Brand heritage

Jameson Irish Whiskey — From Bow Street to the World

Jameson began at the Bow Street distillery in Dublin, where Scottish-born John Jameson built one of the city’s great whiskey businesses in the late eighteenth century. The brand then lived through Irish whiskey’s dramatic collapse in the twentieth century, survived by merging with its old rivals, moved production to Midleton in County Cork, and returned under international ownership to lead a revival that made it the world’s best-known Irish whiskey.

Milestones

1780
The date Jameson uses for John Jameson’s Bow Street distillery
1966
Joins Powers and Cork Distillers to form Irish Distillers
1971
Bow Street closes; production later moves to Midleton
1988
Pernod Ricard acquires Irish Distillers

John Jameson, a Scot in Dublin

John Jameson was born in Alloa, Scotland, and moved to Dublin, where he took charge of the Bow Street distillery. He married Margaret Haig, from a well-known Scottish distilling family, and the business grew into one of the largest in the city during the nineteenth century.

The family motto, Sine Metu — without fear — still appears on the label, a small link to the founder’s era on every bottle sold today.

When Irish Whiskey Nearly Disappeared

Irish whiskey was once among the most widely drunk spirits in the world. In the early twentieth century it lost ground rapidly: American Prohibition closed a vital market, trade disputes with Britain cut off another, and blended Scotch took the international shelf space Irish producers had held.

By the middle of the century only a handful of Irish distilleries remained. Survival required cooperation between companies that had competed for generations.

Merger, Midleton and a New Beginning

In 1966 John Jameson & Son joined Powers and the Cork Distillers Company to form Irish Distillers. Bow Street closed in 1971 and production was consolidated at a new distillery built at Midleton, County Cork, which opened in 1975. The old Dublin site later reopened as a visitor experience.

The Revival Led by One Brand

Pernod Ricard acquired Irish Distillers in 1988 and made Jameson the spearhead of its international push. Over the following decades the brand grew dramatically in the United States and beyond, and its success helped fuel a broader Irish whiskey revival that has seen new distilleries open across Ireland.

Current catalogue

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