Four years after its last permanent introduction to its portfolio, Irish whiskey brand Redbreast announced the release of its latest expression, Redbreast 18 Year Old. This new, permanent member of the Redbreast family was created by the team at Pernod Ricard’s Irish Distillers, led by Redbreast master blender David McCabe and Redbreast master blender emeritus Billy Leighton.
The iteration is a single pot still whiskey produced at the Midleton Distillery near Cork, Ireland, which is also home to Jameson. The distillery is currently in the midst of a four-year investment programme that will double production capacity while improving its environmental impact. This is due to be completed in 2027 and will feature two extra stillhouses.
The demand for Irish whiskey, and in particular pot still, is clearly there, with expansions such as this one highlighting the scale of the category and its upward trajectory.
Obvious gap
On why Redbreast added the 18 Year Old into the range, Leighton told Drinks International on a visit to the brand home that there was “an obvious gap between the 15 and 21-year-olds in our range”.
He added: “People have asked why, but the fact of the matter was with the 15 we had to use inventory that was between 15 and 19 years old, so there would’ve been a conflict there trying to do an 18. That was in 2009 and now that years have passed it’s given us the opportunity to manage our inventory to where we can fill that gap.”
McCabe said of the choice to do a permanent expression, rather than a limited edition: “Sometimes you have to find a balance in what you’re doing as blenders and creators of expressions as you don’t want to create fatigue among consumers of being a brand where they can’t get their hands on the product. So to be able to manage our stock and create an expression where we can say ‘it’ll be here today and next year’, I think that can be a relief for people who have the other expressions in the range, it’s a balance.
“We could do lots of trials on different things and we might only get a batch of 50, 80 casks, but that’s it as we haven’t been getting an inventory of these every year. Whereas here we have been accumulating cream sherry casks for ageing whiskey in, to allow us to deliver every year forward,” McCabe added.
Created from malted and unmalted barley and triple distilled in traditional copper pot stills, the 18-year-old has been aged in a cask combination of ex-bourbon, oloroso sherry, cream sherry and a portion aged in ruby port casks.
The addition of this expression to the range comes as confirmation in the demand for old age statement pot stills, along with the power of Irish Distillers.
