Nothing creates as much frenzy as a Redbreast release in the Irish Whiskey world. Just look at the yearly Dream Cask release and you’ll see social media awash with discussions from the time the ballot announcement comes out until it’s delivered or subsequently flipped. If you followed what happened this year, you’re aware that there was a massive fiasco about online payments where ballot winners couldn’t complete their transactions and eventually lost their chance to purchase. It was a PR nightmare.

To compensate those affected, Redbreast sent an apology pack containing a 50ml sample of a 25 year-old whiskey packaged in a nice corked sample bottle (unsealed to comply with regulations) and an outer box. The box slides out to open and a circle sticker is taped on the bottom of the box. A lot of these stickers were ripped, perhaps due to shipping and handling, and of course this angered a lot of its recipients claiming that the whiskey could’ve been tampered with but realistically because it’ll be harder to sell on. They were also given the chance to purchase the next limited Redbreast release in advance. Whether that’s enough to cover for the error, I’d leave it to those affected as I didn’t even win the ballot.

Enter the ‘limited’ Redbreast Tawny Port. There were already murmurs of its release before the Dream Cask ballot so people rightly guessed that it will be the limited release alluded to for advance purchase as part of the apology. When teasers came out on social media and formal announcements came out via e-mails from the Birdhouse, people were back with posts and comments online contributing to the buzz. Everyone was excited, especially me. I love port finished whiskeys. My favourite core release port-whiskeys are Redbreast 27 on the high-end and Bushmills 16 on the more achievable end. The best whiskey I’ve tried is a Redbreast 30 year-old all port single cask exclusive to The Whiskey Exchange. I also have to mention The Liberator by Wayward Irish Spirit which is probably the top name in port-finished Irish whiskeys in the market. Most recently, I tried a 18-year-old Ballechin Port cask, generously given by Mike, which came top of a blind tasting; it was incredible.

It has all the right recipe and I was eagerly waiting to get my hands on it. I was prepared to buy multiple bottles but after seeing releases from multiple retailers, I thought I’ll buy one first as it probably won’t run out as fast as the previous limited releases. For context Redbreast 10-year old (read Dave’s review here) sold out 7,000 bottles within 7 hours primarily through their own online shop. The Redbreast PX, released a year after and the first limited run as part of the Redbreast Iberian series, sold out everywhere as well although it was available at major specialist retailers so it’s safe to assume they bottled more than 7,000. Redbreast Tawny Port would probably be closer, quantity wise, to a batch of Midleton Very Rare, since it was announced that it will be available in the USA, Ireland, UK, China, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Global Travel and online. Judging from the retailers in Ireland advertising its availability, there’s plenty of it out there so I have a good chance of getting backup bottles if I like it.

I got mine from O’Briens on the 15th of September, before the September 18th general release as announced. It wasn’t surprising since the bottle went on sale with The Whiskey Exchange (owned by Pernod Ricard) on September 13 and retailers in Ireland were selling them a day or two after. I was so excited that I cracked open the bottle immediately after bringing it home. My notes on it below:

Nose: Dark cherries, biscuit, cookie dough with brown sugar, caramel apples, banana (first time getting that off a Redbreast), hint of cloves, weirdly smells more like a Green Spot than a Redbreast, blackcurrant jam.

Palate: Light at first but as it aired, it got a bit oilier and buttery. Poached apple, shortbread cookies, pot still spice with cloves, ginger, and cinnamon, dark cherries again, plums or like watered down ribena. A bit dry and some woody notes linger. More Green Spot again than Redbreast 12.

Finish: Some sweetness that fades and turns to wood spice.

Score: 6/10

Conclusion: I wanted to like this. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype. For €100, I expected a lot more. Maybe that’s on me but referring to social media again, I don’t think there’s a lot of people who have tried this and are raving about it. The nose on this was the best, the palate was okay but there was nothing special. It has the pot still DNA but I don’t think the Tawny Port shined through. Although I think the younger, fruitier Ruby port lends itself well to aged Irish Whiskeys, I thought the older and typically more complex Tawny will work wonders to Redbreast. In their press release, they said that they put 8-10 year old whiskey to further mature in Tawny Port casks for another 14-25 months. They didn’t say how much of the 25-month casks went into the final blend but I felt this got diluted more than it should in favour of more volume. Even the colour looked a bit too light for my expectations after having seen port finished whiskeys and the deep dark red colour it usually has.

Writing this review has made me think, is this the direction Irish Distillers (IDL, the company) is going? Aside from single casks, which they’ve gone out to say they’ve stopped, “limited” will mean thousands and probably tens of thousands of bottles which doesn’t really deliver? It the same route as the “very rare” title bestowed upon their yearly Midleton release. Is this a Midleton playbook where hype comes first to sell through huge volumes at inflated prices. High margin plus high volumes, that’s music to any business’ ears. As a whiskey enthusiast, I hope not. Judging from another recent release, Powers John’s Lane Cask Strength (review to come!), they can put quality stuff out there at reasonable prices. This is what we need more of from them. For a company which has the scale, capacity, and deep pockets to produce accessible fantastic Irish Whiskeys, IDL should prioritise this if they want to keep share of wallet high with consumers. With loads of new Irish whiskey players in the market, competition is increasing and as more distilleries release older expressions, there’s bound to be more choices. If IDL wants to keep more market share, they shouldn’t put out substandard releases especially at inflated prices.