Jameson and the rise of Irish whiskey

Founded in 1780 by John Jameson, a Scottish lawyer, a man whose whole life was immersed in whiskey making, even down to his choice of wife, having married Margaret Haig, the sister of the Haig brothers, so influential in Scottish distilling and whose blended Scotch whisky is still available today. (In fact, Haig’s Dimple features heavily as the drink of choice for antihero Walter White in the hit US TV show Breaking Bad).

Jameson moved to Ireland in 1777 and became general manager of the Bow Street distillery in Dublin, now a visitors centre and museum to Irish whiskey making and Jameson himself. In 1805 he took full control, and by 1810 it has been renamed John Jameson & Son.

By 1886, the distillery had grown to cover over 5 acres, right in the heart of the Irish capital employing over 300 men, according whiskey historian Alfred Barnard, who at the time also noted how large the stills were for the making of the spirit, something unusual and out-of-kilter with Scotch whisky production.

Over time, the distillery faced various challenges, such as the development of Scottish blended whisky, with brands such as Johnnie Walker and Grant’s doing so much to spread their products around the world. Prohibition in the US hit many distilleries in Ireland, Scotland as well as Canada, as the reliance on America as an export market was key to their business. To lose such a large market for so many years was painful. Couple these issues with the turbulent political environment between Ireland and the British parliament in London and one wonders how Jameson, and indeed whisky in Ireland, has managed to survive today.

Yet it was this last issue that has provided Ireland, Irish whiskey and Jameson with their unique taste and production process. In 1682, Ireland was ruled by a British government that, in a highly political move, introduced a tax on Jameson has grown to become the flagship example of Irish whiskey making and allowing for a whole new category of premium Irish whiskey to arise

As a result, many Irish distillers of the day hit back by changing their production process, making their whiskey with a mixture of malted and (non-taxable) unmalted barley, giving whiskey produced in Ireland its own unique flavour profile. Couple this with a triple-distilling process (unlike in Scotland where most whisky spirit is distilled twice), and Ireland has managed to offer the world a unique style of whiskey, traditionally seen as smooth and easy drinking.

And Jameson thrived on this new style, riding out the waves of Prohibition and today producing a blended Irish whiskey that is now the fastest growing dark spirit in the world.

Having moved production in the early 1970s from Dublin down to County Cork, Jameson has grown to become the flagship example of Irish whiskey making and allowing for a whole new category of premium Irish whiskey, known as Single Pot Still, to arise with excellent offerings from Green Spot, Yellow Spot, and 12-, 15- and 21-year-old offerings of a cracking brand called Redbreast.

Far from being out in the cold, Irish whiskey, from Single Pot Still through to Jamesom Blended and their aged offerings, is on the march.