Midleton Silent Distillery Collection

The Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection features the three oldest Irish whiskies ever released and is the first offer to include each of the first three releases in this series. While Scottish whiskies garner most of the world’s attention, the heritage and tradition of distilling whiskey in Ireland goes back just as far as their counterparts across the North Channel. In fact, the Irish whiskey stalwart Bushmills is the oldest licensed distillery in the world, with origins dating back to 1608. However, the English stopped purchasing Irish whisky after the Irish independence, and then the Scots undercut prices by producing large volumes of whisky via the new column still. Irish whisky was on the ropes. Then, after American prohibition and two world wars, the Irish whiskey industry was a shell of its former self and represented only 1% of the world’s total whiskey sales.

It was with this economic backdrop that three independent companies decided to merge to stay afloat. In 1966, Cork Distilleries Company, John Jameson & Son, and John Power & Son merged to create the Irish Distillers Group. By the 1970s, this group’s combined efforts were bearing fruit, and the company needed to build a new facility to scale up production. This led to the opening of the current Midleton Distillery in 1975 and the closing of the “Old” Midleton Distillery, which had opened in 1825 and is today a visitor center.

When the old distillery closed, the last casks produced were set aside for long-term aging, and only recently used as the source whiskies featured in the Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection. The collection consists of six extremely limited releases, or “Chapters,” each to be released annually, culminating in 2025 to correspond with the 200th anniversary of the opening of the “Old” Midleton facility (which is now known as a “Silent” distillery). The combined total number of bottles released in the first three Chapters is a scant 215, with the first Chapter only consisting of 48 bottles, followed by 70 for Chapter 2, and 97 for Chapter 3. Since each release comes from spirits distilled in 1975, each subsequent bottling will represent the oldest bottled Irish whiskey release on record. Each release is bottled in a hand-blown and etched Waterford crystal decanter bottle. The decanter rests in a wooden cabinet handmade by Irish designer, John Galvin, using wood up to 200 years old from actual whiskey vats.

Needless to say, these whiskies are difficult to acquire. Originally only released to a Midleton members list, at the time of writing there are just ten bottles available at retail worldwide.Thanks to our unparalleled sourcing network, Vint was able to assemble a full set of the first three releases at very favorable acquisition costs, allowing us to offer the collection at 9.36% below the lowest global retail price. The truly unique and collectible nature of these whiskies combined with extremely limited overall supply and favorable entry price are a few key reasons why this is a potentially important addition to any investor's wine and spirits portfolio.