Midleton Very Rare 2022 - Irish Whiskey

THE DISTILLERY
Midleton is the beating heart of Irish whiskey — a working distillery in County Cork that traces its history to 1825, when the original mill-turned-distillery first began producing spirit on the banks of the River Dungourney. Today's New Midleton Distillery, opened in 1975 alongside the old site, is where Irish Distillers now produces everything from Jameson to Redbreast, but it's the Midleton Very Rare series that represents the distillery's own signature: an annual, hand-selected vintage rather than a fixed recipe.
Launched in 1984 by legendary master distiller Barry Crockett, at a time when Irish whiskey's international reputation had faded, Midleton Very Rare was conceived as proof of what the country's oldest working distillery could do at its very best. Only three people have held the pen since — Crockett, Brian Nation, and now Kevin O'Gorman, who took over in 2021. Each vintage draws purely on ex-bourbon American oak stock, letting the distillery's two core styles — single pot still and single grain — speak for themselves rather than leaning on heavy sherry or wine influence.
 
The Whiskey: Midleton Very Rare 2022
This is O'Gorman's second vintage as master distiller, and it shows real confidence. Rather than chasing consistency with what came before, he built the 2022 release around an unusually wide age range — whiskeys spanning 12 to 33 years old, all matured in lightly charred ex-bourbon barrels, blended to let the older grain stock bring real depth against the freshness of the younger pot still component.
It's this range that sets 2022 apart from more conservative vintages in the series: enough youth to keep the fruit lively, enough age to bring genuine weight and polish. The result was widely regarded as one of the standout releases of the O'Gorman era, and it's the whiskey behind that reputation that earned it joint-top marks among Midleton Very Rare vintages in Club Oenologique's tasting reports — 99 points, a rare score for the series.
 
Tasting Notes
Colour: Warm gold, bright and clear — a sign of the ex-bourbon-only maturation.
Nose: Delicate and layered — dried orchard fruit and ripe tropical notes lead, with honeyed florals and toasted oak building underneath. A gentle waft of caramel suggests the age at play without ever tipping into heaviness.
Palate: Supple and well-balanced on arrival, bourbon-cask sweetness meeting soft citrus and baking spice. As it opens, cocoa and burnt sugar come through, giving the whiskey real structure against the fruit — this is where the older stock earns its place in the blend.
Finish: Long and warm, drying gently into lingering baking spice and creamy vanilla, with a last flicker of toasted oak.
Serve: Neat, in a tulip glass, is the only way to do this one justice — a whiskey built to be tasted slowly rather than mixed. Good with dark chocolate or a mild, nutty cheese if you want food alongside it.