Sine Metu

So Tasty

Today Kayla, Montana, and I took a bus out to Midleton for 'The Jameson Experience,' also known as a tour of the old Jameson Whiskey Distillery.  When we first got there we just had some lunch at their restaurant.  I got a delicious chicken and bacon pie which was perfect for the chilly day we were having.

Then we gathered for the tour.  It started off with a video about the founding of Jameson.  I almost laughed through the whole thing because some of it seemed so ridiculous.  I will say this, the people at Jameson seem very proud to work there as this video portrayed the founding of Jameson as we would the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Yard Where Barley was Bought

The tour was pretty interesting as most of the historical buildings had been restored.  Since I knew next to nothing about how whiskey was made, I learned a lot.  It became very clear that the Irish were quite proud of the fact that their whiskey is distilled three times while it's only distilled twice in Scotland, and us silly Americans only distill it once.  Jameson is also aged longer than most as in Ireland it's only required that it be aged for three years and they do a minimum of five.

Me and a Not-Quite-Scale Replica of the Largest Pot Still

Lights to Show Whiskey Before it's Aged, After 3 Years, 5 Years, 12 Years, and 18 Years

Some other random things I learned on our tour:

1. Whiskey changes color as it gets older, this is partly helped by the tannins in the oak casks.
2. Jameson imports some of its casks from other alcohol companies as they like adding the taste of those alcohols to their whiskey.
3. Barley is combustible (so lots of windows had to be put into the malting area).
4. The tiles used for the malting process were so heavy that iron rods had to be run through the building to support it.
5. Barley had to be bought en masse.
6. The Jameson Distillery would be perfect for a horror movie what with the creepy mannequins and old, rusting tools and machinery.
7. Jameson puts its name on almost every product it can (but still not quite as many as Swarthmore).
8. Workers who participated in the malting process had to wear special boots to protect their feet.
9. Jameson has the largest pot still in the world (the building was actually built around it).
10. Whiskey used to be proofed by mixing it with gun powder.  If nothing happened it wasn't strong enough.  If there was a steady blue flame that was perfect.  If there was a loud bang then it was too strong to sell (but this meant workers got to take it home for free).
11. The current head distiller was born at the distillery in the distillers 22 room "cottage" as his father was the master distiller before him.
12. Jameson's motto is "Sine Metu" or "Without Fear" which I'm not sure is a good motto to accompany whiskey...