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Join us on a thrilling journey as we explore the four most captivating highlights that left us inspired and in awe at Jameson Distillery On Tour; the art of distillation, the legacy of Jameson, and the unforgettable experiences.
Having to choose one reason, out of many, to love the iconic Jameson Irish whiskey may feel like a man who relishes being able to choose between his mum and his wife.
Mum. Wife. Both come with different packages and expressions of love that are irreplaceable and non-interchangeable. So do Jameson’s brand qualities.
How do you choose its globally acknowledged most refined taste over the company’s humanistic employment policy?
How do you ignore the company’s knack for combining innovations with traditions, two phenomena that have proven to be parallel lines for many organisations?
How about Jameson’s brand identity, engraved boldly on every bottle as “Sine Metu”?
You do not want to choose one of these over the others; instead, you want to embrace all – and that was what we did a few days ago at the #JamesonDistilleryOnTour event in Lagos.
We not only embraced the entertainment rendezvous, we joined a few others to experience the distillery process and the story behind every glass of Jameson’s whiskey, beginning with the grains.
We bring you the four most interesting highlights of that distillery experience.
“The settings in front of us represent the various stages of our production process, and we will be interacting with them in time,” said our anchor for the day, the delectable Veronica, who warned us of the “good and bad news” of joining the distillery experience.
The Daily Grog – Putting Employees At The Heart Of The Company’s Value
Veronica warmed us into the distillery process with some news and a fascinating promise of tasing the Daily Grog at the end of the process.
“The good news is that we will taste what we produce today. The bad news is you are stuck with me till the end of the day,” she said in her crisp, silvery voice, “however, as an extra reward for your patience, you get to have a little taste of our time-honoured tradition for Jameson Distillery workers, the Daily Grog.”
The promise of tasting the time-honoured Grog seemed to have some magical effect, fuelling the participants’ anticipation.
If you maintain a list of companies with luxurious and esoteric products whose staff could only admire but not enjoy what they produce, Jameson would never be on that list.
At the end of every production shift, each worker gets a glass of the Daily Grog and if they had what was considered a ‘dirty’ job, they were allotted two glasses. There are reports that the company has one of the lowest churns in the world, employing people for a lifetime.
“If you look closely at the bottle, you will see a barrel man icon. This represents the workers and peasants who have built our whiskey from the ground up.
When we get down to it, our stories are told by the baron men,” said Veronica, adding that the company’s support for its employees included their families. “At its peak, it employed 300 people and supported hundreds of their family members throughout Dublin.”
Little wonder then that Jameson Irish Whiskey out-produced others. In the late 1880s, it was producing one million gallons of whiskey, roughly 6.5 million bottles, despite having the most gruelling production process.
By 1810, Jameson became the world’s leading whiskey producer, thanks to its consistent quality and dedication to craftsmanship.
Sine Metu – The History Of How It Started
Veronica started by taking us along the history lane to Bow Street in Dublin – where it all started two centuries ago.
Nothing illustrates how competition breeds innovation better than the story of Jameson Irish Whiskey. John Jameson set up shop in 1780 in Smithfield to join hundreds of other breweries and distilleries in bubbling Dublin.
Dublin was in the midst of a boom, and the population was growing dramatically. It was the second largest city in Britain and Ireland, behind London.
This was the market that John plunged into, armed only with his craft and an unbending will to live without fear.
Before “Sine Metu” was first engraved on the bottles of Jameson Irish Whiskey, it was first a philosophy that John lived by.
“This phrase (SIne Metu, which means ‘without fear’) defined John Jameson’s life and has defined our whiskey ever since then,” said Veronica, He saw the market, not the stiff competition and was ready to dare the competition to win the market.
Magic Number “Three”: Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher born in 1788, when John Jameson was perfecting his craft in Dublin.
There was no way he would have had any chance of a relationship with John Jameson. Despite their careers peaking at different times, one of Arthur’s quotes perfectly exemplifies John’s career as a distiller.
