Jameson vs Bushmills Irish Whiskey

Having tried both last week, and coming to conclusion I liked the taste of Bushmills better; I wondered what is the difference between the two? And, I found a great bit of whiskey history from Jeffrey Morgenthaler who writes on Bartending and Mixology from Portland, Maine on his blog "Ask Your Bartender" at the link below.
"My South Side Irish Chicago Dad always told me that Jameson was the Catholic whisky and that Bushmills was the whiskey made by “the damn Protestants”. Now this character I met at the bar is trying to tell me it’s the other way around. Help! Who do I believe, the man who raised me, or some drunk I met in a bar? You can see why I am confused."
http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2010/ask-your-bartender-protestant-vs-catholic-whiskey/


I was wondering when someone would ask this question. The truth of the matter is, the age-old faux-pas of ordering Bushmills for fear of supporting English aggression and offending the Republic of Ireland is about as Irish as corned beef – which is to say, not very Irish at all but rather Irish-American (Sorry, kids, corned beef is a Jewish invention).

Anyway, both of your sources are wrong, but at least your father got the order right. The widely-accepted Irish-American version is that Jameson is Catholic whiskey and Bushmills is Protestant whiskey. But that’s merely based on geography: Bushmills is from Northern Ireland (a predominantly Protestant region) and Jameson is from Cork – Catholic country. Jameson was pretty much founded in 1780 when John Jameson – a Scottish guy – purchased the Bow Street Distillery, which at the time was one of the biggest distilleries in Ireland. Now, it’s important to note that the Scottish Reformation occurred in 1560, so odds are in favor of the founder of the Jameson distillery, being Scottish, was a damn Protestant. Bushmills, on the other hand, was officially licensed in 1608 by King James I (of Bible fame) and despite of its location deep in the heart of Protestant country (and this next bit is straight from my local Bushmills rep, so take it or leave it) has a Catholic as a master distiller. According to everyone I’ve spoken with on the subject, you only really find this debate in the States, where Irish-American support of the Republic can sometimes be blind and often fueled by the very product we’re speaking of. But none of it means much, anyway: both distilleries are owned by huge international entities: Jameson by French liquor conglomerate Pernod-Ricard, and Bushmills by the English firm Diageo. As for my preference, I tend to like the lighter Bushmills as it’s the first Irish whiskey I discovered years ago, and I’ve certainly enjoyed my share of Jameson from time to time. But my personal preference is Redbreast, a twelve-year pot still Irish whiskey produced at the Old Midleton Distillery and a real delight to sip while enjoying a late-night Irish breakfast of sausage, egg, pudding and soda bread. Delicious.

The time has come to buy the Smoking Loon Pinot Noir 2012 at its lowest price and greatest favor at your local store...

Smoking Loon Pinot Noir 2012: Affordable Wine at its best age that is Good for You!

  At $8 a bottle at my local Tom Thumb in Dallas, Texas: This is a real wine value for Texas Democratic gatherings this month....

I liked the Cheapskate Wine Review of this wine...

      "Smoking Loon, it appears, is sort of the Kevin Bacon of the wine world-you know-the game where you can get from anyone to Kevin Bacon in less than five moves. Looking into the family tree of the Smoking Loon brand, it quickly becomes apparent that, in moving up from the roots of the tree, the trunk twists and divides and vees, and the branches go out in many directions. Smoking Loon is the sibling, or half-brother, or cousin of lots of other labels. Its produced by Don Sebastiani and Sons, which also makes Pepperwood Grove, and The Crusher, which I’ve seen on shelves, and a few others I’ve not seen. The company came to be when Samuele Sebastiani, who emigrated from Tuscany to the U.S. in the late 1800′s made his way to Sonoma and started a winery making mostly bulk wine. In the 1940′s, they focused on their own name brand affordable wines. In the 1980′s, with patriarch Samuele’s grandson Don, a former California assemblyman, now at the helm, they grew into an eight million case annual behemoth through a partnership called Cecchetti-Sebastiani Cellar. That companie’s labels include Vendange, Nathanson Creek, and others, plus the Turner Road Winery. All that was sold off to what it is now Constellation, and Sebastiani again became a family owned and run winery in Sonoma. Strangely, the Sebastiani label on wines I see on Store shelves, is not part of Don Sebastiani and Sons, but is owned by Foley Family wines. Their portfolio of around 10 labels, Don and Sons lineup of around 8 names, the Turner Road names, plus their adoptive Constellation cousins make this a nearly infinite spider web of connections. Like Kevin Bacon."

   "Ok, ok., the wine….lighter in color than some, more transparent-typical of Pinot Noir. Reddish, not deep, dark violet. Also light on the tongue. Not without any tannin, but no astringency or bite. Fruity. A wine cliché, which I try like Anthrax to avoid, is “fruit-forward” but that’s the words that come to mind here. Berries. A little spiciness. Very enjoyable. Certain foods scream for Pinot Noir-Salmon, Turkey, the other white meat, grilled tuna. The Smoking Loon makes an excellent candidate. And you can connect it to Kevin Bacon in five steps."  READ MORE REVIEWS of affordable wines at Cheapskates Wine Review: http://cheapskateswineguide.wordpress.com/

National Drink Wine Day is celebrated annually on February 18 across the United States.

The purpose of National Drink Wine Day is to spread the love and health benefits of wine. Wine has played an important role in history, religion and relationships. We embrace the positive benefits of wine such as new friends, reduced risk of heart disease and the enhancement of food and life. Check out media coverage of National Drink Wine Day. Facebook at facebook.com/drinkwineday Twitter at twitter.com/drinkwineday

Ah. Nothing increases my tasting experiences as Texas Election Fund raisers... Becker Vineyards Tempranillo Reserve.

