Midleton VR hits new peak with rare 24-year-old single cask bottling

A single cask of whiskey is a tremendous thing. It’s an attempt by a distiller to engineer excellence in one sitting, an almost impossible task that needs decades to complete. Midleton Distillery has woven the process into its DNA, producing single casks that have redefined the art of maturation while placing the craft of Irish single cask bottling on an elevated platform.

Midleton VR 24

This cask, number 28824, was selected by Master Distiller Kevin O’Gorman and the team at the Single Malt Shop from deep within the warehouses at Midleton. It spent its 24 years in virgin American oak and yielded a mere 96 bottles. That’s a rich harvest. It was bottled at 57.3%, creating a wonderful pot still whiskey that is crammed with spice, oak and occasion.

On the nose you can expect the oak to dominate, layered with summer fruits and tropical notes. It’s a full-bodied whiskey with amazing texture and spice. Sweet caramel, salty undertones and chocolate combine among layers of citrus and demerara sugar. The finish celebrates its pot still identity with lots of spice and the impact of those decades in wood, creating a wonderful, long and satisfying endnote.

Pursuit of excellence

Midleton VR is the ultimate in Irish whiskey. Since the series began in 1984, each annual release of Very Rare is testament to the pursuit of excellence that every master distiller at Midleton seeks. Normally producing bottles in the thousands, the demands of replicating those standards in a single cask release are incredibly complicated.

To own a bottle of this whiskey is to claim your right to the very best in Irish distilling. Its rarity confirms its place in a library of whiskeys that will rewrite the story of Irish distilling and echo into the future. Each bottle of Midleton VR 24 is numbered and can only be bought from the Single Malt Shop.

Click here to read more about this exemplary single cask whiskey