Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years vs Redbreast 12 Year Old
One axis separates these two: sherried, 3 against 6.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years | Redbreast 12 Year Old | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single pot still |
| Origin | Islay, Scotland | Ireland |
| Age | 10 years | 12 years |
| Strength | 50% ABV | 40% ABV |
| Cask | First-fill and refill ex-bourbon American oak, ex-wine casks | Ex-bourbon, Oloroso sherry |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £46 | £55 |
| Per 10cl | £6.57 | £7.86 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £131 | £196 |
| Chill-filtered | No | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years from Islay, Scotland, Redbreast 12 Year Old from Ireland.
Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years is a single malt, Redbreast 12 Year Old a single pot still.
Redbreast 12 Year Old states 12 years, 2 more on paper.
Cask as each producer describes it: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years in first-fill and refill ex-bourbon american oak and ex-wine casks, Redbreast 12 Year Old in ex-bourbon and oloroso sherry.
Chill filtration: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years is not, Redbreast 12 Year Old does not say.
Colour: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years natural colour, Redbreast 12 Year Old silent.
Redbreast 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Redbreast 12 Year Old is £9.00 dearer a bottle than Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years.
Strength keeps that ordering: £131 a litre of pure alcohol for Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years against £196.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years is 14th cheapest and Redbreast 12 Year Old 27th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years | Redbreast 12 Year Old |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 2 | 0 |
| Sweet | 6 | 6 |
| Fruity | 7 | 7 |
| Spicy | 5 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 3 | 6 |
| Cereal | 6 | 7 |
| Oily | 7 | 7 |
That is the only axis of the eight to reach 3 points. Next widest is peaty, 2 against 0.
Identical on sweet, fruity, spicy, woody and oily.
Each bottle in its own right
Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years
Barley sugar, sea air and citrus at a proper 50%. Unpeated Islay, which surprises people.
Now carries a 10-year age statement — it was NAS 'Scottish Barley' for years and most sites still publish it that way. Every bottle prints a recipe code that unlocks the exact cask-by-cask recipe and barley origin for that batch, batch disclosure no other major Scotch brand offers. Bottled at 50% rather than the usual 40-46%, which the producer states explicitly.
Full record →Redbreast 12 Year Old
Thick, oily pot-still spice with sherried fruit. The style Ireland nearly lost.
Single pot still requires a mash of both malted and unmalted barley — an Irish style that came close to extinction.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years for value at 50%, transparency and unpeated islay, Redbreast 12 Year Old for something different and after dinner.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie 10 Aged Years and Redbreast 12 Year Old: bruichladdich.com, redbreastwhiskey.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.