He was reputed to have said: “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”
John’s talent hit many targets that made him the envy of others but his genius, which no one saw, was settling for a triple distillery process.
“We have always pushed the boundaries ever since John Jameson decided to triple distil our whiskey, putting taste at the heart of all we do,” Veronica declared, with a sense of bragging right that John would have been proud of.
Willpower is one thing, the tenacity to put in the required shift is another. John had both and worked hard until he perfected his gruelling and groundbreaking triple distillery process.
John figured he could make the best whiskey by running the liquor through the distillation process greatly, instead of the common practice of distilling once or twice.
So, why not a quadruple distillation, then? He just knew that the most refined and tasteful whiskey would require triple. Stuff of genius.
The result? People loved the taste. He won the market, and gradually, most breweries and distilleries operating in Dublin faded out, leaving Jameson and a few others to continue to innovate for global dominance.
It is a fact that John did not invent the distillery process, but he exemplified how innovation can turn the ordinary into extraordinary. Triple distillation became the industry standard in Ireland and also the trademark for Irish Whiskey.
Check also Jameson Whiskey Distillation Process Unveiled: From Grain to Glass.
Innovation: How To Respond To Challenges
A tax was introduced in 1785 on the use of malted barley. To produce whiskey, you must malt barley and the malting process was taxed.
Malting is an essential step in the whiskey production process. It refers to germinating barley grains by soaking them in water and allowing them to sprout.
This germination process activates enzymes within the barley, which convert starches into fermentable sugars.
After germination, the barley is dried in a kiln to stop the germination process and preserve the sugars.
The dried malted barley, known as malt, is then ground into a coarse grist powder. The grist is mixed with hot water in mashing, which extracts the sugars from the malt.
These sugars are then fermented with yeast to produce alcohol, which is then distilled and aged to create whiskey.
Malting is a crucial step as it provides the necessary enzymes and sugars for fermentation, contributing to the flavour and character of the final whiskey product.
To reduce the impact of this tax to the barest minimum, John Jameson experimented with a mixture of malted and unmalted barley to produce his whiskey.
Unmalted barley, in the whiskey production process, refers to barley that has not undergone the malting process.
This unmalted barley adds specific characteristics to the whiskey’s flavour profile and can affect the overall character of the spirit. It can contribute to a grainy or cereal-like taste and provide a unique texture to the whiskey.
Unmalted barley also plays a role in the mashing process of whiskey production. It helps to create a suitable environment for the enzymes present in malted barley to convert starches into sugars.
The enzymes in malted barley break down the starches in both malted and unmalted barley, resulting in a mixture of fermentable sugars that yeast can convert into alcohol during fermentation.
John innovated his way to gain an advantage over the taxman, and people loved the outcome even better, to the extent that when the malt tax was later repealed, the production process was retained due to its popularity among whiskey lovers.
Conclusion:
The #JamesonDistilleryOnTour event in Lagos provided a remarkable and immersive experience that left us with a profound appreciation for the art of distillation, the enduring legacy of the Jameson Irish Whisky, and the rich history behind every glass of the world-renowned whiskey.
Just as Jameson’s brand qualities are irreplaceable and non-interchangeable, the event allowed us to embrace every facet of this iconic Irish whiskey.
From the heartwarming tradition of the Daily Grog, symbolizing the company’s genuine care for its employees, to the historical journey back to the distillery’s origins in Dublin, where fearlessness defined its founder, John Jameson.
We also witnessed the significance of triple distillation. This innovation transformed an industry and learned how John Jameson’s inventive spirit responded to challenges like the malt tax, ultimately shaping the unique character of Jameson whiskey.
This event was a testament to the passion, dedication, and innovation that have made Jameson a beloved global brand and a true icon in the world of whiskey.
Cheers to Jameson and to a legacy that continues to inspire us all.
