Today was a rough one. Yesterday, my old college roommate came to town from Chicago, and since he's also a whisky fan, we decided to get a really good bottle of whisky to taste together. Enter the Redbreast 21. We decided to get an Airbnb in Philly and hang out like we used to do back when we studied in Rome, but first he came to my house for dinner where my wife made some of her delicious homemade pizzas, and naturally, while there we dipped into my whisky collection. We tasted Yellow Spot and Dark Silkie and Maker's 46 and Glenmorangie 14 as well as popping open the Redbreast Cask Strength 12. Then, after dinner, we Ubered to our destination and popped open the Redbreast 21 and stayed up late into the night comparing it to the Redbreast 12 CS. And oh, the whiskies were lovely, and the conversation was great, and by midnight, I was so unbelievably drunk that I might have known today was going to be terrible if I was thinking clearly. Man, I haven't had that much to drink in a long time, and the vast majority of today was filled with nausea. As for the Redbreast 21, this is among the finest whiskies I've ever tasted. The aroma is rich, fruity like a vanilla bean cake frosting laced with candied oranges. On the tongue the candy continues, but not in an overwrought way. There's stone fruit, peaches mainly, and honey, as well as butterscotch on the back end and candied ginger on the long lingering finish. The expert reviewer is absolutely correct in that this is so good that you're first impulse is to drink this quickly. The 12 Year Cask Strength is also great and full of flavor but this one really takes it up a notch. For as good as the Spots are, I also prefer these to those, not really sure if I can express why but it was clear when I threw the Yellow Spot into the mix that my preference was for the intensity of the 12 Year CS and the 21. At $300 a bottle, I doubt I'm ever going to pick this up again. It was an occasion bottle, an old friends who haven't seen each other in five years getting the band back together kind of bottle. It's a short reunion. Tomorrow night we've got a concert and he's heading out on Wednesday morning, and this was the perfect bottle for accompaniment. Now I'm a little curious as to what the 27 Year Redbreast tastes like, but that's priced a little beyond my range. Hell, this one is priced beyond my range as well, but it's a once in a while thing, so I'm going to raise the glass and take this final sip as a tribute to my buddy who brought it. I'd almost say it was worth the hangover, but the hangover was really awful and makes me wish I could go back to last night and caution myself to slow down. Eh, you live and learn, right? Although I probably should have learned that lesson 20 years ago.