The blog today is a quick review of three offerings from Jameson. Their traditional, huge selling, Irish Whiskey along with what Jameson calls Caskmates. These are the regular Jameson that get aged for a few months longer in used beer barrels. One uses old stout barrels while the other IPA barrels.
These were bought as a set but can be purchased separately as well. They seem to be available at most liquor stores, and are bottled at 80 proof in a screw top bottle. The regular Jameson sells for around $23 or so for the 750ml while the two Caskmates are a couple of dollars more.
This is a group tasting with too many people to be individually named. I took notes from everybody and made a composite review.
NOSE
Group: For the Jameson Irish Whiskey, the major theme was Citrus, grain and wood. Some also got vanilla while others thought is smelled somewhat sweet. For the IPA edition, we got the same as the regular, minus the vanilla, plus some notes of pear, pepper and caramel. The Stout edition was not as complex as the first two, everybody still got the citrus and the grain but that was about it. A couple of us got a hint of sherry.
TASTE
Group: The regular Whiskey was very smooth with cedar, tobacco and grain being the dominate flavors. This was followed by citrus, vanilla and malt. A few in the group picked up cloves as well. For the IPA, almost all of us got the same as we did on the nose, Citrus, grain, caramel, pepper, pear and wood. Others also got a nutty flavor. The Stout was sweeter than the other two with caramel and chocolate upfront. Behind that was the usual citrus and grain. Some also mentioned a red fruit type of taste a s well.
FINSH
Group: All had a least a medium finish with the IPA lasting a little longer. The IPA also had a little bit of bitterness in the finish while the Stout continued with the sweet chocolate. Surprisingly the regular Irish Whiskey didn’t seem to have much of a finish, just more of the same.
OVERALL
Group: The IPA edition was the clear favorite. It was more complex, had a longer finish and just tasted better than the other two. Second was the Jameson Irish Whiskey.
Normally I put in a numeric rating here but is just too hard with so many people and the fact that we sampled three different Whiskeys.
So I will end by stating that I am a great lover of Jameson Irish Whiskey and was somewhat skeptical about the Caskmates editions. This was the second time trying them but the first along side a bottle of Jameson. I couldn’t believe I liked the IPA over the original. While I also like the Stout, I preferred the original over it.
If you are an Irish Whiskey fan then I am sure you have tried Jameson. If you have not tried the Caskmates, I would definitely recommend them, especially the IPA edition.