August 18th, 2005
For the last year or so, I had been under the impression, thanks to a tip from a former colleague usually well-versed in such matters, that in the great divide over Irish whiskeys, Catholics supposedly drink Bushmills while Protestants prefer Jameson. But as of yesterday, it was pointed out to me that I have it reversed, since Jameson is distilled in Cork while Bushmills comes from the north. No doubt Galley readers, drinking connoisseurs all of you, can confirm this. But if true, it will be hard to switch labels.
For as the saying goes, Once you go Black Bush, you never go…
-
. . . Hindu Kush.
-
Vic,It’s true, Bushmills is Protestant whisky- nothing like coming home after the missus drags me to mass and having a snort or two of some Bushmills 10 Single MaltIt always does the trick
-
A sectarian divide over the water of life? Ach! All the more reason to stick to Scotch, or better yet, all-American bourbon. And though Jameson has been produced in Cork since 1975, the distillery was founded in Dublin during the height of the Protestant ascendancy in the capital.
-
I believe the Catholic Irish wiskey is Powers, very very harsh FYI.
-
Powers harsh?I have to disagree and I’m the one who enjoys the Bushmills 10 (I guess I should be straddling the sectarian divide- Mom is Catholic, Dad Protestant)Powers is good old slugging whisky- cheap (few books less a bottle than plain Bushmills) and smooth. It’s what my sushi chef demands I bring him… which reminds me it is Friday…For me a good marketing slogan for Powers would be “If you’re going to have more than 1, make it…..”
-
Jameson has always been my whiskey: nothing else tastes as smooth to me. And I’m from a family that is both very Irish and Protestant.Or so I thought. At a recent reunion, I asked my 86 year-old grandfather about the family’s Protestant roots. He surprised me by saying we didn’t have any. The family was originally Catholic but converted in the 1950s. So my love for Jamesons may mean that my Catholic roots remain strong. We lost the church but kept the whiskey. Hmmm, sounds like the punchline to an Irish joke …
-
I was informed by an Irish employee of Pernod Ricard (the conglomerate which owns both Jameson and Bushmills) that the Bushmills=Protestant was something he had never heard of until coming to America. He also noted the head distiller of Bushmills (at least at the time – this was a few years ago) was a Catholic.
-
"since Jameson is distilled in Cork"???POWERS is distilled in Cork. The Jameson is distilled in Dublin – and always has been.
Jorge August 19, 2005 at 12:57 am
All’s I know is Jameson is usually in a car bomb. After a few of those, of course, the memory goes the way of the buffalo. So I could be remembering it wrong.