Jameson Blender's Dog

The secret behind our whiskey lies in the passion and dedication of our masterful craftsmen, our Head Distiller, Head Cooper and Head Blender. The Whiskey Makers Series celebrates them and their craft with 3 bottles - Distiller's Safe, Cooper's Croze and Blender's Dog.

Master blender Billy Leighton had a free hand to vary distillate, cask type and age for this one. Well, not an entirely free hand, because part of the skill of the blender is to ensure that the whiskey is reproducible year after year, with enough stock always available to bottle fresh batches. Billy oversaw the development of the other two whiskeys as well to ensure this would be the case. Billy wanted to demonstrate how age influences a whiskey, where the lighter floral fruity notes come from in Jameson and how these are balanced out with wood and time. Thus the Blender's Dog includes standard grain whiskey, some aged in younger refill bourbon casks, some in older virgin American oak which contribute floral and heavier charred oak notes respectively. There is also some spirit aged in sherry casks and first-fill bourbon casks, but with a different profile and a wider age range to the Cooper's Croze. A blender's dog is a cup on a chain that is lowered through a cask bunghole to extract a sample.