wcw JANUARY 2024

travel feature
Exploring, sampling and mixing
Irish Whiskey
Uisce Beatha - “The water of Life” - is growing in popularity and variations
Bow St. Distillery tasting experience.
Roe & Co. Distillery floor.
In the Emerald Isle, it’s spelled
with the “e” near the end. Whisky
(no e) refers to Scottish, Canadian,
or Japanese grain spirits.
Whiskey (with an e) refers to
grain spirits distilled in Ireland
and the United States.
The word whiskey comes from the
Irish uisce beatha, meaning “water of
life.” Irish whiskey was once the most
popular spirit in the world, but its history
can be similar at times to its nation’s
history with its upheavals and
economic ups and downs.
But the Irish Republic is thriving now
and so is its whiskey and distillery
trade. There are over 32 distilleries, not
to be confused with breweries who are
also experiencing growth, in Ireland.
Smart tourism has created the Irish
Whiskey Trail - an easy to follow guide
to the distilleries across the country.
The only thing they haven’t worked
out is how you drive to distilleries,
sample a bunch, then hit the road
to the next distillery. We should have
such problems.
Opting instead to decamp in Dublin
and visit two distilleries, we could
pace ourselves with one visit per day
(recommended). Choosing was another
fun challenge, but we opted
for the oldest, most well known and
traditional one and that is Jameson
(which the Irish pronounce as if the
first syllable is ‘jam’- like what you
spread on toast).
Founder John Jameson began to
manage the distillery that belonged
to his wife’s family in Dublin’s Bow
Street in 1786. In 1805, he bought it
outright, and five years later, he and
his son of the same name officially
founded the John Jameson and Son
Irish Whiskey company.
Jameson would become the world’s
number one whiskey, and the distillery
was producing one million gallons every
year. To cope with that scale of production,
the distillery expanded significantly
under Jameson’s ownership.
By the late 19th century, it had spread
over five acres, with underground storage
facilities to allow the beverage to
mature properly. The distillery was
nicknamed as a ‘city within a city.’
They no longer make their version of
the water of life in Dublin. That’s now
in Midletown, south of Dublin (which
you can also visit and have a beautiful
road trip as well). But a visit to their
original distillery allows you to learn
about the old and the new in terms
of their popular brands. (In the U.S.,
Jameson Black Barrel, Blended and
Redbreast are popular brands.)
They do this through a variety of tours
varying from 45 to 90 minutes and
with different themes. We went for
the Bow Street Experience, a briskpaced
tour with a knowledgeable
guide, a tasting session, and a free
drink at the end. You also get to walk
through the old building and see how
the whiskey was produced back in the
day. Their 90-minute blending class
goes in depth and you actually make
your own whiskey blend.
In our tour we experienced a flight of
their whiskeys and the guide gives
you tips to savor it to get more out of
the whiskey. Our group had a smattering
of Americans, some Germans
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26 WEST COAST WOMAN JANUARY 2024