Fast geography lesson for many who slept by means of it in class. The Iberian Peninsula is a area of southwestern Europe that features most of Spain and Portugal, a tiny little bit of southern France, and Gibraltar. Like Scotch, Irish whiskey has a protracted custom of growing older in ex-sherry casks that hail from this a part of the world. The ex-bourbon, American oak spine of so many Irish and Scotch whiskeys at this time actually didn’t turn out to be the norm till the Sixties. Earlier than that, it was typically wine cask-aged, with sherry from Spain main the way in which. In Eire, no model has embraced this authentic Iberian affect greater than Redbreast. Every whiskey of their core vary features a portion of single pot nonetheless whiskey aged in ex-oloroso sherry, and their current lux choices like Dream Cask have all included some mixture of sherry or Port ending.
In 2021, Redbreast doubled down on this heritage after they launched the Iberian Collection, a limited-edition line of non-age-stated Redbreast single pot nonetheless whiskeys completed in wine casks from the Iberian Peninsula. That yr’s launch, PX Version completed in Pedro Ximenez sherry, joined the 2016 launch of Lustau Version, completed in a sherry butt from Bodegas Lustau. Late final yr, a 3rd installment joined the Iberian Collection lineup, Tawny Port Cask Version, completed for at least 9 months in specifically seasoned Tawny Port casks from Portugal.
Billy Leighton spent 20 years of his practically 50-year profession as Grasp Blender at Redbreast’s mother or father firm, Irish Distillers, overseeing the mixing of not simply Redbreast however Jameson, Powers, the Spot vary, and each different whiskey of their huge portfolio. On the finish of November, he stepped apart to turn out to be Grasp Blender Emeritus, taking a well-deserved retirement that can nonetheless see him lending his experience to particular tasks just like the Iberian Collection. We caught up with him simply earlier than the announcement to debate Redbreast’s sherried beginnings, the origins of the Iberian Collection, and the place the road may go from right here. We hope he’s studying this on a seashore someplace.
Be aware: This interview has been calmly edited for readability.
Drinkhacker: When and the way did Redbreast get its begin? Has it all the time been partially matured in sherry casks?
Billy: Redbreast as a model is first talked about over 100 years in the past in 1912. The liquid existed earlier than that underneath one other identify, however sure enterprise opinions on the time led to a reputation change. Beforehand, it was referred to as one thing like Citadel Grand Liqueur from John Jameson and Son’s. It was what we’d consult with as a bonder’s model. A separate firm, a 3rd get together named W & A Gilby have been wine importers within the UK and Eire. Again within the day, the wine would have been imported in casks. Sherry was highly regarded on the time, in addition to port and madeira, however sherry was probably the most ample. The pure factor for Gilby to do was to take their empty sherry casks and fill it with Jameson distillate. They took the casks again to their warehouses and matured it there and it will definitely grew to become Redbreast.
Drinkhacker: And the place did the identify come from?
Billy: Apparently, one of many administrators of W & A Gilby was a eager ornithologist, and that’s the place the identify happened, from Robin Redbreast. There was a whiskey referred to as Yellow Hammer and one referred to as Merlin. All birds. Redbreast was the one which caught.
Drinkhacker: How a lot sherry cask-aged whiskey is within the fashionable mix of Redbreast?
Billy: It’s a query we’re all the time requested, and we’re all the time a bit evasive in giving a straight reply. It’s not that it’s any explicit secret, however we don’t wish to quote a quantity and be held to it. Within the whiskey world and the artwork of the blender, we wish to maintain a bit little bit of flexibility…with a view to retaining a continuing taste profile. The sherry casks, they will range considerably sufficient from cask to cask. We are saying about one quarter is ex-oloroso sherry and three quarters coming from ex-bourbon casks. You’ll anticipate the bourbon affect to be dominant, however the sherry affect punches much more than the bourbon. That 25% is bringing about all of the fruitiness and the nuttiness that we acknowledge as being the signature of Redbreast 12-years-old.
Drinkhacker: In 2016, Redbreast launched Lustau Version and started to essentially spotlight the affect of Iberian wine casks on their whiskey. Was that the beginning of the Iberian Collection?
Billy: I believe you may safely say the Iberian Collection hadn’t even been considered at that stage. The Lustau Version happened actually as our method of giving credit score to the sherry business for being there and making the casks obtainable. It was us recognizing Bodegas Lustau specifically, but it surely had a much bigger message than that. It was the Irish whiskey business giving a little bit of credit score to the sherry business. With out the sherry business having performed what they’ve been doing for a very long time, manufacturers like Redbreast most likely wouldn’t exist of their current type. That bought us pondering that we ought to be calling out the appreciation that we’ve got for the business.
Drinkhacker: Was the Iberian Collection an extension of that?
Billy: Sure, it was. We began trying round at different cask varieties across the area. We had for a very long time been having casks seasoned with Port and Malaga wine, several types of fortified wine. It may have been any collection, however I believe as a result of the anchor was the oloroso sherry it introduced us to deal with the Iberian Peninsula space and see what different cask varieties may work.
Drinkhacker: How did you go about testing the compatibility of various Iberian wine casks for ending Redbreast whiskey?
