9/2: County Cork and Angel's Share at Jameson's Distillery!

From inland Waterford we headed southwest down to the Clipper Coast so we could reach the coastal road and part of the 2,500 km long Wild Atlantic Way, a tourism trail around much of Ireland, on the way to Kinsale on the country's south coast. If we'd chosen to go directly, the drive would only have taken a couple of hours as it was fewer than 150 kms. Fortunately, as we have a month in Ireland, time was on our side so we took a very leisurely route. We walked along the picturesque waterfront in Dungarvan, the ending point of the Waterford Greenway bicycle and walking trail we'd spent time on the previous afternoon.

I thought the sight of the boat filled with flowers just outside of Ardmore was the cat's pajamas, the bees' knees, and the be all and end all until we kept seeing them for the next couple of hours as we drove that day! There had to have been a concerted effort to encourage residents to adopt the same theme.

I had by no means grown tired of the colored doorways and gaily painted homes and shops in each town which was fortunate as they were the norm!

The sea has played an important role in Ardmore's history for centuries. With fishing providing a livelihood for countless generations, the town has always been very aware of the dangers of the seas. It was fascinating to read that Ardmore entered the rocket age long before the dawn of the space age; in 1808, an English army officer used a mortar to fire a rescue line out to a stranded vessel.

A rocket later fulfilled this function and, since the mid nineteenth century, Ardmore has had its own volunteer crew ready to fire a rocket-powered line to any ship in distress. The 'rocket crew' still runs practice exercises every quarter.

I think this was the first thatched roof cottage or home we saw in Ireland. I know they were pretty common in England from my travels there decades ago but didn't know we'd come across any also in Ireland. I've read that they are no longer a fire hazard as they once were because new fire retardant products have been adopted.

Though we'd been to many of the  distilleries on the Bourbon Trail in and around Lexington, Kentucky, on our way to and from our favorite state park in Florida over the years, we stopped at Jameson's Distillery in Midleton on the spur of the moment. On the guided tour, we learned that Jameson's, begun in 1780 in Dublin, was producing a million gallons of spirits in the late 1800s and it was being shipped to Canada, the US, South America, and Australia. 

In 1794, the first buildings constructed on this site were for a woolen mill but when it became unprofitable, it was sold in 1825 to the Murphy Brothers who converted it to a whiskey distillery. By 1867, the brothers joined forces with four Cork City distilleries to form the Cork Distillery Company. They merged with two famous Dublin distilleries, Jameson's and Powers, and shortly later production of these whiskies moved to Midleton and the newly merged company became known as Irish Distillers Ltd. 

World War I, the temperance movement including Prohibition, the unsettling political situation in Ireland, and the fact the company's  ships were commandeered for the war effort during WW II, were all factors that contributed to Jameson's hitting rock bottom in the 1960s. 

That was when they moved to Midleton in County Cork near the country's southeast coast where they had easy access to the Owenacurra River and barley fields just up the road. In addition, Jameson's decided to bottle their own whiskey to save money. In addition to barley and water, the other key ingredients making Irish whiskey are yeast, corn and malted barley.

Barley was brought to the Malting House where it was steeped in water for two days, then placed on ceiling tiles to stop further germination. The grain was then dried out in the kiln using anthracite, a smokeless fuel, before being stored in large grain stores. The difference, the guide said, between Irish whiskey and Scottish whiskey is the latter uses a peat fire in the heated kiln so the smoky odor comes though. Steven and I are planning to visit Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland on October 1st so I can update you after that how its whiskey compares to Jameson's!

The cast iron, 22 foot in diameter water wheel was used from 1852 until the 1970s as the main source of power at the distillery. The millstones, in the second photo, ground the malt and barley into a coarse flour called grist.

Once the barley and malted barley had been ground into grist, it was ready for mashing in the Brew House. After the grist was put in this mammoth vessel known as a Mash Tun, hot water was added and the mixture was stirred with large rotating rakes for seven hours to release more sugar. The resulting liquid, known as Wort, was then sent for fermentation where yeast was added to consume the sugars which produced alcohol, a three-day long process. The liquid known as Wash, contained about 10 percent alcohol by volume (20 proof) and was ready for the heart of whiskey making, distilling. Each of these vats contained a whopping 45,000 barrels of alcohol prior to its being distilled. 

