Fáilte ar ais. Seo muid arís. Tar éis juts lá amháin. Here we are again. Quite quick right? Welcome to the 4th review of this Irish Whiskey Month!☘️🇮🇪 I already reviewed two pillars of the standard Irish Whiskeys: the Tullamore D.E.W. and the Bushmills Original plus a curiosity from Hinch. Now it is time to review the third and final pillar in my opinion: Jameson. I will be blunt, this whiskey was never my favourite. Why? I don't know. But I keep on giving it another chance just to see how I like it at that given time. Thankfully I didn't have to buy a bottle, a friend codename: "Chipped A." gifted me a miniature. Thank you so much my friend.

March the 17th is Saint Patrick's Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig) in Ireland. This day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and by extension, celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Many reviewers like me pays homage to Ireland and its people by reviewing Irish Whiskeys this month.

Before we go any further, please check out a few of my previous Irish Whiskey reviews.

About Jameson

Jameson is a blended Irish whiskey produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Originally one of the six main Dublin whiskeys at the Jameson Distillery Bow St., Jameson is now distilled at the New Midleton Distillery in County Cork.

It is the best-selling Irish whiskey in the world; in 2019, annual sales passed 8 million cases.

John Jameson (1740–1823) was originally a lawyer from Alloa in Scotland before he founded his distillery in Dublin in 1780.

He was married to Margaret Haig who was the daughter of John Haig, a whisky distiller in Scotland. John Jameson and Margaret had 16 children. 8 daughters and 8 sons. Quite impressive.

John Jameson joined the Convivial Lodge No. 202, of the Dublin Freemasons on 24 June 1774 and in 1780, Irish whiskey distillation began at Bow Street. In 1805, he was joined by his son John Jameson II who took over the family business that year, and for the next 41 years, John Jameson II built up the business before handing over to his son John Jameson the 3rd in 1851. In 1901, the Company was formally incorporated as John Jameson and Son Ltd.

Four of John Jameson's sons followed his footsteps in distilling in Ireland.

By the turn of the 19th century, it was the second-largest producer in Ireland and one of the largest in the world, producing 1,000,000 gallons annually.

Historical events, for a time, set the company back. The temperance movement in Ireland had an enormous impact domestically but the two key events that affected Jameson were the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent trade war with the British which denied Jameson the export markets of the Commonwealth, and shortly thereafter, the introduction of prohibition in the United States.

In 1966 John Jameson merged with Cork Distillers and John Power to form the Irish Distillers Group.

In 1976, the Dublin whiskey distilleries of Jameson in Bow Street and in John's Lane were closed following the opening of a New Midleton Distillery by Irish Distillers outside Cork.

The old Jameson Distillery in Bow Street near Smithfield in Dublin now serves as a museum which offers tours and tastings. The distillery, which is historical in nature and no longer produces whiskey on site, went through a $12.6 million renovation that was concluded in March 2016, and is now a focal part of Ireland's strategy to raise the number of whiskey tourists. Bow Street also now has a fully functioning Maturation Warehouse within its walls since the 2016 renovation. It is here that Jameson 18 Bow Street is finished before being bottled at Cask Strength.

In April 2023, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland, Larysa Gerasko, called for a boycott of Jameson Whiskey as the company continued to trade with Russia after sanctions were introduced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On 12 May 2023, Irish Distillers said it would no longer export Jameson to Russia. Irish Distillers said that their parent company Pernod Ricard had decided to cease export of all international brands to Russia. The company also said it would cease distribution of its portfolio in Russia, a process that would take months.

Sales volume passed 8 million cases in 2019, a new high for the brand, including sales of 940,000 cases in December alone. It had previously passed 1 million cases in 1996, and 3 million in 2010.

Their core range

Jameson is produced from a blend of grain whiskey and single pot still whiskey, which uses a mixture of malted and unmalted or "green" Irish barley, all sourced from within a fifty-mile radius around the distillery in Cork.

The core range of Jameson currently consists of 10 bottlings.

• Jameson Orange - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks with orange, bottled at 30%
• Jameson Cold Brew - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks with coffee, bottled at 30%
• Jameson Irish Whiskey - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks, bottled at 40%
• Jameson IPA Edition - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks & finished in IPA Casks, bottled at 40%
• Jameson Stout Edition - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks & finished in Stout Casks, bottled at 40%
• Jameson Black Barrel - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks & Finished in heavily charred Casks, bottled at 40%
• Jameson Black Barrel Proof  - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon Casks & Finished in heavily charred Casks, bottled at 50%
• Jameson Triple Triple - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon, Sherry & Málaga Casks, bottled at 40%
• Jameson Crested - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon & Sherry Casks, bottled at 40%
• Jameson 18 - blended Irish whiskey, aged in Bourbon & Sherry Casks, bottled at 46%

Jameson Irish Whiskey - Natural Color (?), Chill filtered (?), 40%

"Jameson Irish Whiskey is a blended Irish Whiskey. What's that we hear you say? Well first we take the best of pot still and fine grain whiskeys. Then we triple distill them- not because we have to because we want to as it gives it its signature smoothness. Finally we age them in oak casks for a minimum of 4 years. It's where we recommend starting your whiskey journey. How to drink it? Any way you like. Just add mates and widen the circle. Triple distilled, twice as smooth, one of a kind.​"

Nose: Young & very spirity to me. Ethanol. The alcohol stick out a lot. Just how I remember. Going over this initial rough and un-inviting edge, I smell vanilla, brown sugar and cereals. Lots of grain-y notes alongside some green apple and pears. Lots of caramel with a hint of oak. Black pepper with a metallic note. I can see this work but I am not impressed.

Taste: Well. Quite alcoholic on the first sip. Spicy and rough. On the third sip notes of vanilla, brown sugar, toasted bread, breakfast cereals can be found. Some green apples and pears with cinnamon and black pepper. Not smooth at all and quite generic. Youthness can be found through the metallic, beer-y note that is present throughout.

Finish: Short. It is sweet with vanilla and caramel, but it gets a bit dry with black pepper, espresso and that metallic note.

Overall this is a "quantity over quality whiskey". Well you can't really be the most sold whiskey and the best at the same time. Whenever someone is the most sold, it is usually not that great, it is just ok, generic. I am not trying to be too harsh. This whiskey is just not good for neat sipping. For cocktails, perhaps? I remember that I liked their Black Barrel a lot, so I will have to try that later on. But for now, I am not impressed. I rate this whiskey 3.4/10. Try it. Drink responsibly.

After reviewing the "Three Pillars", the three Irish Whiskeys that most people can recognize and know I can say that my favourite of the bunch is the Bushmills Original followed by the Tullamore D.E.W. and then the Jameson.

Some pictures in this article are not owned by me, I tagged their owner and I attached a link of their site. All other pictures that have my logo on them are TAKEN AND OWNED BY ME.

Check out the points on all the whiskies I've rated and ranked head-to-head.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. To many more. Sláinte.

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