Jameson Review

I have a good buddy who is Irish. I don't mean once a year St Paddy's Irish, I mean he was actually born in Belfast. Given his heritage and accent, when we are out it's rather common for someone to get the bright idea we should all drink a round of car bombs. For the uninitiated, a car bomb is an obnoxious drink that starts as half a pint of Guinness in which you drop a shot glass of 50/50 Jameson and Bailey's Irish Cream. The idea being you have to slam the whole thing before the Bailey's starts to curdle. The irony here is it's a completely American concept - if you went to Ireland and asked for one you'd probably get kicked considering the culturally insensitive name. But alas, that's Americans for you so I am intimately familiar with Jameson and yet entirely unfamiliar with it outside of that format.

Irish Whiskey; No Age Statement; 40% ABV

Nose: Pretty flat, some light sweet flavors, raw ethanol alcohol / paint thinner or some other kind of industrial cleaner. There is a little bit of citrus fruit down in there somewhere.

Taste: Again pretty flat and bland. Some malty cereal flavors come through and some more citrus / red fruit. The finish is the best part as there is a touch of honey sweetness and the malty grain flavors get a touch more rich - kind of like honey nut cheerios. There is minimal heat as expected for 80 proof. 

Thoughts: I wasn't expecting much and it didn't overdeliver. For my money, Redbreast is the only Irish Whiskey that's ever worth a second buy. 

Rating: D+

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.