The Whiskey Reviewer gave the inaugural batch of Dair Ghaelach high marks in 2015.įor the third edition, the Midleton team selected the Knockrath estate in the ancient Vale of Clara where the oak has grown for more than 150 years amidst the landscape of mountains and lakes.
Midleton dair ghaelach bluebell forest series#
Midleton’s talented team, led by Master of Maturation Kevin O’Gorman, Master Cooper Ger Buckley and Master Blender Billy Leighton, set out to source sustainable Irish oak from estates throughout Ireland to produce a series of whiskeys, each with their own individual history and taste profile, that could be traced back to the specific tree from which the oak cask was made. The story of Midleton Very Rare Dair Ghaelach, which translates as ‘Irish oak’, began over a decade ago when the Midleton Masters, ever keen to innovate and create unique and exemplary whiskeys, decided to explore the possibility of maturing Irish whiskey in native oak. A remarkable addition to the Midleton Very Rare story, the new expression has matured in barrels made from virgin Irish oak grown in Knockrath Forest, County Wicklow, reinforcing Midleton’s provenance and its standing as a true taste of Ireland. Bottled at cask strength DO NOT put even the tiniest amount of water in, we tried & tested it with an outcome of a killed flavour profile.įor once I didn’t take many photos, so with thanks here are some images from Joe Magowan & Whiskey Club.Irish Distillers, the folks behind Jameston, has introduced Midleton Very Rare Dair Ghaelach Knockrath Forest, the third release in the Dair Ghaelach collection. Light in the mouth with that perfect level of spice, an array of fruits with a charmingly warm finish.
We were all in agreement that each tree had a fairly noticeable difference in colour and a significantly different flavour profile between many of them from light to heavy spice, dried to dark fruits, dark chocolate to creamy white buttons, cinnamon & cloves everyone got something a little different but nothing too strange.Safe to say, everyone had a favourite bottle, mine being Tree 3. It was a very informal tasting with Joe opening up the room for us all to voice our thoughts in a general discussion, which worked rather well. I’m going to hold my hands up here, I had the best intentions on making notes to use in this blog and that’s what I done at the start, but that fairly went out the window soon after as I was enjoying myself too much. Now I’ve only ever tried a drop or two of the previous Dair Ghaelach range but never enough to fully take in how good it is reported to be. I got the sense from the get-go it was going to be a night to remember. Finally some days and hours later (19 months) it was given the green light to be bottled. Filled with 12-23 year old pot still whiskeys back in Ireland, which had previously been matured in American oak (refill & first fill). Staves sent to Antonio Paez Lobato cooperage in Jerez where they were dried for 15 months in the Spanish sunshine then given a light to medium toast before being turned into 29, 240 litre hogshead casks. Midleton made sure the project was completely sustainable with the trees being felled in accordance with the Irish Forest Service.Īfter felling, Midleton sent the trees to Galicia, Spain, for the magic to be done and turned into casks. This latest release used 6 trees from the Bluebell Forest in Castle Blunden Estate, County Kilkenny. Kilkenny, making it the first Irish whiskey to be finished in virgin Irish Oak for 100+ years.
The original release of Dair Ghaelach used 30 year old oak trees from Grinsell’s Wood, within the Ballaghtobin Estate in Co. Bingo! Jackpot!Ī little info on Dair Ghaelach to get us started.
Midleton dair ghaelach bluebell forest full#
Now I’m not best for reading full emails or taking in all the details, so when you rock up to the tasting wondering “what tree from the range will we be trying.?” to find out its all 6! (It said so in the email, whoops) This meaning we were some of the first people in the world to try all 6. I recently got invited along to the lavish 5* Merchant Hotel in Belfast, by Joe Magowan & Whiskey Club for a tasting of the new Midleton, Dair Ghaelach (Irish for Irish Oak), Bluebell Forest, along with a small number of fellow whiskey devotees.
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