Can’t miss it.

Well…it’s fine. Not great, but not bad, and quite drinkable.

For the details…

My first non-Scotch was Jameson, consumed along with a dinner of fish and chips at a pub at the edge of a North Sea-facing beach in South Shields. I recall rather liking it, but evidently I didn’t love it because I cannot easily recall the next time I had it, although it was probably sometime during my college years. 

Rather ironically, the original Jameson in Dublin was founded by one John Jameson, a Scot. Thus Ireland’s most recognizable whiskey was originally made by a Scotsman, although the Scots originally learned the art of distillation from their Irish cousins.

Jameson is now mainly distilled at the New Midleton Distillery in County Cork, and it is owned–like many of its Scottish brethren–by the French drinks firm, Pernod-Ricard.

Although my experience with Irish whiskey remains shockingly shallow, I’ve tended to prefer almost anything else I could lay my hands on to Jameson. Still, despite a flavor preference for Bushmill’s, I’ve dutifully consumed Jameson on account of a likely apocryphal claim that Bushmill’s is Protestant whiskey to Jameson’s good Catholic standing.

In any event, sectarian squabbles aside, I had never managed–until this fine St. Patrick’s Day 2023!–to sit down and formally taste Jameson. I had an airline bottle of the stuff sitting around, and I thought that in honor of St. Paddy’s I’d do a tasting. The experience was far pleasanter than my recollection–and far, far pleasanter than my dram of defunct Scottish concern Littlemill last night!–but still very far from delightful or even memorable. I find Jameson to be a pleasant, drinkable, and frankly rather anodyne dram, excellent for not paying much attention as you listen to uilleann pipes and indulge melancholy reflections on the depredations of the English, and tailor-made for the drinker who values “smoothness” over every other thing.

Nose: Rather shy–there’s linseed oil and an earthiness, like dried turf. Green apple and perhaps a trace of Asian pear. Cinnamon.

Body: Light and insubstantial.

Palate: Mild, pleasant, and thoroughly inoffensive–to the point of being drab. The most interesting aspect is a crisp, green freshness. A muted fruitiness, like slightly diluted apple juice. Still linseed oil.

Finish: Short to medium, mild and very gently fruity with slight spice–a nice gentle apple sauce?

Score: 60/100

Who should buy it?: People who love “smooth”. People who want to get wasted with minimal pain.

Overall thoughts: A decent, entirely drinkable, utterly forgettable whiskey. It’s fine, it’s pleasant, it’s…adequate.

Bottling Information:

Expression: Jameson Triple Distilled Irish Whiskey

Bottler: Proprietor

Range: n/a

Bottle Code: n/a

Presentation: Unspecified

Details: n/a

Price: $25-30

Availability: Everywhere. If you can’t find this, you live in a wee village in Saudi Arabia.

Distillery Information:

Region: Republic of Ireland

Location: County Cork

Geography: Inland

Date Founded: 1780

Owner: Pernod-Ricard

Website: https://www.jamesonwhiskey.com/en/

Capacity: n/a

Plant Summary: n/a

Total expressions sampled: 1

Overall distillery score: n/a

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