Jameson

Our last morning in Dublin we took a taxi to the Jameson Distillery. Neither one of us are huge fans of Whiskey, but we were excited to take a tour and see how whiskey is made.

This was very interesting.........each barrel of whiskey has a different age.  The older the whiskey, the darker the color. 

After the tour, they had us taste there different kinds of whiskey.  We started in the middle, which was the Jameson.  Jameson Whiskey is distilled 3 times which makes it taste totally different than any other whiskey.  Next was a Johnnie Walker Scotch Whiskey which was distilled twice.  GAG ME WITH A SPOON (old saying)!  It's funny, because my Grandma Della was a Scotch drinker.  Yikes!  I don't know how she did it!?!  Finally, we had Jack Daniels which has been distilled only once.  It was bad, but not as bad as the Scotch.  So, needless to say, we were sold that the Jameson was the best of the three. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       The Jameson family motto of “Sine Metu”, meaning “Without Fear” appears on every bottle of Jameson Whiskey distilled today. This has been John Jameson’s guiding philosophy since the founding of the Dublin Distillery in 1780.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Jameson set new standards in the distillation of whiskey. Discovering that certain strains of barley made better whiskey than others, he persuaded local farmers to grow the desired strains. He did this by providing them with seed each spring. Combining superior barley strains with the finest casks, and the latest industrial processes resulted in tremendous growth. By 1820, John Jameson & Sons had become the second largest distilling company in Ireland. Demand was increasing, both at home, and abroad.
 

Blight destroyed the vineyards of France in 1858, practically eliminating the supply of brandy. People began switching from brandy to Irish whiskey, and sales began to soar. However, in 1919, the introduction of Prohibition in the US basically destroyed one of the larger export markets for Jameson. Additionally, a consequence of Irish Independence was a hefty tariff on Irish whiskey sold in the British Empire. This tariff effectively priced Jameson out of the marketplace. 
 

As a result of these cruel blows, there were only four distilleries remaining in Ireland by 1966. To ensure the survival of Irish whiskey, John Jameson & Sons and the order three distilleries joined forces, and formed Irish Distillers.
 

Jameson Irish Whiskey remains one of the fastest growing whiskeys over 220 years after it was first distilled. John Jameson’s standards and principles continue to thrive in the fine, smooth whiskey that still bears his name.
 

Really fun tour and interesting history.  Good-bye Dublin, we're on our way to Galway with one stop on the way!