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Midleton Very Rare adds to French Tronçais series
Irish Distillers-owned Midleton Very Rare has unveiled the second instalment in its Forêt de Tronçais whiskey series.
The Forêt de Tronçais series is a collaboration between Midleton Distillery and the French Taransaud cooperage, which showcases whiskey produced with the use of rare French Tronçais oak casks.
Following the series debut in October 2023, the second release, created by master distiller Kevin O’Gorman, is a blend of grain and single-pot still whiskeys.
The whiskey includes spirits matured over decades from the 1980s to the early 2000s in American Bourbon barrels, which were married together and filled into casks made of five-year air-dried oak from the forest of Tronçais, known as T5 casks.
To create the limited edition, the whiskey was aged for another four years, resulting in notes of white chocolate and fruits on the palate, with a gentle lingering spice.
O’Gorman stated: “The second edition of Midleton Very Rare Forêt de Tronçais adds a new dimension to the foundation we have built; this time, we have increased the proportion of pot still whiskey whilst also increasing the refill-cask element.
“The numerous years of maturation allow the pot still distillate to express itself fully, giving it an extra layer of complexity that adds a wonderful stone fruitiness and soft clove spice on the nose, along with an abundant creaminess and mouth-watering taste experience.
“The influence of the T5 oak over four years takes this liquid to the next level, adding herbaceous and floral notes, along with flavours of caramel, toffee and cinnamon.”
The whiskey is presented in a handmade glass bottle that retains the distinctive duck egg blue of the Midleton Very Rare collection. It is housed in a Forêt de Tronçais oak cabinet created by Manufacture Jacquemin, a third-generation traditional woodcraft business based in the Jura Mountains in eastern France.
O’Gorman added: “We are constantly innovating while staying true to the distinctive character and essence of Midleton Very Rare, and I am incredibly excited about the future of this collection.”
On the collaboration, Jacquelin de Pracomtal, vice president at Taransaud cooperage, also shared: “We are incredibly proud to continue this collaboration with Midleton Distillery. Our shared dedication to craftsmanship and excellence is reflected in each cask, and this second edition showcases the extraordinary balance between the cask’s fine grain and the whiskey’s depth of flavour.”
Midleton Very Rare Forêt de Tronçais Edition 2 is bottled at 48% ABV and will be available in select markets, including Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, Czech Republic, Benelux, Germany, Singapore and Global Travel Retail with an RRP of €5,000 (US$5,282/£4,388).
Earlier this year, Midleton Very Rare celebrated its 40th anniversary with a limited edition release and unveiled its oldest whiskey expression to date, a 49-year-old, as part of the Silent Distillery Collection.
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