting more. Simon agrees, the nose was really interesting but the palate is hot and messy. He likes it and he'll enjoy the rest of his sample but definitely not living up to expectations. 79. Stole Kyle's number, he's at 79 too. This is enjoyable but not remarkable. Sean wraps it up with 77. May need to revisit with water. Averages out to 77.2.
Overall: The regular 12 year Redbreast actually performed much better than the cask strength. Maybe this is a poor batch but we definitely went in with higher expectations here, especially given the price tag on this one. The nose is great but the palate, although the tasting notes might sound good, is hot and messy and just doesn't come together very well. We would not recommend this one.
Cheers!
The S&P Crew.
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