Jameson The Blender's Dog

The second of the three Whiskey Makers Series bottlings to be released stateside, this one could only be a bit of a letdown after the sheer beauty of its predecessor, The Cooper's Croze. While that one was nearly a five star whiskey for me, this is a solid four. Now, that's hardly a bad thing - 4/5 ain't bad. But...it lacks the dynamism and "wow!" factor of Cooper's Croze. Gone is the playful, exuberant interplay between the various wood influences; now, the blender is the focus, and this blender is a bit more keen on making...well, a blended Irish whiskey. It's most certainly a *good* Irish blend, with a high percentage of pure pot still lending a rich, spicy fruitiness to the dram, but it loses some of the distinctiveness of its predecessor bottling in the series. If you were to set up a blind tasting with this and a few other pot still heavy blends, I don't know that I would be able to pick this out immediately. It is a worthy dram on its own, rich and fruity with a lovely touch of spice and vanilla, but for the price, I'd hope for a little more sparkle.