On a warm summer's day last year, my buddy Omar Fitzell from thatsdramgood.com and I managed to talk our way into the famed Distiller's Cottage on the hallowed grounds of the Old Midleton Distillery (now silent).

This is the cottage where Midleton Master Distiller Emeritus Barry Crockett was born. Today it is home to the Irish Distillers Archive and hosts the members of the Midleton Cask Circle, a club for purchasers of casks of Midleton whiskey.

We sat, we sipped, we told stories and we somehow managed to drag ourselves out again (before they threw us out) after sampling some of the greatest whiskeys produced in the Midleton Distillery.