LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2018

SPIRITS  TASTING THE IRISH

JAMESON CASKMATES IRISH WHISKEY LCBO 429258, $39.95 JAMESON IRISH WHISKEY LCBO 10157, $35.25 John Jameson started distilling whiskey in Dublin in 1780 and the brand is certainly now the best known, accounting for 70 percent of Irish whis- key sales worldwide, though Powers and Paddy are more popular in Ireland. Here in Canada, this is very probably the first Irish whiskey anyone tries, a good benchmark to start our tasting. the benchmark

M E E T OU R TA S T E R SEAN ORMSBY

After spending 10 formative years selling wine in Califor- nia, Sean joined the LCBO in 2002, and has been a Product Consultant for 12 years. Com- pleting the two-year Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Diploma gave him a deep ap- preciation of distilled spirits. He instructs tutored tastings in whisky appreciation at the Summerhill LCBO in Toronto.

A triple-distilled blend of pot-still and grain whiskeys, aged a minimum of four years, Jameson has been known to fox people in a blind tasting, some- times mistaken for a brandy. The nose is certainly more full of fruit than grain. Sean found plum, orange, pear and sweet vanilla, joined by toasted nuts and cereal when he tasted it; Shane got honey and spicy cloves. “There’s tons of fruit,” said Charlene, “orange rind and toasted marshmallow. I always think it tastes like a Ricola cough drop—round but not smooth.”     Caskmates is Jameson that has been finished in whiskey casks previ- ously seasoned with stout from Cork’s Franciscan Wells Brewery, a good example of the modern taste for novelty in the Irish whiskey industry. That sort of treatment often lends a creaminess to the spirit, but not this time. Charlene and Sean both experienced a sort of astringent grip—more a feeling than a flavour—and we all found the nose herbal, like mint or even pine. The Jameson fruit was still there, although Shane also discovered hints of dark chocolate and tropical fruit but less of the spice he enjoyed in the Jameson.

“Irish whiskey is poised to make a strong comeback, with dynamic new brands launching off the shoulders of legendary whiskeys like Jameson and Bushmills. ” Sean

36  FOOD & DRI NK SPRING 2018