Official Bottle | 40% ABV

A Nice Change of Pace

Summers in parts of the U.K and Ireland are associated with warm rain, rather than warm weather. So, what do we reach for during a warm and sticky evening? I for one am not grabbing a heavily peated cask strength whisky that’s for sure! Maybe something a bit more approachable and one I really don’t have to think about. Pour and enjoy. Cheers!

In writing some previous reviews, I’ve tended to peak into the whisky cabinet and see what I have at home rather than going out and having a wee whisky splurge. What also might be a good topic for the Dramface community of readers? While having a wee think, I pulled out a tumbler glass (a Bushmills branded one that I probably pocketed on a night out… don’t tell anyone), fired in a handful of ice cubes and screwed opened the Jameson for a healthy pour.

‘What could I ramble on about?’ Oblivious to what’s in the glass, then I realised what I’m enjoying at that moment in time was a staple. Jameson white label. A blended Irish whiskey. When it doesn’t rain sideways in Northern Ireland, and we experience temperatures upward of 16 degrees Celsius (Or for friends who enjoy their measurements in Fahrenheit, 60+), a wee pour of Irish over ice is an enjoyable experience.

Finally getting to sit outside with a refreshing drink, a staple Irish like Bushmills Black Bush, Jameson, or a Teeling small batch is fantastic over ice, mixed with Ginger Ale or thrown into a delicious Old Fashioned. To be honest I’ve never really poured a Jameson into a Glencairn before and studied it in any detail. It’s always been that whiskey in your parents’ drinks cupboard that you try and sneak when you’re a teen, or at an Irish birthday/wake there’s a huge amount of Jameson bottles opened for enjoyment.

For those unsure of what a wake is, to my understanding it’s an Irish tradition around a time of bereavement to celebrate the person who’s sadly passed away i.e., any excuse for a drink. Close friends and family of the deceased come together at the deceased’s household/family home to pay their respects, normally held during the days before the funeral. A mad story told to me by my father on the wake of his grandmother, exemplifies an Irish wake and then some: There was so much drink consumed and that many crammed into a small terraced house in Belfast, that they removed the Mass cards from the top of the coffin in order to place bottles of whiskey, glasses and have somewhere to lean. A fine example of raising a glass to someone.

It's such a staple in many households, and now the number one selling Irish whiskey in the world. It’s important that brands and expressions such as Jameson are reviewed and talked about due to their importance to many (including myself) for being that introduction to the glorious liquid and what it can provide. A famous brand indeed but I’ll tell you a little more about the brand and distillery.

[I’ll give a brief overview, and not too much detail. Having brought up funeral wakes, I’ll leave out some of the rumours around John Jameson and his penchant towards witnessing cannibalism. One for you guys to google].

Review

Jameson Blended Irish Whiskey, 40% ABV
£20-25 (or less on offer) global availability.

Jameson is a brand known all round the world and arguably on the same level as Johnnie Walker or Jack Daniels. Today the brand is produced by Irish Distillers, a subsidiary company of Pernod Ricard. Originally hailing from Dublin (One of the main brands produced at the Jameson Distillery on Bow Street), production of this liquid is now located at the Midleton Distillery in Cork alongside the Spot Series, Powers, and Redbreast.

We can see the founder John Jameson’s name on the bottle labelling today, but he was originally from Alloa in Scotland before he founded the distillery in Dublin in 1780.

Before he founded Jameson, John married Margaret Haig. Margaret was the eldest daughter of John Haig, the famous whisky distiller in Scotland. Remarkably, John and Margaret had a family of 16 children, so you’d wonder how he had the time to operate a distillery! Four of John’s sons followed his footsteps in distilling in Ireland, while John Jameson's eldest son, Robert, took over his father's legal business back in Scotland.

When we skip forward and get into the 19th century, Jameson had grown to become the second largest producer in Ireland and one of the largest in the world. Dublin at the time was the centre of world whiskey production, before events such as World War 1, Prohibition in the U.S, the Civil War in Ireland and the trade war with Britain which prohibited the sale of Jameson to the countries in the British commonwealth, turned that accolade on its head.

As Irish whiskey was on its knees throughout the 20th Century, Jameson merged with Cork Distillers and Powers to form Irish Distillers Group in 1966. 1976 seen the Jameson distillery on Bow Street, Dublin close as production moved to Midleton in Cork. The old Jameson Distillery in Dublin now serves as a museum which offers tours and tastings.

As the Irish whiskey market seen a huge revival, overall sales volumes at the end of 2019 surpassed 8 million cases, while the brand seen a 14 per cent jump in sales in the 12 months to the end of June 2021 from 7.5 million cases a year earlier (lower numbers due to the global pandemic). Jameson is triple distilled and produced from a blend of grain whiskey & single pot still whiskey. The malted and unmalted barley used in the mash bill for Jameson is all sourced from within a fifty-mile radius around the distillery in Cork.

Nose

Pear drop hard sweets. Honey dew melon with some vanilla yogurt. Hot and alcohol vapours are the main element to the Jameson nose. Some green apple and a little bit of cubed pineapple. It’s a sweet nose. Think of icing sugar, green apple jolly ranchers and a touch of cinnamon spice. That rounds off to almost mimic the smell of a toffee apple, but out of nowhere it reminds of a pine floor cleaner. Hope it doesn’t taste like it.

Palate

Sweetness initially on the first sip, it’s like a large dose of artificial apple sweetener. The melon comes through from the nose to the palate. The alcohol hotness comes forth in a sudden wave and the overall mouth feel is thin, in fact very thin. You need to go back again and again for sips to try and unearth any more notes. Hard caramel and raisins are the sugar sweetness element to this dram.

Alcohol vapour is hard to get past in the mouth here, with the ‘burn’ remaining throughout. The flavour begins to build when you take a sip, and just before you’re about to pick out a note… it just falls off a cliff.

The Dregs

Apparently, Jim Murray gave this 95 points?! Just goes to show that you shouldn’t take one person’s word for any review or inclination, that it should entice you to be curious and try things for yourself. This is enjoyable an inoffensive when thrown over ice or included in a mixer. It’s not one to shout home about, and there are better examples out there at an Irish blend or what Irish whiskey can offer. Interestingly, with this being a blend of Pot Still and Grain, I’d be interested to taste Writer’s Tears Irish Whiskey, from Walsh Whiskey, which is a blend of Pot Still and Single Malt.

If you have never had a sip of whiskey in your life, I’d always recommend someone to start with Irish given its approachability and softness with it being triple distilled. Jameson would be the brand and bottle I’d point anyone to, and it’s a fantastic bottle to pick up for a gift. To me, it’s a better experience and taste than Bushmills standard white label. The ending flavour, finish and mouthfeel just isn’t all there and there just isn’t enough grip for me to give this a higher score. I remember this being a lot better! It could be a mixture of my palate changing and the make up of this whiskey altering ever so slightly. The Pot Still element used to give a real unique spice and honey mouthfeel when poured neat, but that seems to have faded. Give it a try and see what you think and how it compares to the amount of fantastic whiskey we have at our disposal

Score: 4/10

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