Now in his 36th year in the industry and his 28th at Midleton Distillery in County Cork, Kevin O’Gorman has witnessed Irish whiskey’s expansion from a category served by just a handful of distilleries to one with more than 40. He has also helped shape some of Ireland’s most respected whiskey expressions.
His title, Master Distiller of Midleton, arguably undersells the breadth of his influence. He is, in effect, the custodian of one of the world’s most diverse and valuable whiskey inventories, a man whose daily decisions help determine which casks are deemed exceptional, which are reserved for future releases, and which will one day carry the Redbreast name.
Kevin joined Irish Distillers in 1998 and trained under Barry Crockett, the legendary figure who preceded him. He later served as Master of Maturation, overseeing the ageing and cask selection of countless expressions across the Midleton portfolio. In 2020, he was appointed Master Distiller, and in 2022, he was named Master Distiller and Master Blender of the Year at the Icons of Whisky Awards, one of the industry’s leading accolades.
His visit to South Africa this August, which included a series of exclusive tastings in Johannesburg, gave local media, private clients, and whiskey lovers a rare chance to meet the person responsible for key distillation, maturation and cask-selection decisions behind Redbreast, Jameson, Method and Madness, and the wider Midleton portfolio.
Our MD, Yvonne Shaff, spoke with Kevin about his passion for whiskey, the art of cask selection and the rare 34-year-old Redbreast poured for a fortunate few.
YLA: You’ve spent 28 years at Midleton. What excites you about whiskey and the craft of making it today?
Kevin: I suppose I’m 36 years into the industry. My life has been whiskey. Ultimately, travelling to somewhere like South Africa or America, or wherever I go, and seeing people enjoying whiskey – our whiskeys – and being able to present them to people gives me great joy.
Over the last 15 or 20 years, we’ve done a huge amount of innovation at Midleton across all the different brands, be it Redbreast, Jameson, Method and Madness, or others. I’ve put a huge amount of energy into that, along with the team. To see those innovations now coming to fruition has been really rewarding. One example is Chestnut, which we worked on in 2017. We launched it as Method and Madness Chestnut, and now that chestnut-cask approach has graduated to Jameson as Triple Triple. That’s very rewarding.
YLA: Has it been satisfying?
Kevin: Rewarding for the team, not just for me, but for everyone, to see something like that grow and grow. And now it’s with our main brand. All of that, and seeing Irish whiskey growing worldwide – not just Midleton, but all our brands – has been great. We now have more than 40 distilleries in Ireland. When I started at Midleton, there were only three. Seeing the whole category develop, along with the innovation and the different things that are happening, is really good.
YLA: What makes Redbreast distinctive, not just within the Midleton family but in the world of Irish whiskey?
Kevin: I think a number of things. Number one is the craft and history of the brand, going back to Gilbey’s. The company was founded in London in 1857 and established in Dublin in 1866, importing wine casks. It had all these surplus wine casks, so they started sending them up to Bow Street to be filled with whiskey. Then, in 1912, Redbreast got its name. The brand survived the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – really bad times – but it kept going. It has an amazing history.
Then there’s the whiskey itself: the single pot still style, the way we produce it at Midleton and the innovations we’ve introduced over the years. Initially, there was Redbreast 12. Then we added Redbreast 15, Redbreast Cask Strength, the 18 and the 27, along with limited editions such as Moscatel. We also did a few US limited releases, including Redbreast Kentucky Oak. They’ve all been amazing. It’s incredible to see the journey of the brand.
So it comes down to the craft, the history, and the quality of the whiskey. There are so many flavours to discover. They’re all different, and that’s how we put them together.
YLA: You’ve spent many years as Master of Maturation. How important is the cask compared with the whiskey itself or its age? And how do you know when you’ve found a great cask?
Kevin: First of all, the foundation of any good whiskey is the distillate that comes off the still. You have to get that right. At Midleton, all our initial energy goes into producing great distillate every day. We run 24/7, and my job in the morning, when I go in at half past seven, is to taste the distillates from the previous 12 hours and check their quality, making sure they match the standard we’re looking for. So you start with a great distillate – a good building block.
But cask quality is also extremely important. We’ve worked hard over the last 40 years to source really good-quality casks, considering their provenance, where they came from and what they previously held. Certification is important, too. I mentioned sustainability, and we make sure all our casks are PEFC-certified and come from sustainable sources. All of that comes together.
To answer your question, the distillate is really important, but the cask plays a huge role. Depending on the whiskey, 60, 70 or 80 per cent of the flavour could come from the cask, so it contributes substantially.
For special casks, we have a core distillate team and a tasting team at Midleton. That includes Dave McCabe, our Master Blender, myself, and a few other people. We hold regular tastings, probably every two to three weeks, of new distillate and mature whiskey. You always come across something unusual or special, whether it’s new distillate or mature whiskey, and we’ll say, “That cask – that’s special. Let’s put a reserve on it.”
We mark it in our computer system so it can’t be used for anything else. It might be reserved by me or Dave McCabe, and we put the cask aside. Some of those casks will be destined for Redbreast or Midleton, while others may be used for single-cask releases, such as the Cask Circle programme.
You do come across exceptional casks. They have something special: perhaps an extra-spicy note, more fruit, extra toffee or caramel. Whatever it is, it stands out. We spend a lot of time doing that.
YLA: We were privileged to taste the very rare 34-year-old whiskey today. What makes it so special, and what do you look for when tasting it?
Kevin: It’s the original Redbreast 27, the first batch, which was released in March 2020. We had a batch of it that went for bottling, but we kept one cask aside, and that’s the cask we tasted. It has spent an extra six years ageing, so it’s now approaching 34 years old.
Really, it’s those extra six years that make the difference. It’s Redbreast 27, but with an additional six years in a refill bourbon cask, which allows it to develop. As we discussed, you can see how those extra fruit characteristics have developed in the cask.
There isn’t much addition or subtraction going on, but there are many interactive reactions producing esters and different congeners. You can see the increase in fruit intensity. It’s amazing.
YLA: South Africa has a sophisticated and growing luxury consumer market. We’re also interested in the possibility of expanding into Africa. What do the South African and wider African markets represent for Redbreast and premium Irish whiskey?
Kevin: From my time with the team over the last few days, and from visiting various restaurants and what we’d call public houses in Ireland – or bars – and talking to people, I’ve seen a real appetite for discovery.
South Africa has become an increasingly important market for premium and luxury whiskeys. I’m delighted to bring a selection of truly special Midleton whiskeys to share with consumers and whiskey lovers here. These expressions represent decades of craftsmanship, exceptional cask selection, and the passion of generations of distillers. Opportunities to taste these whiskeys are incredibly rare, making this visit particularly special.
