The Old Jameson Distillery

Hi buddies!

Since we have no lectures to attend on Fridays, we decided to visit the Old Jameson Distillery. Yes, the old one, meaning they don’t produce whiskey there. Good job captain obvious!

Anyway, it’s located in Dublin 7, and it took us about 15mn to get there. A student ticket costs 12 euros and the guided tour lasts about one hour. The building isn’t as big as the Guinness storehouse is and compared to it there are less things to see. The visit begins with the production process explained by a guide, starting with the ingredients (malted barley) and finishing with the maturation process.

I didn’t really enjoy the beginning of the tour. There are not many things to see until the fermentation process where the guide explains the why and how they distill their whiskey three times. Last stage explained before the whiskey tasting, which is what everybody is waiting for, is the maturation process (photo below). As you see on the picture, the color of whiskeys varies. It becomes darker, and more expensive, over the years.

And finally, at the very end of the visit, there is a tasting session planned that is divided into 2 steps. First you do a comparison between Scottish (Johnny walker black label), American (Jack Daniel’s) and Irish Jameson whiskeys. The main difference between them is how many times they are distilled. The Jameson whiskey has a sweet vanilla flavor while the Scottish one has a little wooded flavor and Jack Daniel’s is just good to drink with coke…

After that your ticket provides you either a glass of Jameson Ginger & Lime or a glass of neat Jameson Whiskey that you can drink in the bar area upstairs. You can also print an “official” Jameson whiskey taster certificate.

That’s all for me. To sum up, I mostly enjoyed this visit for the tasting session, but still I would recommend it if you’re here in Dublin for more than a week end.

As usual, more pictures here!

Cheers! Antonin