We Tasted Hundreds of Whiskeys. Redbreast 18-Year-Old Is the Best Irish Whiskey of the Year

For the Men’s Journal Spirits Awards, every year my writers and I look for the best bottles of liquor across a number of different categories. It’s fascinating to see which expressions get added to our lists and which ones get removed. 

But when it comes to Irish whiskey, over the last several years there has been one major constant — each time a Redbreast Single Pot Still Whiskey has been named best overall Irish whiskey. This is quite an accomplishment given that there are now dozens of distilleries in Ireland producing a huge number of both historic and new brands. 

This year Redbreast 18 Year Old took top honors. According to Men’s Journal contributor Stinson Carter, who headed up this award category, one of the secrets to the whiskey’s incredibly rich and complex flavor is that “it’s matured in a combination of ex-bourbon barrels and casks seasoned with oloroso sherry, cream sherry, and ruby port.” As a result of this unusual aging process, you get “sweet notes of chocolate, dark berries, and hazelnut to more savory notes of leather and tobacco.” 

While most Irish whiskey sold today, like Jameson, is usually a blend of pot still whiskey and grain whiskey, Redbreast is completely pot still whiskey. It is made from a base mash of malted and unmalted barley and then distilled three times in a large copper pot still. There is nothing efficient about this process but it creates an incredible depth of flavor in the spirit.

On the other hand, grain whiskey is made on a high-volume column still that can run continuously. By blending pot still and grain whiskeys together a distillery is able to exponentially increase productivity and lower cost. This is why the biggest Irish whiskey brands now make blends. But it wasn’t always like that. Redbreast continues a long tradition of making single pot still whiskey in Ireland. 

If Redbreast is so good, why haven’t you heard of it? Well, the brand has only been available in the United States since 2008. Since it was introduced it has become not only a favorite of Men’s Journal but of bartenders and whiskey aficionados across the country.  

Get Redbreast 18 Year Old Irish Whiskey from the Men's Journal Spirits Shop Now!