Review: The Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection

The Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection is a series of collectible Irish whiskeys released between 2020–2025, representing the last whiskey distilled at Old Midleton Distillery and totaling six releases in all. The four single pot still whiskeys, peated malt, and blend in the collection sell for a combined $291,000, with the early releases making several appearances in our auction coverage of the 20-highest hammer prices of the month. As the final chapter is released, Whisky Advocate has reviewed every bottling over the six years of this remarkable project, and our ratings and full tasting notes are below.

Chapter 6 Details

The sixth release is a 50 year old single pot still whiskey priced at $60,000, the oldest Irish whiskey released to date, that has been bottled to mark the 200^th anniversary of the distillery’s founding. It was distilled by Max Crockett, the forefather of modern Irish whiskey, whose son, Barry Crockett, master distiller emeritus, was born in the Distiller’s Cottage on the Midleton Distillery grounds and went on to launch Midleton Very Rare in 1984. Old Midleton logbooks show that the 50 year old was distilled in September 1973 using a recipe that contained malted to unmalted barley in a ratio of roughly 60:40. There was a small amount of oats included, more to help with filtration than flavor development. Fermentation took place in the enormous 207,000-liter washbacks, which are painted a tomato red color and can still be seen on the Midleton tour today. The whiskey was triple-distilled in the largest pot stills in the world. Their installation was a statement of ambition by the distillery owners, encouraged by the permissive taxation system when the distillery was built, and the efficiency of a large heating still over multiple smaller stills. The largest still was erected in 1854 and has a capacity of 144,000 liters: it worked for 121 years until the distillery closed in 1975. For the stillman, this was hot, dirty, manual work. Unlike stills in the modern, operational Midleton Distillery, these copper behemoths were direct-fired and required 4 tons of anthracite every 24 hours to keep the fires burning underneath. The stills were connected to worm tub condensers, a system that produces lower reflux as the heavier tails are carried over, resulting in an oily, robust distillate. Master distiller Kevin O’Gorman recognizes it as an even heavier spirit than the “trad” pot style produced at Midleton Distillery today.

Each whiskey in the Silent Distillery collection was matured in refill bourbon or refill sherry casks; these are ideal vessels for long maturation. For the 50 year old, the contents of four refill bourbon casks were combined and the whiskey married in a custom-built cask raised by fifth-generation master cooper Ger Buckley. He used the American oak barrel staves and the heads of the sherry butt from the five previous Silent Distillery Collection chapters to make this one-off cask–the sherry butt staves were unsuitable as they were too long, so the heads were used to ensure every chapter was represented. The cask was a real test of Buckley’s craft and skill. He had to line up the croze (grooves) on the inner staves from five different casks to fit the head and create a cask that wouldn’t leak, especially given the importance of the precious whiskey that was going inside. With a career stretching nearly five decades, Buckley, poignantly, was able to locate his father’s cooper’s mark on a stave from one of the casks used for the fifth release (Buckley’s father retired in 1982). Cooper’s marks have existed since Roman times. They were added by the cooper so the work could be identified at a later date. Buckley uses coopering tools passed down through his family in the trade, with some of them in regular use for over a century. Using his scribe, Ger Buckley added his own mark next to his father’s during the coopering of the bespoke marrying cask, indicating that both father and son had worked on the same cask, decades apart. After 50 years, the charred interior surface of the staves had worn away completely, leaving a thinner stave the color of plain oak, that by design, wouldn’t contribute any significant flavor over the 6-month marrying period. This cask would hold the last of the whiskey, distilled in the same manner as it had been 200 years ago.

Midleton's 200-Year History

Midleton Distillery was founded in 1825 by the Murphy brothers, James, Daniel, and Jeremiah, who acquired an abandoned woolen mill on the banks of the Dungourney River. A family of merchants, part of an elite group known as the Merchant Princes of Cork city, the Murphys traded in luxury goods, olive oil, almonds, lemons, and spices, brought in by schooner from ports around the Mediterranean. The location of the distillery was chosen for its proximity to the harbor, farmland, and its water source. Cork has the second-largest natural harbor in the world after Sydney, Australia, so the Murphys found it ideal for bringing in raw materials and subsequently exporting their whiskey to the world. The fertile farmland of east Cork was perfect for growing barley, and local farmers would transport their grain by horse and cart into Midleton’s cobblestoned distillery yard, where it could be stored in the six-story high granary and sent to the four-story high maltings. Midleton was built on a limestone plateau, and the underground limestone caverns ensured the Dungourney River supplied the distillery with abundant cool, clean water. The Murphys were soon employing 200 people and producing close to half a million gallons of whiskey a year.