Billy: We launch the Redbreast Dream Cask yearly. I imagine the second launch was a PX sherry, in order that was one avenue that we may take a look at that may robotically fall into the Redbreast model. Port was another choice. We’d been placing down Port casks, however we hadn’t used it in Redbreast in any respect till the 27-year-old and the Dream Cask. Each of these have been Ruby Port. We used the Dream Cask expressions sort of as a testing floor for these completely different cask varieties. And fortunately every thing has labored fabulously.
Drinkhacker: However the newest installment to the Iberian Collection is completed in Tawny Port. Why not Ruby because you have been already incorporating that into different expressions?
Billy: Final yr’s Dream Cask was the Port-to-Port version which has ex-bourbon [-aged whiskey], Ruby Port [-aged whiskey], after which each of these completed in Tawny Port. We’d been getting just a few of the Tawny casks over time, and it labored fairly effectively within the Dream Cask. That gave us the boldness so as to add an expression to the Iberian Collection.
Drinkhacker: From a blender’s standpoint, how does whiskey completed in Tawny Port evaluate to Ruby Port?
Billy: Tawny was a bit bit completely different to work with in comparison with the Ruby port. Ruby port could be very giving. Its taste profile is luscious fruit and ripe fruit, which mixes very effectively with the fruitiness of the oloroso sherry. You see that clearly in Redbreast 27. With Tawny port, it’s a bit bit completely different. It was very giving as effectively, but it surely’s a unique sort of fruity character. Tawny is aged in oak the place the Ruby port wouldn’t essentially be. It’s extra of an earthy profile, candy baked items like Danish pastry, cinnamon, and clove, fairly a little bit of nuttiness, as effectively. It wasn’t only a simple Tawny end. We began off with our bourbon and sherry [-aged Redbreast] after which did a two-stage end on the Tawny. That was the way in which we as blenders labored on getting a steadiness on the Tawny affect. With the Ruby Port, we already had expertise with it, however with the Tawny, we didn’t. We let a number of the whiskey end for twenty-four months, fairly a very long time, and one other portion we let end for 14 months. Having that little little bit of variability there we have been capable of handle the affect of the port cask.
Drinkhacker: When planning for a brand new expression within the Iberian Collection, how essential is cask administration?
Billy: One factor that we do throughout the board is that we’re very a lot on high of the standard of our casks. These weren’t simply Tawny casks that we discovered on the market available on the market. These casks return to about 2009. Now we have a long-standing relationship with suppliers in Portugal. We’d been getting Ruby Port for some time already, they usually instructed that we strive these explicit Tawny casks. However as soon as we determined that we’d strive Tawny, we went to the cooperage and gave them our specs for the casks. They made the casks for us, and people casks have been handed over to a guide wine maker who managed the seasoning for us. It’s not a random collection of casks. These are casks that we’ve determined to make use of, and we’ve performed it correctly proper from the beginning. We may have taken two or perhaps three years off the timeline by speculating on casks within the market, however everytime you try this, you don’t have any assure [of the quality].
Drinkhacker: What’s your favourite Iberian Collection launch?
Billy: It’s a tough query. There’s a bit little bit of my soul in all of them. Normally, the response is all the time the newest one. And that’s true to a degree. You simply wish to maintain it and guarantee that it’s nonetheless delivering the flavors and the profile that was in your head just a few months in the past. I’m undoubtedly sitting on the fence. I beloved the PX sherry, and one in all my favourite journeys annually is to Jerez. I’ve a sentimental attachment to Lustau as a result of I labored intently with their winemaker, Manolo Salado. We had mentioned how we may deliver the flavour of Lustau to the highest of the whiskey, and we had made some changes to the cask profile and the age profile of the whiskey to be able to permit the Lustau character to return by means of. We made our changes and had set a launch date for 30 September 2016, however only a few months earlier than that I bought the decision that Manolo had handed away very out of the blue. I’ve a really, very sentimental attachment to it. He was a superb pal who wasn’t capable of be on the launch of one thing that we had labored on collectively.
Drinkhacker: How do you see the Iberian Collection evolving? Are further releases deliberate?
Billy: I believe I can say sure. Our advertising and marketing people stated that as a result of we did the PX Version in 2021 and now we’ve launched the Tawny Port Version in 2023, which means each two years we’re going to launch a brand new one, proper? And I advised them if we are able to do it each two years, we’ll do it, however we’ll not be held to have one thing prepared until we’re pleased with it. To that finish, Redbreast is a really previous model. We may name it a standard model. The 12-year expression is known as the quintessential Irish single pot nonetheless whiskey, however that brings with it a legacy. The heritage of the model I really feel is sort of restrictive in what new issues we are able to do with it. We’ve proved with the Ruby Port, and PX sherry, and Tawny Port that there are some new variables that we are able to usher in there with it. We don’t essentially have to limit ourselves to fortified wines. To reply your query, there can be additional iterations of the Iberian Collection. When I couldn’t say, however you may relaxation assured we’re taking a look at as many choices as we are able to get our arms on proper now. The cream all the time involves the highest, so it’ll be whichever one stands out every time which may be.
