Redbreast 15 Second Edition

[JohnM]

From another forum...

the German importer for Redbreast among other Irish whiskies has just sent an email to retailers that a Redbreast 15yo Second Edition will premier at the Frankfurt Interwhisky Fair on the coming weekend.

The first Redbreast 15yo premiered there in 2005.

What he can not say is if Redbreast II will be a limited bottling for this occasion or if Irish distillers will make it available on a regular basis. They say there were told that they can have to consignments of the new bottling.

Onther intersting piece of news is that in the interim he has to offer some more cases of the 2005 Redbreast premier bottling.

Prices are recomended at the level of the last bottles of the Redbreat 15 yo I which were about 65-70.- €.

[John]

I am fast becomming annoyed with IDL. Can anyone trust anything that they have to say? Limited editions my ass; sure they're limited alright - limited until they start distilling the stuff again

[DavidH]

Limited editions my ass; sure they're limited alright - limited until they start distilling the stuff again

It's not even that they have to distil it again; this is the stuff they distil and mature (in bourbon and sherry casks) normally. They just have to be willing to let a few casks go at 15 years.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I must admit I think this is a good developement and must congratulate IDL on this. They are finally listening to the market and giving them what they want.

I would not be overly concerned on the limited edition status if it is to be priced at the 65-70Euro mark (eventhough the original price point was 50-60 not 65-70). Remember the first release took the guts of 3 years to sell and it is only in the last year it has become a collectors bottle so it is not something that they need to be pumping out. Of course if they put any effort into marketing it I suppose it could become even more popular. However the fact they are begining to off the consumer the choice he/she craves can only be applauded. Hopefully the new expression is just as good and that will tame 2005 batch prices. And even more ground breaking is Ally's second cask offering. Murray has already raved about the 2009 RB 12yo. All this can only improve IDL's attitude towards releasing PPS for us the enjoy and savour. I know it sounds like small change but this is all really ground breaking stuff in comparison to 10years ago.

I know how you feel John but this is time to rejoice

[John]

I guess I'm more annoyed at being 'sold a pup' If something isn't going to be a once off edition then why call it that? Surely it's false advertising. Who does it serve to say a release is going to have little availability, force the price up and then release a load more onto the market?? Also, as far as I can see, that 65 -70 euro mark is for the German market - not Ireland; God knows what the price will be here. I think that there is very little consumer-friendly sentiment in the approach they are taking and it leads me to believe that you should take anything that IDL have to say with a grain of salt....

[Luke Gough]

Gentlemen, the most important development is that good quality releases of PPS are back on IDL's agenda.

More of this please!

[John]

This might sound like an odd question and it is slightly off-topic, but if you go to purchase a bottle of the 12yo how do you know you are getting the one that has received the great reviews, i.e. that it is the 2009 12yo and not the 2008, '07, etc? Does IDL put the release year on the bottle?
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I guess I'm more annoyed at being 'sold a pup' If something isn't going to be a once off edition then why call it that? Surely it's false advertising.

Surely you bought it to drink and not as a pension fund

Sorry couldn't resist.

I reckon price of the old RB15 will initially stall or fall but as we explore the new version and do comparisons between the 2 interest should come back so don't panick just yet.

People like myself JohnM and a few others raved about this wonderfull creation on a certain popular whisky forum a couple years ago and it sort of grew legs which to this day means there is fairly strong cult following. This quickly put pressure on the limited stocks that were left but it was only this year that prices start to rise quickly. In 2008 if you looked you could still find it sub 70Euro. So let this be a lesson to all ... be very carefull when listening to hype and parting with your hard earned cash as eventhough a whiskey maybe revered does not make it a whiskey to be bought at any cost. Even if this was hailed as a one off originally it was part of a very large batch of many thousand bottles so eventhough now rare in the retail sector there is still a huge amounts of it still out there and Bushmills Millennium is an example of that which still can be picked up for 100EUro eventhough it would demand twice that at retail. Research researc research is the key ... be sure what your buying is worth what your paying for it. I still think if people bought at 120Euro they did not do too bad as that is still a very drinkable price for a brilliant whiskey. So I don't think you've been sold a pup ... and because it was a first releast it will always have a comercial value. Just really depends on how popular RB 15 gets in the future with this new batch. The collectablity of Irish Whiskey is still very much in it's infancy and investing money in Irish WHiskey is still very much hit and miss. There are 2 issues I can think of 1. is the already exhorbitant prices of some of the premium stuff giving very little room to improve and plenty room for it to decrease. The other is the small nature of the Irish Whiskey collector circles meaning the market can get saturated very quickly.

