Midleton Dair Ghaelach Knockrath Forest Tree No.1

The formation of the Irish Distillers group in 1966, an amalgamation of Jameson, Powers and Cork Distillers, was the beginning of a sea change in the landscape of Irish whiskey. Necessitated primarily by a need to capitalise on a much-expanded export market, the move also saw a change in the whiskey behind the brand names, favouring blended Irish whiskies over the traditional single pot still style. Irish Distillers pushed Jameson as the face of the company, but its historic Bow Street home had no column still to produce grain, meaning this component had to be produced at Power's John's Lane distillery. In order to streamline its operations, the company shut both distilleries down, building a bespoke new facility next-door to its Old Midleton distillery in Cork, which was shut down as well. Midleton opened in 1975 and was the only distillery in Ireland until Cooley was built in 1987.

This single pot still Irish whiskey from the Midleton Very Rare brand is from the latest chapter of the Midleton Dair Ghaelach story, Knockrath Forest. The whiskey itself was initially matured in American oak Bourbon barrels, then finished in virgin native Irish oak hogsheads built from trees grown on the Knockrath Estate. Amazingly, each cask can be traced back to one of six individual 130 year old oak trees from the forest. This particular bottle is from Tree number 1.