How it's Made
Triple distilled whiskey like ours isn't just born smooth and balanced. It takes our carefully crafted process used over hundreds of years to get it just right. This tradition began in 1780 with the great Master Distiller John Jameson who discovered that three distillations was best for his Jameson Irish Whiskey and we continue his legacy to this day.
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The Ingredients
Believe it or not, the complex creation that is Jameson Irish Whiskey is made from 3 main ingredients: barley, maize and pure Irish water. Our water is sourced from the local Dungourney River, which flows through the grounds of the distillery and is ideal for brewing and fermentation; key to the production of our whiskey.
Malting
Malting a proportion of the barley is essential to produce the natural enzymes in the grain which will later be used in the brewing process. We malt our barley in 3 steps; Steeping, Germination and Kilning. Steeping involves soaking the barley for a number of days in water. Germination is done by laying out the barley to let it grow and produce the necessary enzymes. We then kiln dry our barley with clean hot air.
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Brewing
Milling
When we’ve got our malted and unmalted barley, we mill the grains to create a coarse flour called grist. By milling the barley and malt into a flour we gain better access to the starch and enzymes which we need later to create alcohol. The proportion of barley to malt is based on a recipe according to the Master Distiller.
Mashing
The grist is then mixed with hot water at a temperature of 63C to form a mash. It is then pumped into a large vessel called the ‘Mash Tun’ and this is where the enzymes breakdown the starch into smaller sugars. We then need to extract this sugary liquid from the mash so we filter the mash through a Mash Filter giving us a hot sweet liquid called wort.
Fermentation
The wort is pumped into giant vats called ‘washbacks’ where yeast is added and then the fermentation begins. After 60 hours, the sugar is converted into alcohol. The liquid, now called ‘wash’ contains just 8% alcohol by volume. The ‘wash’ is now ready for the next stage of the whiskey making process, distillation.
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Triple Distillation
Triple Pot Still Distillation
After the fermentation is complete the wash is then pumped to the first of our 3 copper pot stills; the Wash Still. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water so by boiling the wash at around 80°C the alcohol vapours rise out of the neck of the still and through a condenser to return back into a liquid. Under the care of the Master Distiller, this process is repeated two more times: once in the Feints Still and again in the Spirit Still until the alcohol by volume is between 80 and 85.5%.
Triple Column Still Distillation
Maize, another vital ingredient to Jameson Irish Whiskey is also milled into grist along with malted barley, mashed and fermented to create a beer containing 15% alcohol by volume. The beer is then triple distilled in our tall and sophisticated column stills producing a light, delicate and fragrant spirit that is 94.4% ABV.
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Maturation
After distillation, the 2 styles of spirit are reduced in strength to between 60-70% ABV with pure water and filled into casks. We use three different types of casks; sherry butts, bourbon barrels and port pipes (three’s our lucky number, after all), each of which are maintained by the cooper. The casks are then stored in our vast, dark and aromatic warehouse in Midleton where they rest and mature for the next few years. Each barrel loses about 2% of its volume through evaporation each year. This is called the Angel’s Share.
Marrying & Vatting
The mature whiskeys are then emptied into a huge vat and allowed to marry before being bottled. The alcohol strength is also reduced to 40% alcohol by volume, ready to be enjoyed.
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