Jameson
Part of:
Midleton
About the brand
Jameson is the world's best-selling Irish whiskey (over 10 million cases a year) and a global byword for the whole category. It single-handedly pulled the Irish distilling industry out of crisis and taught the world to drink whiskey without snobbery.
Its founder was John Jameson — who, remarkably, was a Scot, taking a stake in the Bow Street distillery in Dublin in 1780. Today all Jameson is made at the Midleton complex in County Cork. Three things give it its smoothness: triple distillation, no peat in the malting, and the marriage of rich Single Pot Still whiskey with light grain whiskey.
The range
- Original — the classic green bottle: green apple, pear, vanilla, a nutty finish.
- Black Barrel — components from double-charred bourbon barrels: toffee, dark caramel, oak.
- Caskmates (Stout / IPA) — finished in craft-beer casks: cocoa and coffee, or hops and citrus.
The family motto Sine Metu ("Without Fear") still graces every bottle. Browse it in the Jameson catalogue.
Timeline
- 1780 John Jameson — a Scot by birth — takes a stake in the Bow Street distillery in Dublin.
- 1850 Dublin's 19th-century golden age: Jameson becomes one of the world's most popular whiskies.
- 1975 Bow Street production closes; the whole process moves to New Midleton.
- 1988 Acquisition by Pernod Ricard and the start of global marketing expansion.
- 2013 Launch of the Caskmates series — whiskey finished in craft-beer casks.