Tempranillo Wine Profile
Posted by Wine Folly : http://winefolly.com/tutorial/tempranillo-wine/


MAJOR REGIONS: Spain, Portugal, USA, Australia (hot and dry regions)

Tempranillo Characteristics
FRUIT: cherry, plum and tomato
OTHER: leather, tobacco, vanilla, and clove
OAK: Yes. Commonly 12-18 mo. in American or French Oak
TANNIN: Medium (+)
ACIDITY: Medium (-)
ABV: 13-14.5%

What Does Tempranillo Wine Taste Like?

When you first taste a Spanish Tempranillo you’ll get hit with the flavor of leather along with cherries. The finish is mild, smooth and lingers with tannin on both sides of your mouth. American and other New World Tempranillo delivers tons of cherry and tomato-sauce flavors followed by chunky tannin. Tempranillo is technically a medium-bodied wine with red fruit characteristics. If you’ve never tried Tempranillo before you’ll find it tastes similar to Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.

My first tasting was in 1972 in a Rioja Crianza from Spain in Austin, Texas. It was remarkable then... and it still remarkable in this Becker Wineyards Tempranillo Reverse from Texas. Thankfully, it does not have the taste of leather in it! It is ironic that it was recommended me by Dan Santhos of Dan's #4, which I must report today is closed, for the purpose of curing a Spanish leather wine bag for a friend at Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas. The Becker Tempranillo tasted nothing like leather, either before or after the first slip. It was a beautiful, tasty red wine. I hope you find it to be so, too.

" An Irishman, A Kentucky Colonel, and A Japanese Samurai enter a bar ... Whiskey Party!"

County Louth Cooley distillery which makes some of Ireland's best-known whiskey has been bought by the US-based Beam Inc. Cooley distillery owns and produces the Kilbeggan, Connemara, Tyrconnell and Greenore brands. Beam Inc. is one of the world's leading premium spirits companies owning brands such as Jim Beam, Maker's Mark and Canadian Club. The leading markets for Irish whiskey, according to Impact, the popular spirits, beer, and wine publication of M. Shanken Communications, Inc. are the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, South Africa and Germany.

Japanese family-owned Suntory is to buy the US Beam, the company behind the Jim Bean bourbon brand. It will make Suntory the world's third largest maker of distilled drinks. The two companies have a previous partnership whereby they distribute each other's brands in different markets. Beam's brands also include Maker's Mark bourbon, Sauza tequila, and Courvoisier cognac. Suntory is best-known for the Japanese whisky brands Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Midori liqueur and Bowmore Scotch whisky. In 2013, UK's GlaxoSmithKline sold its Lucozade and Ribena brands to Suntory.

Off the Drinking Path recommends you save a lot money and have a better time drinking Whiskey by reading: Whiskey Detectives

As in the past, I have recommended a lot of better blogs for making Wine decisions than this one.

I simply don't drink enough or in my case taste enough wines to keep up with good recommendations.
My objective was to write a general, educational blog on wine tasting, based on wines I taste at social and political functions. I hope that you find my archive of  old entries useful.

However, the other day, I find myself in a local liquor store making a poor choice of whiskey.

It is near the winter holidays and I was looking for one brand for my $20 budget and found another brand that will remain nameless for my readers. That evening I poured it for a friend, who is a much better judge of whiskey, he promptly pour it out and told me to stop drinking cheap whiskey: "Life's too short to waste it on cheap booze" was his actually phrasing.  When I explained that it was a $20 whiskey and that was not cheap, at least not to me, he told me to either stick with the brands I like and pay the going rates, buy a smaller bottle of a good brand; or finally, take up reading someone else's blog on the subject of whiskey if I was going to be serving it to him.

So, my reader, you shall profit by my mistake and my $20 will have been well spent after all.


By using my purchased brand as a Google search, I read reviews of several blogs for the same brand I had purchased. Only one blog provided what I considered a fair evaluation of what I purchased this week: Whiskey Detectives - http://whiskeydetectives.blogspot.com/

Jim Beam Jacob's Ghost White Whiskey

Frankly, I have not had many opprotunities to taste white whiskeys. In Texas and though out the South, I have read about how moon shine and white dogs are popular; but I don't like the corn taste of bourbon. Bourbon was Dad's favorite whiskey: corn mash and sweet favour was not my tastes. However, Tennessee rye has always been a unique favor treat. And this week at a private screening of Capturing Oswald here in Dallas,Texas, they were serving Jim Beam Jacob's Ghost White Whiskey. I liked it.

I have been told that Jacob's Ghost (named after 18th century Jacob Beam, the patriarch of the Beam clan) is the standard Jim Beam bourbon, made with their typical mash and distilling methods; however, this light ghost gets less than a year in charred oak barrels,and then filtered to remove both coloration and harshness. So, I found it to be an easy-drinking, young whiskey.

You still taste the sweet corn with a hint of vanilla and just a whisper of wood. On the palate, the corn sweetness continues combined with a surprisingly robust body. There's just a touch of smoke, and what some might call barrel spices on the finish.

It's definitely smoother and does not have the traditional bourbon favor of Jim Beam and Jack Daniel. I see why Jim Beam is promoting this white whiskey as a cocktail mixer like other clear spirits like gin white rum and blanco tequila. At the screening it was offered with traditional Southern Sweet Tea, a classic mixer for Boubon.

Jim Beam was only $19.99 at retail and under $15 at SPECS. If you want to try a mild, smooth, inexpensive white whiskey, this should be on your list.