Blended Irish Whiskeys

In 1878, Dublin distillers John Jameson, William Jameson, George Roe and John Power joined forces to campaign for a strict legal definition of whiskey, a definition that would exclude anything that poured from a Coffey still. It was a style of whiskey that could be mixed with malt or pot still whiskey to make it lighter and more approachable. Most of all, it could be produced a lot faster… and cheaper.

The Dublin distillers weren’t successful and about 100 years later blended whiskey represented the vast majority whiskey being bottled on the island of Ireland. Thankfully, Irish malt and pot still is something that blends very well – witness the popularity of the nation’s largest selling whiskey, Jameson.