Midleton Releases Oldest Single Pot Nonetheless Irish Whiskey Ever

The sixth and closing chapter of the Midleton Very Uncommon Silent Distillery Assortment is lastly hitting (choose) cabinets. With a 50-year age assertion and $60,000 price ticket, it’s the oldest single pot nonetheless Irish whiskey ever launched. And after spending 5 a long time growing older in wooden, it’s probably the oldest — and among the many costliest — Irish whiskey ever put up on the market.

The Silent Distillery Assortment pays homage to the Outdated Midleton Distillery, which operated between 1825 and 1975. At present, the fashionable Midleton facility is the distillery behemoth that crafts Irish whiskey manufacturers, together with Jameson, Powers, Redbreast, Greenspot, and Midleton Very Uncommon. 

Within the Sixties, as they confronted a downturn within the whiskey market, a number of main Irish producers agreed to consolidate operations beneath a brand new firm referred to as Irish Distillers Restricted — one among which owned the Outdated Midleton Distillery on the time.

In 1975, the three producers who had merged beneath Irish Distillers Restricted determined to construct a brand new facility to conduct all their operations in a single place. From there, manufacturing ceased on the Outdated Midleton Distillery, and was shortly began again up on the fashionable Midleton advanced, which occurs to be positioned subsequent to the outdated distillery. At present the corporate operates as Irish Distillers beneath Pernod Ricard.

Beginning in 2020, Midleton Very Uncommon started releasing annual, ultra-rare Silent Distillery bottlings. There have been 5 releases till now, with every launch named as a sequential “Chapter,” making this closing bottling Chapter Six. Earlier releases within the sequence embody 46-, 47-, and 49- year-old single pot nonetheless Irish whiskeys produced at Outdated Midleton, with every providing incomes the title of the oldest single pot nonetheless whiskey ever offered, previous to its successor. 

Irish single pot nonetheless whiskey is understood for its use of each malted and unmalted barley, along with the requirement that it’s pot-distilled by a single producer. The Silent Distillery sequence has featured peated single malt and blended whiskeys as properly. 

Midleton says this sixth launch — additionally dubbed “The Final Drops” — “represents the final drops to be launched from the legendary Outdated Midleton.” That makes it the final whiskey launched to have been distilled by Grasp Distiller Emeritus Max Crockett on the earth’s largest pot nonetheless. The discharge additionally coincides with the 2 hundredth anniversary of the Midleton model.

The whiskey on this 50-year-old bottling was initially aged throughout 4 completely different ex-bourbon American oak barrels. Whiskey from these 4 casks was married after which transferred to a customized cask, reassembled with staves from the earlier 5 Silent Distillery releases.

“Crafting a bespoke, one-of-a-kind cask for its closing maturation, utilizing wooden from the Silent Distillery Assortment’s authentic casks, embodies the heritage and craftsmanship which have been handed down via my household’s legacy on the distillery,” says fifth-generation cooper Ger Buckley, now Midleton’s grasp cooper overseeing the cask development. “Engaged on the cask that may maintain this once-in-a-lifetime whiskey, I discovered myself questioning if my coopering predecessors ever felt such strain to protect each final drop!”

Talking solely to Meals & Wine, representatives for Irish Distillers divulged that in preparation of the Silent Distillery Collection, Buckley’s father’s cooper mark was discovered on the cask from Chapter 5. Which means each father and son labored with the barrel that may in the end turn out to be a part of Chapter Six’s distinctive marrying cask.

“As for this distinctive whiskey, I really feel an immense delight and pleasure in unveiling these final, valuable drops,” says Midleton Grasp Distiller Kevin O’Gorman. “There’s a stability of aged oak affect with recent fruit notes that may be difficult to attain in ultra-aged whiskeys, which I hope these fortunate sufficient to take pleasure in it should discover a exceptional shock. I really imagine that we’ve got encapsulated the essence of Outdated Midleton on this final expression.”  

In line with tasting notes from the model, the nostril for the 50-year-old Chapter Six opens with darkish fruit, malted barley, and forest honey. Dried tobacco, leather-based, and oak come subsequent, earlier than lingering aromas of burnt citrus peel, ginger, cocoa, and delicate black truffle.

A primary sip brings stone fruit, together with peach and nectarine, adopted by raisins and treacle. The end is lengthy and “showcases the vary and spectrum of flavors starting from crisp, elegant, and candy notes, to the wealthy, earthy, and oak-driven nature of this timeless liquid.”

Midleton Very Uncommon Silent Distillery Assortment Chapter Six is bottled at 53% ABV, or 106 proof. It is available in a singular, mouth-blown decanter made by Eire’s Home of Waterford. The bottles are housed in wood cupboards designed by Irish grasp craftsman John Galvin.

Decanters might be obtainable by way of a handful of specialist worldwide retailers and carry a urged retail value of $60,000.