Jan. 13--When did everything get so complicated? It used to be that when Oreo referred to a sandwich cookie, it consisted of two chocolate wafers with a sweet cream filling in between. Now there are 59 Oreo products including everything from pie crusts to ice cream cones. A Mountain Dew was a citrus-flavored soft drink. Now there are 10 Mountain Dew beverages, including energy drinks and the berry-flavored Black Label. And when it comes to Irish whiskey, there are now eight whiskeys bearing the Jameson name.
It isn't unusual for distillers to offer the same whiskey aged for different time periods. But Jameson is taking a different approach. Take Jameson Black Barrel and Caskmates, which are two of its more recent releases. Black Barrel is a whiskey that's a blend of pot still and grain whiskey that's matured in a mixture of sherry casks and bourbon barrels. Caskmates is Jameson that's finished in barrels that originally contained Jameson before aging a stout from Franciscan Well Brewery in Cork, Ireland.
"The idea was to keep them familiar while playing around with different variables and characteristics so that we can appeal to people who have different desires or that fit different occasions," Dave Quinn, Jameson's head of whiskey science. "Some want something light, fragrant and fruity while others want a whiskey with a more robust, complex flavor."
Jameson, Quinn says, wants to be innovative, while, at the same time, keeping each of the whiskeys it produces in line with traditional Irish whiskeys. That actually gives it rather broad license, since Irish whiskeys range from the toffee and banana bread notes in Redbreast to the bright green apple, vanilla and nutmeg notes found in Yellow Spot.
While line extension isn't unique to Jameson (or Jameson's parent company French liquor giant Pernod Ricard's Irish Distillers), what is unique is the consistency of the Jameson whiskeys. Each is balanced, relatively light, with fruity, red apple notes. At the same time, each has unique elements. Black Barrel, for instance, is made from a different whiskey blend, with some of the whiskey aged in used bourbon barrels. The result is a whiskey that has a more pronounced dried fruit and fudge notes. Caskmates, despite being the same whiskey found in the original Jameson, has a thicker mouthfeel, with more chocolate, vanilla and coffee notes than traditional Jameson.
The newest Jameson whiskeys aren't likely to make you dramatically rethink what Jameson is. But that's OK. They're well worth a taste.
Zak Stambor is a freelance writer.
