Redbreast Lustau Edition

The latest spirit on my quest to become a Whisky Centurion is also a first - an Irish whisky (or should I say whiskey!). This spirit - Redbreast Lustau - is produced at the Midleton distillery in Cork alongside a variety of other whiskeys sold by Irish Distillers. Many of the bottles of Irish whiskey available today are made in column stills due to their efficiency and economy, yet Irish Distillers has maintained Redbreast on the more traditional pot still. The only difference in the production process between this spirit and a single malt that you would find in Scotland is that the mash contains a mixture of both malted and unmalted barley.

Now that’s out of the way, the real point of note for this expression is the ‘Lustau Edition’ name. The spirit is initially aged for between 9 and 12 years in traditional bourbon and sherry casks before being moved into first-fill sherry butts previously used by the prestiguous Bodegas Lustau in Jerez. The intention here is to give the final spirit a more refined flavour with greater depth. Let’s see if it worked…