Jameson is one of the most popular whiskeys brands in the world so unless you’re planning to avoid all social events, you’ll be encountering several of their whiskeys frequently. But what’s the best way to drink them? Well, I did some research (yes, you can call drinking whiskey, research) and here’s what I found:
The best ways to drink Jameson whiskeys are:
| Whiskey | Best Way to Drink |
|---|---|
| Jameson Irish Whiskey | Cocktails & Shots |
| Jameson Black Barrel | Cocktails & Shots |
| Jameson 18 Years | Neat |
| Jameson Bow Street 18 Years | Neat / With Water |
| Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition | Neat / Cocktails |
| Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition | Neat / Cocktails |
| Jameson Distiller’s Safe | Neat |
| Jameson Cooper’s Croze | Neat / With Water |
| Jameson Blender’s Dog | Neat |
Jameson whiskeys are good (for a full review of them see the article I wrote about it here) but they differ when it comes to how to drink them. In the rest of this article, I’ll go into the best way to drink each of these Jameson whiskeys in more detail.
Jameson Irish Whiskey – Cocktails & Shots
The best way to drink Jameson Irish Whiskey is in mixed drinks, cocktails and shots. This is because it’s a cheap (approximately $30) yet light and easy to drink whiskey that’s tasty, sweet and smooth.
This makes it great for shots where you want something cheap but also something pleasant and easy to drink that will go down smoothly. Often the cheaper whiskeys that are used for shots are also unpleasant. Which is usually the reason why they’re the cheaper whiskeys used for shots.
It also makes it great in mixed drinks or cocktails. Being light and clean allows it to blend well with other flavors. And the tasty, sweet and smooth Jameson character is distinctive enough that you can pick it out of your cocktail but light enough that it doesn’t dominate the whole drink.
Some of the best things to mix with Jameson are:
| Mixer | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Coca-Cola | 1 part Jameson & 2 parts Coco-Cola |
| Ginger ale / beer | 1 part Jameson & 2 parts ginger ale / beer |
| Lemonade | 1 part Jameson & 2 and a half parts lemonade |
| Irish Lemonade | 1 part Jameson, 2 parts lemonade & 2 parts ginger beer |
| Guinness | Shot of Jameson & Glass of Guinness |
Some popular whiskey cocktails that taste great with Jameson include:
- Irish coffee
- Tipperary
- The honey julep
- Hot toddy
Jameson have even created a lot of their own whiskey cocktails which you can find here
.
The reason why sipped neat is not one of the best ways to drink this whiskey is because while it’s tasty it doesn’t have that many flavors. This is due to the fact that it’s a relatively young whiskey (at least four years old but not much older than that) so it didn’t have time to become more mature and complex.
Those new to whiskey or to Jameson will certainly find it worthwhile to try this whiskey neat, but after a while you’ll probably find that its lack of complexity makes it a bit too one-dimensional and boring to be a daily sipper.
That’s why the best way to drink Jameson Irish whiskey is in mixed drinks, cocktails and shots.
Jameson Black Barrel – Cocktails & Shots
The best way to drink Jameson Black Barrel is also in mixed drinks, cocktails and shots. This is because it’s another simple and easy to drink whiskey that’s tasty, sweet and smooth.
For some it may also be a good whiskey to drink neat. This is because it has more flavors than the standard expression. (The barrels it’s aged in were charred twice so the wood is broken down even more than in regular charring. This creates more flavor compounds than usual and makes is easier for the whiskey to seep further into the wood and pick them up.)
However, it’s only slightly more interesting and many experienced whiskey drinkers will want far more complexity from their daily sipper.
On the other hand, the additional flavors do make this a higher-quality whiskey for a higher-quality cocktail or shot.
Some popular whiskey cocktails that taste great with Jameson Black Barrel include:
- Old Fashioned
- Whiskey Sour
- Fancy Free
Jameson 18 Years – Neat
There’s only one way to drink Jameson 18, and that is sipped neat. It’s aged for more than a decade longer than the standard expression, so it has far more depth and complexity. There are lots of well-integrated flavors to spend time tasting and exploring.
It’s also very expensive (about $150) so no one in their right mind would even consider drinking it in a cocktail let alone in shots. Yes, I’m a snob.
If you’re a fan of the Jameson profile you’ll love drinking the 18 neat as it’s the Jameson character, only more.
Some people are apprehensive about drinking whiskey neat in general because of the high alcohol content level. However, this whiskey is incredibly smooth, more so than the standard expression, so if you’re planning on experimenting with drinking whiskey neat, this is the whiskey to use in your test.
Jameson Bow Street 18 Years – Neat / With Water
Jameson Bow Street 18 Years is basically a cask strength version of the 18, so it’s an even more delicious and complex whiskey that needs even more time to taste and explore. Which is why it should be drunk neat.
