Rare, $50K bottle of Irish whiskey arrives in Northeast Ohio for charity tasting

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (WJW) – An extremely rare bottle of Irish whiskey arrived in Rocky River, requiring a police escort.

The 48-year-old bottle of Midleton Whiskey, valued at $50,000, was picked up and transported to Gormely’s Pub, on Center Ridge Road, by owner Sean Gormley.

“It’s so exciting to be able to do this again,” said Gormley.

Gormley’s was the “first pub in the world” to acquire one of the rare bottles in 2022 for an uber-exclusive tasting event.

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Proceeds from the tasting benefitted Malachi House in Cleveland, a nonprofit Christian ministry serving people who are terminally ill and financially unable to afford end-of-life care.

It was such a smashing success, Gormley’s is now hosting the third such tasting with an equally elite bottle of whiskey.

“We initially started this thinking it would help a great cause, but it’s turned into something really special and it’s benefited so many people at Malachi House, and brought a lot of attention to the charity and the love of Irish whiskey,” said Gormley.

This year’s two-night Festival of Midleton Whiskeys will be held at The Clifton Club. The grand tasting and pour of the Midleton bottle will take place March 2, hosted by Kevin O’Gorman, the Master Distiller from Midleton Distillery in Ireland and Barry Chandler host of Stories & Sips.

Tickets are valued at $1,945 but 200 raffle tickets are being sold for $50 each.

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The first place winner will get a seat and admission to the second night of the festival, when the Midleton will be opened.

A second place winner will receive admission to first night of the festival, where many other fine whiskeys will be sampled.

For information on the festival and how to help Malachi House, go here. 

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