The 1825 Wash Still in the Still House was the largest in the world with a capacity of 31,648 gallons. Jameson's, Powers and Paddy are unique in being distilled three times. By contrast, Scotch is distilled twice and only once in Canadian and American distilleries. After the triple distillation, the liquid must age in oak barrels for a minimum of three years to be called an Irish whisky. The resulting spirit is very pure and 168 degrees proof! 

All Jameson's whiskey is produced on site at the New Distillery, about 60 million liters capacity per year. Aspiring whisky makers or simply whisky connoisseurs could enhance their Jameson's experience by studying at the Irish Whisky Academy, located at the former's Mill Manager's House built in 1794!  

The guide explained they also have a Micro Distillery with a maximum of just five barrels a week so new types of distillation, barrels, etc can constantly be tried out. She stressed that though the five barrels may sound like a negligible number, it was necessary from a R&D point of view. Built in 2015, it also was an important training ground for new distillers.

The 100 foot tall chimney was built in 1845 to carry the smoke from the fires in the still house.

The guide took us to Warehouse A1 next where she stated the type of wood used to store the whiskey is very important in the process as it gives the liquor its color and also much of its flavor. Jameson's imports a staggering 170,000 barrels a year, both American bourbon barrels and 'butts' from Spanish sherry. The company is also beginning to look at Marsala and Jamaican rum casks. The internal surface of the 200-liter American bourbon barrels, made from oak from the Ozarks, she said, is charred to release flavors in the wood as well as to increase the surface area of the barrel. 

Cask-strength whisky is 60 percent. To bring it down to 40 percent which is what people like to drink, mineral spirits must be added. The smell in the warehouse was very aromatic - I was just glad Steven didn't have to do a breathalyzer test directly after coming out of here!

There were over 1,000 casks of maturing whiskey in the warehouse. The whiskey lost to evaporation in the barrels, known as the Angels' Share, is a costly loss for the distillery but unavoidable because the whiskey must interact with the wood and the outside atmosphere in order to mature, attain its color and also much of its taste. Many distinctly different whiskeys can be created by blending a variety of whiskey types that have matured in one of many cask types. The guide was adamant that no flash photos could be taken to protect the whiskey in the warehouse and therefore the company's huge investment. 

The best part of the tour was saved for the end where everyone on the tour had three samples laid out to try: an unbranded Scotch that had been matured in seasoned oak and had "notes of peat smoke,"; the Jameson's that had an "exceptionally smooth taste," - no bias there, of course! -  and finally an unbranded American that was described as having "sweet and perfumed notes." I admit to really enjoying the tour but the entire whiskey tasting was lost on me as I found the Scotch almost undrinkable, it was so rough on my palate. I had a sip of the Jameson's but it neither went down smoothly. I gave away my American sample to another very willing participant in the group. Give me a glass of wine any day, please!

We then entered the Jameson Bar where we were also given tokens for another free drink as if the three samples weren't already enough! Of course, the bar 'happened' to be in the gift shop so it was very handy if we'd opted to buy our own bottle of Jameson's and have it engraved with our name. We came away with another whiskey glass to add to Steven's collection from the Bourbon Trail!

Cheryl and Adam: I thought of you both seeing the Powers brand of whiskey which is also produced onsite. 

It was rather sad to find out out that Jameson's, the biggest selling whiskey in the world, is now owned by a French firm and was no longer Irish. 

It was well after 2:30 by the time we left Midleton and were on our way to Cobh, located southeast of Cork on the coast. I will leave to the next post our visit to that charming town with its sad history. 

Next post: The Queenstown Story in Cobh, the major port of Irish emigration and the final stop for the Lusitania.

Posted on September 17th, 2019, from Londonderry aka Derry in Northern Ireland.