During the 1950s, multiple distilleries closed across Ireland, and by the 1960s, only three operational distilleries remained in the Irish Republic, all family-owned and family-run: John Jameson & Sons, John Powers & Son, and the Midleton distillery owned by the Cork Distillers Company. The three families united in the belief that Irish whiskey was worth fighting for, merging and combining all their resources in 1966. The old distilleries were not capable of making the different style of whisky the new company was committed to making, so all three were closed. Old Midleton Distillery fell silent, and production moved to a new efficient, purpose-built facility adjacent to the old site. Paradise lost perhaps, but preserved in the warehouses was the legacy of these last casks. Many decades later, these would be chosen for the Silent Distillery Collection, a tribute to the entrepreneurship of the Irish whiskey industry during the 19^th and 20^th centuries, and the very last liquid ever to be bottled from the Old Midleton Distillery.

The Entire Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Reviewed

94 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter One 45 year old, 51.2%, $35,000

Released in February 2020, the first Silent Distillery release was a peated single malt matured in a third fill oloroso sherry butt, drawn from experimental peated batches distilled by former master distiller Max Crockett in the 1970s.

Powerfully smoky for 45 years old, with charcoal, burnt turf, smoked venison, dark chocolate, Brazil-nut dark toffee, roasted chestnut, and a hint of smoked haddock. Thick golden syrup, peppery spice, and vanilla caramel; the peat smoke is heavier initially, then fades and darts between other flavors. Toasted oak, dark sugars, cocoa, and smoke finish an incredible sip of Irish whiskey liquid history (48 bottles).

97 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Two 46 year old, 53.6%, $45,000

A single pot still whiskey from the Old Midleton Distillery, released in May 2021, this was matured in a refill bourbon barrel, refill sherry, and re-casked into a refill bourbon, then spent 3 years in a first-fill port pipe before two decades in a refill bourbon cask.

Give this an hour to unfurl; the nose reveals aged oak, pot still spice, and engine-oiled machine parts, then milk chocolate, sesame seeds, vintage maps, and calfskin vellum, before chocolate orange and lighter, more pliable wood notes, and eventually shortbread and buttercream. The flavors are so vibrant: a brilliant chocolate-orange creaminess, penetrating pot still spice, gingersnap, barley sugar, and a treacle-like spicy finish that lasts an eternity (70 bottles).

95 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Three 47 year old, 55.7%, $46,000

In May 2022, Irish Distillers released an even older single pot still whiskey, a marriage of two separate whiskeys matured in a refill sherry butt and a refill bourbon barrel.

The nose is beautifully honeyed, with crisp spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coriander seed, supplanted by grated chocolate, seasoned oak, and peppercorn. Thick and unctuous, with honey, citrus, and clove-led spices, the velvety palate glides toward flavors of fruity dark chocolate. Spices are a constant throughout, the final flavors darting between black currant, oak, ginger loaf, and milk chocolate. This proves to be much more than just history in a bottle (97 bottles).

97 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Four 48 year old, 53.9%, $50,000

The only blend in the series was released in May 2023. Midleton had a German-style grain column in the 1960s to make grain neutral spirit, but the quantities produced were quite small. With a low volume left in the last remaining cask of Old Midleton grain whiskey, the single pot still component was added to top it up, and the blend was left to marry for 48 days.

Polished antique furniture, Brazil nut, cacao, Oreos, and leather, it’s clearly of significant age but blossoms with beeswax candles, baked orange, and peppy spices given time. Wonderfully oily and honeyed, with spices straining at the leash against a backdrop of indulgent chocolate, walnut, and citrus oils. It takes many expressive turns, gliding through coffee, praline, pecan pie, and treacle, with the spices blazing like the tail of a comet (119 bottles).

93 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Five 49 year old, 52.4%, $55,000

Released in April 2024, the penultimate release in the series was a single pot still whiskey from a collection of casks and married in an American oak bourbon cask marked by Ger Buckley’s father after a repair.

Heather honey, grilled peach, golden syrup, wood sap, green tea, and dried leaves on the nose, the pot still spices weaving spells around the elegant aromas, with hints of honeycomb candy and gingersnap crumbs. Feisty pot still spice on the palate, with honey, dried fruit, cocoa, sugared almond, black tea, oak tannins, eucalyptus, banana chips, and chewy leather. Ancient and rare, but there’s a lot of wood going on here (144 bottles).

97 Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Six 50 year old, 53%, $60,000

Launching to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the Old Midleton Distillery in April 2025, this single pot still is the oldest Irish whiskey released to date and the final liquid to be bottled from the Old Midleton Distillery. Filled into House of Waterford crystal, it is housed in a bespoke case made by Irish master craftsman John Galvin, which contains six rare woods from the whole series, including blue bird’s eye maple, 18ct gold-plated trim, hand-cut leather interiors, and includes oak reclaimed from old Irish whiskey vats.

Four refill bourbon barrels were married in a bespoke cask coopered from the previous Silent Distillery casks. Complexity is an overused word but not here; black fruits, worn leather, polished wood, dried peel, and tobacco leaf aromas. Vibrant apricot and peach notes, amid treacle, seasoned oak, and wood spices. The intense stone fruit finish reverberates for many minutes. These are the last drops from the Old Midleton distillery 1825–1975 (225 bottles).