The amount of history that went into each of these 97 bottles could likely fill its own textbook. And Mr Kevin O’Gorman, Midleton’s master distiller, could probably speak for hours on what he calls the “journey” of whiskey under his care. Terms such as pot still (the apparatus in which whiskey is distilled) and mashbill (the mix of grains used to make whiskey) are delivered in a thick Irish brogue as he explains why it’s even desirable to have a 47-year-old whiskey. It turns out that whiskeys can shift from cask to cask before they are eventually bottled, with each cask – and the time spent in it – contributing to the eventual flavour of the whiskey. Want fruity notes? Use a sherry butt. Want more wood notes? Or leather? These flavours all come from casks that are often on their second or even third life (used once to make bourbon or a sherry, for example, and now refilled with a whiskey). What happens if a whiskey is tasted somewhere along the journey and it’s gone, for lack of a better word, wrong?

“You can fix it,” says O’Gorman. “You can do some re-casking for several years to tone down whatever flavour. It takes time, you can’t do it overnight.” Like adding salt midway through a recipe for dinner, perhaps? “To me, it’s like taking a road trip,” he says. “You just take a slight change in direction.” Chapter Three, however, required no such re-routing. Chapter Three has been patiently waiting in its American barrel and sherry butt since 1973, unchanged.

For his own part, O’Gorman joined Midleton Very Rare in 1998, when Mr Barry Crockett was still the master distiller for the brand. Before Barry Crockett was his father Mr Max Crockett – and the whiskeys that are emerging now, as part of this collection, are thanks to them. “The people who went before me had the wisdom to lay down stocks,” says O’Gorman. They may not have necessarily known that they would be used for this very special set of releases (which will culminate with Chapter Six in 2025 for Midleton’s 200th anniversary), but they knew they were laying it down for something special. “There were so many people who went before me to get to this point. I’m just finishing the relay race.”

Ms Carol Quinn, head of archives for Irish Distillers, has spent years studying the people who “went before”. The archive is located next to the silent Midleton distillery, which houses the largest single pot still in the world. Back when the pot still was crafted and in use, heating technology was not quite what it is today. It required a lot of manual labour – men shovelling coal to keep fires going at all hours of the day. “Keeping the largest pot still in the world alight with coal wasn’t a fun job,” says Quinn. “It was difficult, hot, torturous. But they did it with pride because this was a product that was going to places that they could only imagine, in a bottle with the name of their hometown on it.” These firemen, along with the master distillers and the tasters and the caskers, helped produce the 47-year-old whiskey that is Chapter Three. And so, appropriately, the theme of this whiskey release is fire. “Shining a focus on the whiskey shines a focus on them as well,” says Quinn.

In honour of this special collection, Midleton Very Rare commissioned the Irish designer Mr John Galvin to craft a special cabinet for the bottles in each chapter. Galvin chose burr elm for the exterior of the cabinet which, thanks to its gleaming, swirly patina, resembles the swirl of fire and smoke. The bottles – all 97 of them – are made from handblown, hand-etched Waterford Crystal, an Irish heritage brand. There’s a strong sense of Irish pride and a hefty dose of historic significance in the release of these whiskeys.

“It’s an honour and it’s a privilege [to work with this release],” says O’Gorman. “When you taste it, you’re tasting history.” Fancy a taste of Silent Distillery Chapter Three yourself? It’s only available via ballot, which can be accessed on the Midleton Very Rare 1825 room (now live until 10 May) as well as select retailers. If you’re not lucky enough to purchase one of the bottles, there’s still a chance – Adare Manor Hotel is hosting a very exclusive event on 29 November (for more details, contact dining@adaremanor.com). Nestled in County Limerick, the Adare Manor dates to 1832 and is home to an extremely lush golf course (host of the 2027 Ryder Cup), a Michelin-starred restaurant and a glorious 111SKIN spa.

The event and the ballot are designed to match the scarcity and the uniqueness of Chapter Three, but if you’re still not able to taste Chapter Three, don’t despair just yet. Midleton Very Rare releases an annual vintage once a year; O’Gorman hand-selects the finest and rarest whiskeys from the inventory of Midleton Distillery before blending them to create a true whiskey masterpiece, often referred to as the “pinnacle of Irish whiskey”. In addition to the annual release and the Silent Distillery Chapters you can also find the Midleton Very Rare Dair Ghaelach series – which derives its name from “Irish oak” as the first Irish whiskey to be finished in virgin Irish oak – and Midleton Very Rare Barry Crockett Legacy, a tribute to an iconic figure in the history of both Midleton Distillery and Irish whiskey. Different experiences, of course, they are still the product of Irish whiskey history and decades of thought and care have gone into their production, which makes enjoying them (responsibly) even more meaningful than, say, the average whiskey on the rocks. Sláinte!