No matter how IDL or Cooley try to set prices the open market usually does not follow.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

This might sound like an odd question and it is slightly off-topic, but if you go to purchase a bottle of the 12yo how do you know you are getting the one that has received the great reviews, i.e. that it is the 2009 12yo and not the 2008, '07, etc? Does IDL put the release year on the bottle?
J.

Look for the L number.

L1 = 2001 l4=2004 L9=2009 etc

In IDL's case they have it ingraved on the glass. It is hard to see but should be near the base and is more often than not under the label.

If it says L9****** then that is 2009. I would imagine that the majority of RB12 out there is L9 as it is a good seller.

Actually I just checked one I have not opened yet and sure enough it has L9 on it but under that again there was an actual date 25/03/09 so I think that confirms that

[John]

Cheers Adrian. Wasn't sure how IDL recorded the batch releases.
On the other issue, to be honest like most whiskey aficionados I bought both to consume and collect. It just seems to me that a great deal of misinfomation was put about saying that the 15yo was a once off, (Maison du Whisky and all that rubbish) never to be repeated and a good deal of people bought on that premise. Now that has been blown out of the water. Luke, while I appreciate what you are saying and I agree to a point - I guess I was looking for more honesty from the suppliers/vendors than I was entitled to? I'll be getting them to put it in writing next time!
All the best,
John.

[Michael Foggarty]

It just seems to me that a great deal of misinfomation was put about saying that the 15yo was a once off, (Maison du Whisky and all that rubbish)

Thats the guff IDL came out with, vendors can only go along with that, wasnt Dungourney meant to be 1 cask also?? it now well into its 3rd!!

Greenore 8 year old was once limited to 5000 bottles now its down as "small batch"

I could go on all day about other examples of this in Ireland, dont shoot the messenger!

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Okay there is a lot of miss-information here. And the likes of us and forums with our blind speculation at times have not helped the story. Hands up ... I've been guilty

I am not the biggest IDL fan especially with their blanket secrecy carry on. However in this case I will defend them.

The thing is ... this originally was a once off specially bottled for WHisky Du Maison, I don't even think IDL ever even considered it being released as a "limited edition" just a batch for WDM. There probably has never even been an official IDL press release about this. The batch was probably run off as a minimum batch but this was still a batch of many thousands. This was released in 2005 and did not shift to quickly and WdM could not handle a batch so large on their own so it was then offered to various Geman and a few Dutch retailers. I did not discover this until 2006 and it was not until 2007 2 years after release that the penny finally dropped on how great this whiskey was amongst the whiskey public. Whence it became known as the classic in it's own life time that we know it to be now.

Further I believe that there was no colusion or misinformation ... this whole story comes from the opposite ... IDL's total disregard for the whiskey connoiseur and total lack of willingless to make any information available to us.

However I can only see the positives in this. As I have said earlier it is great that IDL are now listening to the whiskey buying public and making more of an effort to give them a choice. It is also understandable that a company that has seen the potential of this brand that they should continue with it.

I have been very anti IDL at times but after years and years of snippets of minformation I actually believe the above the be the closest to the truth that I can get.

[John]

For those interested, O' Briens are selling the Redbreast 12yo at the moment for €31.49. This is the cheapest price I have seen for it anywhere so far.
John.

[Michael Foggarty]

The most bizarre thing about releasing it in Germany, was they too couldnt sell their last allocation of that batch, the last palate (600 bottles) that found its way on to the Irish market last year was meant for Germany but they couldnt take it.

Surely the best way forward for them would actually be to talk to the vendors etc and gauge who much they can sell and then bottle to that figure?

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Redbreast 15 is available again...

...at least here in Germany for ~ 60 Pounds.
Perfect timinig to re-stock, I was down to my last bottle

http://www.whiskymag.com/forum/viewtopi ... 12&t=12229


So can we expect here in Ireland for around €80???

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Newsflash: Collectors values plummet as German ebay sellers come out of the closet with stashes of RB15

This one at 69.90 x 6

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Redbreast-15-Jahr ... 2303fe7d45

And this one at 73.90 x 10

http://cgi.ebay.de/REDBREAST-15-JAHRE-P ... %26ps%3D54

Plenty to go around so!!!

