A voyage to Midleton Distillery in Cork County, Ireland
Distilling Tradition: A Visit to the Home of Jameson Irish Whiskey
There's a published sociologist somewhere who said integration is the key to acceptance. Maybe we're just paraphrasing Costner's journal in Dances with Wolves. Regardless of who penned it, whisk(e)y makes a convincing case for the theory. Various cultures, united by their admiration of the caramel liquid's charms, have each honed their own rituals for conjuring the spirit -- and we, the imbibing people, have reaped the benefits of these diverse forms of worship.
Irish whiskey is one tradition that many beyond the Emerald Isle scarcely know, despite the island's profound role in molding the drink into the revered male favorite it has become. But this wasn't always the case. At the height of its glory, the product of Ireland's distilleries was once the favored drink of the British empire, and its most notable ambassador, Jameson, was the world's favorite whiskey. What happened next reads like a lost Dumas manuscript, complete with revolution, religion and economic turmoil all ending in the drink's unjust imprisonment. The good news for drinkers is that after patiently biding its time for well over a century, the era of Irish whiskey's redemption is finally arriving, and it's easy to spot if you know where to look.