Whiskey of the Month:

Jameson 1780

There are a couple of things I can confirm about Jameson 1780, and a couple of things I have to deny.

Firstly I can confirm that this whiskey was launched in the mid-eighties as Jameson's new premier brand. Secondly that it made up of 75% pot still whiskies a third of which have spent a dozen long years sleeping in some rather nice sherry casks. However the 1780 bit does confuse me.

You see 1780 is just one of those dates the marketing boys have plucked out of the air. It is, we are told, the year in which John Jameson set up his Dublin distillery. But in truth no one knows when the Scots man landed in Dublin. It is, yet again, a case of "gosh aren't we old", which distilleries seem to love. Either way the whiskey is made in Cork not Dublin.

So what's it like?

In a word, scrummy.

1780 has to be the best tasting, best value for money, best damn thing bearing the Jameson logo that you'll find. In the past fifteen years Jameson have gone on to produce even more "exclusive" premier brands, but penny for penny, none of them even comes close to this marvelous dram.

I'm sitting here now with a drop of it resting in the bottom of my glass. It's a cold, damp evening in late July (this is Ireland) and I tell you it was made for this weather. Made for warming up the throat, lightening the spirit and raising the soul.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Rich, sherry. Someone, somewhere is cooking a christmas pudding laced with alcohol.

Mouthfeel: smooth and tongue coating.

Taste: Warms marvelously. At first pot-still and sherry, then it's hard to say what pops out next. It's a riot of spice, fruit and barley but beautifully balanced. This is the really yummy bit.

Finish: Not a trace of burn; that rasping you get as the hard grain kicks in at the back of your tongue. Long and pleasant.

Comments: Goes down like nothing else... in fact my glass is now dangerously empty. Gotta go and fill it up...

See also Blends

Previous Whiskies of the Month: Connemara, Powers Gold Label.

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