Midleton Dair Ghaelach Kilranelagh Wood Tree No. 3
Midleton · Midleton Distillery
Midleton's Dair Ghaelach series is the distillery's love letter to Irish terroir, and the Kilranelagh Wood expression is among its most evocative. Finished in virgin Irish oak harvested from a Wicklow estate, this bottling channels the spirit of twilight in the Irish uplands — rich, contemplative, and layered with the kind of depth that only decades of maturation and native wood can deliver. A masterclass in how cask and spirit can tell a story of place.
Nose
The nose opens like a forest clearing at dusk — Irish oak resins intertwine with dried apricot, honeycomb, and a dusting of cinnamon bark. Beneath, there are layers of toasted almond, beeswax, and a whisper of wild heather that evokes the fading warmth of a Wicklow evening.
Palate
Rich and deeply textured on the palate. Waves of dark chocolate and roasted hazelnut meld with stewed stone fruit and clove-studded orange peel. The native Irish oak delivers a distinctive tannic grip — somewhere between fine leather and fresh-sawn timber — while pot still spices of white pepper and ginger root cascade through the mid-palate. Brown butter and a lick of caramelized fig emerge as the whiskey breathes.
Finish
Extraordinarily long and layered. The Irish oak tannins linger alongside dried fruit, dark cocoa, and a final exhale of vanilla and warm cedar. A gentle medicinal herbaceousness and a wisp of wood smoke close out the experience like embers glowing beneath a violet sky.
- Mash Bill
- Single Pot Still (malted and unmalted barley)
- Distillation
- Triple-distilled in traditional copper pot stills
- Maturation
- Bourbon cask, finished in virgin Irish oak (Kilranelagh Estate, Tree No. 3)
Cocktail Suggestion
The Wicklow Gloaming — Stir 2 oz Midleton Dair Ghaelach Kilranelagh Wood Tree No. 3 with 0.5 oz Pedro Ximénez sherry, 0.25 oz walnut liqueur, and 2 dashes of orange bitters over a large ice cube. Strain into a chilled coupe and express an orange peel over the surface, then garnish with the peel and a single dried fig half.
Food Pairing
The whiskey's dark chocolate, dried fruit, and tannic oak structure find a natural companion in the rich, gamey sweetness of seared duck breast. A blackberry and thyme jus mirrors the whiskey's stewed fruit and herbal undertones, while the crisp, rendered duck skin contrasts the liquid's viscous mouthfeel. A side of roasted root vegetables with a drizzle of honey ties into the honeycomb notes on the nose.
In the rolling hills of County Wicklow, on the grounds of the Kilranelagh estate, ancient Irish sessile oaks have stood watch over the land for centuries. Midleton's master cooper selected individual trees from this forest — each numbered, each unique — to create the virgin Irish oak casks that would finish some of the distillery's most prized aged pot still whiskeys. Tree No. 3 from Kilranelagh was felled, air-dried for three years in Midleton's cooperage yard, and fashioned into hogsheads that would cradle liquid aged between 13 and 26 years. The result is a whiskey that captures the dusk of an Irish woodland: deep, tannic, alive with the signature spice of pot still grain and the wild character of native oak. It is, in the truest sense, a twilight cask whisper — the voice of the forest speaking through the spirit.
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