There are bottles you drink and bottles you hold. The 1997 bottling of Midleton Very Rare belongs, at this stage in its life, squarely to the second category — though I'd argue that's precisely the point. This is Irish whiskey as time capsule, a snapshot of blending philosophy from an era when the category was still rebuilding itself on the world stage, and the Midleton Very Rare series was one of its few genuinely prestigious calling cards.
Launched in 1984 by the legendary Master Blender Barry Crockett, the Midleton Very Rare range has always been about selection — a small number of casks chosen each year from the distillery's vast reserves, blended and bottled as a vintage release. The 1997 edition represents a particular moment in that ongoing conversation between blender and warehouse. At 40% ABV and without an age statement, it asks you to trust the craft rather than chase a number on the label. For a bottle now approaching three decades old, that trust commands a serious price: £1,350 is collector territory, no question about it.
What to Expect
Without confirmed tasting notes to hand, I'll speak to style. Midleton Very Rare of this period was characterised by a house approach that leaned into elegance over power — pot still spice tempered by grain whiskey smoothness, the blend designed to be seamless rather than challenging. At 40%, you're not getting cask-strength fireworks. You're getting composure. The 1997 bottling would have been assembled from stocks distilled in the late 1970s through to the early 1990s, a period when Midleton was refining its identity as the sole surviving distillery complex in Irish whiskey's spiritual heartland of County Cork.
What makes bottles like this worth attention isn't just their age or scarcity — it's what they represent. Each vintage of Midleton Very Rare is unrepeatable. Once that year's selection is gone, it's gone. The 1997 sits in a window before the Irish whiskey boom made these releases objects of intense speculation, which means it was bottled for drinkers, not flippers.
The Verdict
At £1,350, this is undeniably a luxury purchase, and I'd score it 7.9 out of 10 — not because it falls short, but because the premium here is substantially about provenance and collectibility rather than what's in the glass alone. As a piece of Irish whiskey history, it's genuinely compelling. As a drinking experience, the 40% ABV and blended profile mean this was always built for refinement rather than drama. If you're the sort of person who wants to own a piece of the Midleton Very Rare timeline — and specifically a bottling from the quiet years before the category exploded — this is a legitimate find. Just understand what you're buying: a beautifully made Irish blend that has become, almost by accident, an artefact.
Best Served
If you do open it — and I'd respect you either way — pour it neat into a tulip glass at room temperature. Give it fifteen minutes to breathe. No water, no ice. A bottle like this has waited nearly thirty years; it deserves your full, unhurried attention. A quiet evening, perhaps some rain against the window. County Cork weather, if you can arrange it.