Obviously the news from the Frankfurt Whisky Fair has startled the RB15 market...

[varizoltan]

yes, but this is still the old stock i believe, and some oaful b*****d bought them already

[JohnM]

More info, from another website.

I heard a background story about the Redbreast 15 today.

It seems irish Distillery had a contingent of bottles set aside fur the US which was never called apon.

When the rave about the Redbreast 15 started the US distributer remembered that there should be some reserved for him in Ireland.

And it was. But - it turned out ID had used 0.7 ltr bottles which can not be sold in the US!

So that is where the stock of 2005 bottled Redbreast 15 comes from which is to be had here at the moment.

ID promised to make a bottling in 0,75 ltr. bottles for US of current stock and the German importer cried Here!

It is not clear or rather I can not say what ID has in mind about distributing new Redbreast 15 to the rest of the world.

Greetings
kallaskander

[DavidH]

I don't believe IDL would make a dumb mistake like producing a whiskey for one of their big markets in the wrong bottles.

[JohnM]

I don't believe IDL would make a dumb mistake like producing a whiskey for one of their big markets in the wrong bottles.

Sounds a bit unlikely, sure enough. But who knows? Do they have Redbreast 12 in the US? If so, they'd have the 75cl bottles already.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Good story all right but as you say I'd be sceptical about the truth of it. I do believe Redbreast 12yo is fairly widely available in the Sataes too.

[varizoltan]

yes ,they have the 12 there for sure, i have drink it, and seen it in shops

and this story is a joke i think

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Some great news ...

Now available in La Maison Du WHisky for a very favourable €67

http://www.whisky.fr/produit-349-redbreast-15-ans-46-15-yo.html

At the end of 2005, for the 50 years Anniversary of the House of the Whisky, Midleton distilling had bottled for the first time of its history a 15 years Redbreast of age. This limited edition made a great noise at the time. We are happy to propose to you this second edition which resembles, like two drops of “Irish Whiskey” to its devancière ???, coconut, cocoa and Iris????r. Fruity, malted, spiced.

Sounds great ... can't wait to try a bottle ... read the below translation of the French tasting notes. Probably not an exact translation but You'll be able to get the gist ...

Nose: race, heady. The cereal, the green lemon, camomile and curry, here are first perfumes that he proposes to us. A small tar film is erased then to leave room to the famous red fruits (blackcurrant, blackberry) which made the reputation of this Irish Whiskey. It is prolonged on vanilla, spices (grooves, clove) and the candied fruits (apricot).

Taste: semi-sparkling, lively. One crunches with same the flesh, of blackcurrant bays and the fruits of passion. The second mouthful reveals vegetable green heart notes and ylang-ylang. The frangipane and the gingerbread get consistency to him. Vanilla was transformed into cardamome, wild strawberry and gooseberry

Finale: long, slightly tannic. She proposes a considerable range of fruits. For some, the fluffy feeling of their skin is pleasure in a pure state. For others, one délecte of their sweetened juice, for others still, their exotic perfumes are envoûtants

[John]

Sorry, still can't bring myself to buy anything off the Frenchies , even if it is a good deal
Btween them and auld FIFA's Septic Bladder, that whiskey would just make reach for the Coke mixer......
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Sorry, still can't bring myself to buy anything off the Frenchies , even if it is a good deal
Btween them and auld FIFA's Septic Bladder, that whiskey would just make reach for the Coke mixer......
J.

John take a deep breath let it go it will only eat you up in side and make you bitter


Basically just mentioned this as it means that the RB 15 is available to the market.

It will be very interesting how much it will be here.

Going on the French price of €67 I estimate it should only be €80 max here if the pricing strategy was fair. Why I hear you say. Well French Vat is not far off ours @ 19.6% so that just leaves Duty which I think is at about 10.96 per bottle - budget reduction of 2.76 = 8.20 for a 40% 70cl = €9.45 for a 46% 70cl bottle + a little extra profit for higher retail costs.

But I doubt that we will not be able to avail of a fair price in Ireland. And if it is 100-120Euro I'll bouycot IDL products for sale in Ireland as I am really sick of it unless someone can explain the actual reasons to me.

If you want to bouycot anything it should be Irish WHiskey in Ireland. But we will first have ti wait and see.

Jesus I getting really cranky in my old age