Redbreast Cuatro Barriles Single Pot Still Review

 

Redbreast – for a long time my true love of the Irish whiskey world. To be fair that Irish whiskey world was pretty small when I first got into whiskey. Bushmills had their blends and their 10, 12, 16 and 21 year old expressions.

In the ‘blends’ corner was Paddys, Powers & Tullamore DEW. John Teeling and Cooley gave us Locke’s, Tyrconnell, Connemara and Greenore. But you’d have to search for those.

Even the Jameson lineup was much slimmer – outside of the standard Jameson their was the 12 yr old Special Reserve, the Gold Reserve, the 18 year old and the Rarest Vintage Reserve.

Standing in the single pot still corner was Redbreast 12 year old. Once I tried this at a tasting in Coleraine hosted by Billy Leighton himself, I knew I was drinking something unique and in Irish whiskey terms, special.

Fast forward to today and the Irish whiskey world has exploded with brands, distilleries and whiskey expressions, including the Redbreast lineup. Looking at the Redbreast website there are now 12 unique expressions including this bottle which is the 4^th release from the Iberian Series which started with the Lustau expression, then the PX release which was shortly followed by the Tawny Port release and has recently had a 5^th release added with the Moscatel finish release.

With so many other distilleries in Ireland doing their own interpretation of what pot still whiskey should be I have found myself less connected from the Redbreast brand, with certainly the 12 year old core release no longer being my go to recommendation for the pot still style of whiskey.

That being said as I left Ireland to relocate to Florida in 2024 I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of picking up the Cuatro Barriles Redbreast release as it was, and potentially still is, a travel retail exclusive to the Dublin and Cork airports.

So are four barrels worth of flavour a winning combination?

Let’s taste!

Redbreast Cuatro Barriles 46% abv

Matured in a combination of American oak ex-bourbon, Spanish ex-sherry butts, Portuguese ex-tawny port hogsheads and ex European virgin oak casks

Mashbill: 60% malted barley / 40% unmalted barley.

Nose: It starts off a little perfumy but quickly moves to citrus zest – a mix of orange, lemon and lime peels plus vanilla cream and tinned pineapple rings. Then some marzipan and panettone. Fresh blueberries, pear drop sweets and coffee cake. Finally there’s toasted oak and baking spices.

Palate: A nice pot still spice grips your palate on first sip and delivers a medium mouthfeel. That tinned pineapple is there again alongside vanilla custard, Mr Kipling bakewell slices (plum & raspberry jam, almond sponge and fondant icing), stem ginger, milk chocolate, new leather and a mild pepperiness.

Finish: Medium in length – toasted oak, clove, apple strudel and pepper.

Score: 6 out of 10

Overall: Not a massive improvement over the regular 12 year old release. The extra abv does help the mouthfeel and delivery but it feels a little confused, perhaps because of all the barrel influences don’t necessarily play well together.

The 12 year old cask strength is available for not much more money and I’d definitely buy it over this. I don’t think I’d replace this bottle when it’s gone.

If you’d like to support my site and continued whiskey exploration there’s a ‘buy me a coffee’ link on the homepage menu bar. Thanks for reading!