Drinking it any other way would mean losing lots of flavors and wasting a drink that’s even more expensive (about $180).
One thing to bear in mind is that although the alcohol is well-integrated, the Bow Street 18 is still a cask strength whiskey with an ABV of over 50%. That’s why it can also be good to drink this whiskey with water so that you can dilute it if necessary to a more palatable level.
In fact, you should probably drink this whiskey both neat and with water (in that order, obviously) to see which you prefer.
Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition – Neat / Cocktails
There are two ways to drink Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition and that is both neat and in a cocktail.
It’s great to drink neat especially for those who like stout beer. That’s because it was aged in barrels that previously held stout beer, so it has both the usual light, grassy and fruity Jameson flavor profile but with creamy, chocolate, caramel and butterscotch flavors that come from the stout beer.
You could even drink it side by side with half a pint of stout, alternating between the two so you can fully appreciate what the stout barrels add to the whiskey.
It’s also great for cocktails because it’s not so complex or expensive (about $35) so you wouldn’t be wasting anything.
Two cocktails Jameson have created especially for this whiskey are:
1. Caskmates Stout, Soda & Orange
Ingredients:
- 50ml Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition
- Soda Water
- Large wedge of orange
- Ice cubes
Directions:
- Fill a high ball glass with ice cubes
- Pour in a shot of Caskmates Stout
- Fill the rest of the glass with soda water
- Stir
- Drop the orange wedge into the glass
2. Caskmates Stout Float
Ingredients:
- 1 part Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition
- 1 bottle of (chocolate if possible) stout beer
- 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
Directions:
- Add two small scoops of ice cream to a glass
- Pour Jameson Caskmates Stout on top
- Pour the stout slowly over top
Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition – Neat / Cocktails
There are also two ways to drink Jameson Caskmates IPA Edition – neat and in a cocktail.
Once again, it’s great to drink neat especially for those who like IPAs (Irish pale ale not Indian pale ale) because it’s aged in barrels that previously held IPA, so it has the usual light, grassy and fruity Jameson flavor profile with a citrus and hoppy bitterness from the IPA.
And it can be drunk side by side with an IPA for comparison. And side by side with the Stout Edition for comparison.
It’s also great for cocktails because it’s not so complex or expensive (about $35) so you wouldn’t be wasting anything.
Two cocktails Jameson have created especially for this whiskey are:
1. The Jameson IPA Shandy
Ingredients:
- 1.5 parts Jameson Caskmates IPA
- 3 parts lemonade
- 1 part club soda
- 1 lemon wedge squeezed
- Ice cubes
- Lemon twist
Direction:
- Fill a high ball glass with ice cubes
- Add Jameson Caskmates IPA
- Add lemonade
- Fill the rest of the glass with soda water
- Garnish with lemon twist
2. Spring Chick
Ingredients:
- 1.5 parts Jameson Caskmates IPA
- 0.5 parts ginger syrup
- 0.75 parts lemon juice
- 2 parts of IPA
- 2 dashes of Angostura
Directions:
- Add all the ingredients except beer to a shaker and shake
- Pour into a high ball glass
- Fill the rest of the glass with beer
- Garnish with a mint sprig
Jameson Distiller’s Safe – Neat
The way to drink Jameson Distiller’s Safe is neat despite the fact that this whiskey has about the same level of complexity as the standard expression.
That’s because this whiskey was made specifically to highlight the flavors of the distillate (that’s cut in the distiller’s safe – hence the name) which since they come from the pot still and the grains, are few and light.
You could decide that its lack of complexity makes this whiskey better for use in a cocktail or for shots, but if you want an insight into the contribution the distillate makes to a whiskeys flavor – which is the whole point of this whiskey, then you need to drink it neat.
Jameson Cooper’s Croze – Neat / With Water
Since this Jameson whiskey is meant to highlight the flavors that come from the wood (hence the name – cooper: person who makes wooden casks; croze: a tool used to make the groove for the head of the cask), it would also defeat the purpose of this whiskey if you used it for a cocktail or shots.
To achieve the goal of highlighting the flavors that come from the wood, more casks were used for the maturation of Cooper’s Croze than normal, making this one of Jameson’s more complex and flavorful whiskeys, so you’re definitely going to want to drink it neat.
However, it’s a little ethanol hot, so you may find it better to drink this whiskey with a few drops of water.
Jameson Blender’s Dog – Neat
This whiskey is designed to show the work of the master blender in ensuring that all the different flavors work well together (hence the name – dog is the blender’s tool for retrieving samples from the barrels through the bung). It too has more depth and complexity than the standard Jameson expression (although a bit less than Cooper’s Croze) and so is best drunk neat.
It is the whole point of this whiskey also.
You could of course drink Blender’s Dog in a shot or cocktail but you’re probably not going to. How do I know? It’s about $71 a bottle, that’s how I know.
All these Jameson whiskeys can be found at drizly.com here.
