Jameson: Caskmates Stout Edition (Irish Blended Whiskey: 40% ABV)
Visual: Moderate gold color with fast thick streaks from the spirit.
Nose: Creamy. Menthol. Noticeable alcohol. Soft lime. Coffee notes. Dried apricot. Brown sugar. Aniseed. Water adds dry honey.
Body: Creamy. Lime jelly. Milky chocolate. Alcohol tingle. Baileys. Aniseed. Water adds vanilla custard. Apricot. More chocolate and baileys. More creamy.
Finish: Milky chocolate and milky coffee. Lime jelly. Shortbread. Light oak. Water adds slight cardboard. Bitter cocoa. Chocolate bourbons. Menthol.
Conclusion: Stout aged whiskey? It had to happen eventually. Stout just makes sense for giving complementary flavours – much more sense in my opinion than the hoppier beers that have already been tried. So how well does it work in this case?
Not bad actually. It is pretty creamy, though with a few rougher alcohol elements, especially when taken neat. While the stout elements, especially chocolate, come through clearly, it dominates the whiskey less than you might expect. You get the chocolate, some small amount of coffee and a big dose of creamy Baileys like character. There is a tingle of fruity Jameson’s spirit character below, but the main kick of that is waiting for water to be added to it can come out better. Instead at this point it has a light aniseed like character that prickles around the edges in a spicy way.
Water changes things around quite a bit. It soothes the alcohol, though at the cost of bringing out some cardboard like grain spirit notes at the very back. However as a trade off for that it does bring up the notes from the base Jamesons. Now the cream chocolate notes come out around soft lime, vanilla custard and apricot that create a much more rewarding and complex experience. The apricot especially booms. Then soothes into a chocolate and shortbread finish.
So, stout aging works well, very will in fact. The base spirit has some rough notes, even with water, and some of the more off notes of blended whisky comes through with water. But those are small elements and generally I was impressed by it. As time goes on a menthol freshness comes out around the whole thing, unexpected, mouth tingling and refreshes from the heavier chocolate notes.
Not super refined, but very good flavor for a very good price and definitely shows that stout aging whiskey is something worth investing time in.
Background: This sample was a gift from a friend from work – thanks Matt! He also did the photo of his bottle so I had something to go here, so double thanks. Anyway, the naming is pretty self explanatory. Jameson’s gave whiskey casks to the Franciscan Well brewery which stored stout in it. This cask was then given back to Jamerson who aged whiskey in it. Makes sense right? I’ve run into IPA aged whiskey before but this is my first encounter with stout aged ones. Put on some Miracle Of Sound while drinking this. I would claim it is because both of them are from Ireland, but really I just love his music. It’s awesome.
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