Midleton Very Rare have stormed the Irish market this month with the launch of the oldest ever Irish whiskey collection.

Produced in the esteemed Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork, the Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection is a collection of six releases. There will be one incredible whiskey launched every year until 2025, ranging in age from 45 to 50 years old. All originating from the fabled Old Midleton Distillery which operated between 1852 to 1975! This year we see the launch of the first one from this collection, an incredible 45-year-old Irish single malt eloquently called Chapter One.

Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter One

With a price tag of €35,000 (yes you read that correctly!) for a 750ml bottle. There has only been 48 bottles of this whiskey produced.

Master Distiller Emeritus Max Crockett, was the genius behind this whiskey, who laid it down in 1974 as part of innovative trials that were never released or repeated. Let’s just say it’s one of a kind! The release of his unique take on peated single malt whiskey is the start of a new era of ultra-rare, luxury Irish whiskey.

Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter One is the only one in the collection which is a peated single malt. A process that was unheard of in its time and is still very rare in Irish Whiskey or in fact whiskey worldwide!

Fact Sheet about Chapter One

• Costs €35,000 per bottle or a rumored €2,000 per shot!
• Only 48 bottles made worldwide.
• Decades in the making, the third fill sherry cask it’s matured in has been lying dormant for 45 years.
• Tasting notes include ripe honeydew melon, red berries, and sweet spices of toasted oak.
• The whiskey will be decanted into handblown and etched crystal decanter bottles, produced by Ireland’s Waterford Crystal, with each of the bottles individually numbered.
• The bottle comes displayed in a wooden cabinet handcrafted by Irish designer, John Galvin, using wood up to 200 years old from ancient reclaimed whiskey vats.

Full Tasting notes by Midleton Master Distiller Brian Nation

Nose: The first impression is very rich with deep, dark spices on a satisfying antique oak base. An earthy note of freshly cut peat, along with chamois leather, is lifted by a twist of grapefruit. The very old sherry wine seasoned hogshead cask contributes a touch of ripe honeydew melon and red berries as well as the sweet spices of toasted oak.

Taste: Instantly rich with the initial peppery spices slowly softening as the influence of the malted barley shows through. Liquorice root, barley sugar and honey bring some sweetness, just given a little edge by a touch of sherbet. All build on a solid foundation of toasted oak.

Finish: The rich spices and malted barley are slow to fade.

This isn’t the first high-end whiskey to hit the scenes recently. In fact during a whiskey auction last year one rare Irish Whiskey bottle was actioned off last year for €10,000!