Traceability and sustainability are at the heart of this whiskey and, until we started this project, Irish oak had not been used to mature whiskey for well over 100 years.
Midleton’s Master of Maturation, Kevin O’GormanĬommenting on the release, Midleton’s Master of Maturation, Kevin O’Gorman, said: “Midleton Very Rare Dair Ghaelach Knockrath Forest is an amazing 150-year journey from Knockrath Forest to bottle and one we’re proud to be part of. Following a 15 month drying process, the staves were coopered into barrels, lightly toasted, and shipped back to Ireland to be filled with the aforementioned vatting of single pot still whiskey for a finishing period of two years. The trees, once felled, were then transported to the Maderbar sawmills in Baralla, north west Spain to be quarter sawn, before being transferred to the Antonio Páez Lobato cooperage in Jerez. The Knockrath Forest has been owned and looked after by the Brabazon family since the 16th century, and it’s where the Great Spotted Woodpecker was re-introduced to Ireland following a decade in exile. A remarkable-sounding feat in itself, but when you consider just what goes into creating those single tree single casks, the mind starts to boggle. With this new expression, single pot still Irish whiskeys aged 13 to 26 years old which were matured solely in ex-bourbon American Oak casks were vatted together, before being filled into seven single tree single casks, each sourced from the Knockrath Forest. If that wasn’t enough, they also wanted to separate out the oak trees, in order to tease apart the subtle nuances each individual tree had on the flavour of the finished whiskey. It started over ten years ago, with Irish Distillers (the owners of the Midleton Distillery) looking to explore the possibility of finishing single pot still whiskey in sustainable Irish oak from estates throughout Ireland. Unfamiliar with the Dair Ghaelach collection? It’s quite simple, yet wonderfully unique. Following on from the Grinsell’s Wood (where Lucas took a trip to many moons ago) and Bluebell Forest releases, the Irish virgin oak casks used for the third release in the Dair Ghaelach range come from the Knockrath Forest in County Wicklow. The Midleton Very Rare Dair Ghaelich collection is not only a byword (or byphrase?) for high quality, delicious single pot still whiskey, but it also stands for satisfying even the geekiest of geeky whiskey curiosities.
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