Established in 1780 by ‘John Jameson’, the Irish whisky has topped its way to the world’s best, ranked at No.1 amongst the highest selling whiskey brands in the world. It has secured many gold awards owing to its global popularity and is sold in 120 countries worldwide.
Quintessentially Irish in taste and texture, the whiskey Jameson is renowned for its smooth blend and balanced style. It embodies a rich, and exquisite taste acquired through the triple distillation method unique to John Jameson & Son. Its original distillery was based in ‘Dublin’ and was called the “Bow Street Distillery” or the “Old Jameson Distillery”. Built by Jameson’s wife’s cousins, the ‘Steins’, Jameson took up its management post upon their marriage. It is from here that the brand gradually grew to secure its global market.
The original distillery now serves as an attraction to whisky lovers around the world, and can be visited on weekdays following an official booking. Visitors are offered a tour around the distillery inclusive of a detailed explanation of the stages of making whiskey, guided by experts in the field. Visitors also get the chance to taste four premium range whiskies. At the end of the tour the guests will be offered a complimentary gift, in most cases a “Jameson Ginger and Lime”, and a ‘Jameson Whiskey Tasting Certificate’.
Currently, Jameson whiskies are brewed at the “Middleton Distillery” in ‘Cork’. It previously produced ‘Cork Distillery Whiskey’ which dates back to the 1800s. Tours of choice offered here along with a recommended visit to the ‘Irish Whiskey Academy’. The distillery’s annual production is over 1,000,000 gallons of whisky.
The Jameson distillers claim that the secret behind their signature smoothness comes down to three significant factors, those being an insistence on the finest ingredients, the method of triple distillation and the use of seasoned Oak barrels.
The quality of a whisky depends on the ingredients that go into the still. At Jameson’s they use three essential ingredients to produce their whisky: barley, maize and water. The world ‘whisky’ derives from the Irish term “Uisce Beatha”, meaning ‘water of life’. Therefore, the water used at Jameson comes from the ‘Dungourney River’ which runs right through the distillery.
Jameson’s is also one of the few whisky producers in the world who uses a mixture of un-malted and malted barley among their ingredients. Acquired from local farmers around 100 miles from ‘Middleton’, the required maize is imported from a farmer in the south of France and is free of any genetic modifications.
The processing of these ingredients forms into a liquid called ‘wort’ and left to ferment. The wash from the fermented wort then gets put through a triple distillation process, which other producers perform only once, resulting in the unique smoothness of the Jameson whisky. It is then left to mature for over three years. The casks imported from the ‘US’ or ‘Spain’ for maturation, were previously employed to age ‘fortified wine’ and ‘Bourbon’, adding that extra flavour to the whiskey Jameson.
