Having talked about my friend's visit in the last few tasting reviews, I'm going to make an admission here: there was a lot of drinking, and it's time for a detox. But before I detox, I'm trying to review all the bottles I have open. I just did Yellow Spot 12 Year Single Pot Still, and I mentioned in that review that though I love the Spot whiskies, I prefer the Redbreast profile. It's a matter of nuance, because in both cases you're talking about some of the finest Irish there is. And I'm not sure I can clarify why I prefer one to the other. I compared it, in my review of Green Spot Chateau Montelena, to The Beatles and The Stones. You can't go wrote with either really. But at the end of the day, if I'm in hospice and I want to listen to one final record before the lights go out, it's Abbey Road, no matter how much I adore Sticky Fingers. Although, maybe it's Sticky Fingers. It really might depend on the mood I'm in right then. Okay, so I'm going to admit something else. I might be giving the Redbreast 21, which I tasted last Sunday for the first time and which I just tasted again, the edge here based on the hype of it being 21 years old and costing $300. Tasting them again against one another, I might actually like this one more. Abby Road? Sticky Fingers? The thing about the 21, it's SO fruity, and the fruit flavors are tart, tart like the end of autumn, tart in a way where they're almost ready to turn over, tart in the way the sugar-mad wasps at the end of autumn will go absolutely insane to get to, tart in a way I've perhaps never actually tasted, tart in a way right before the type of tartness that would be too much, enough to make you pucker and think, fun dip? With the 12 Cask Strength, rather than tart, there's bite. Obviously the proof is high. I've read that Redbreast 12 Cask Strength is always phenomenal but that B1/21 has something special going on, and it certainly seems to be the case. The nose is all apple pie, with apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla bean and something even doughy or yeasty going on. The palate is that with a bit of an alcohol bit, but the sharpness is welcome to counterbalance the sweetness of the nose. You know, sugar and spice and everything nice? Well, I'm pretty sure that's what this whiskey is made of. Honestly, when you start getting into higher end whiskies, whiskies with both age statements and cask strength, whiskies from distillers with long and storied histories you trust, isn't it often splitting hairs? If it's not Beatles v. Stones, it's maybe that under-appreciated but great classic rock band that we all know is great but maybe not the Beatles or Stones, whether that be...Led Zeppelin or Creedence or The Kinks or a more obscure act like Love or the Velvet Underground. Actually, let's call the Redbreast 12 Cask Strength just that, it's neither Beatles nor Stones, but the Velvets. It's strong and it's got an identity you can't fuck with. This is Lou Reed and the birth of cool. Or maybe I'm making this all up and just riffing because I don't want to go to bed yet. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you want to make the night last as long as it will last. And this isn't a bad glass to have by your side. If you're fortunate.