Five Fun Facts about Jameson Irish Whiskey

You’ll probably find Jamesons in every bar and liquor store the length and breadth of America. In 2021 alone it sold over 4 million cases in the US and is the top-selling Irish Whiskey in the world. Jameson is the Irish Whiskey brand that was backed by Irish Distillers/Pernod Ricard back in the day when the Irish Whiskey industry was on its knees. And what a success it has been. There are now a handful of spin-offs to the brand including Black Barrel, The Caskmates Series (IPA & Stout editions), Cold Brew, Jameson 18 Years, the new canned Jameson, Ginger, and Lime, and the recently launched Orange.

Like so much of Irish Whiskey history, there are plenty of tales attached to Jameson Irish Whiskey and we’re sharing some of them below along with some facts to help you out at your next Trivia Night/Pub Quiz.

Fun Fact #1 - John Jameson (1740-1823) was born in the town of Alloa, near Stirling in Scotland, and lived to the ripe old age of 83.

Fun Fact #2 - In 1768 Jameson married Margaret Haig (1753-1815), daughter of the famed Scottish distiller John Haig, and the couple had 16 children - perfectly divided - eight girls and eight boys!

Fun Fact #3 - Jameson was the great-grandfather of the Italian Nobel Prize-winning inventor of the radio, Marconi. The daughter of Jameson’s fourth son, Andrew, was Marconi’s grandfather, as Andrew’s daughter Annie Jameson was Marconi’s ma!

Fun Fact #4 - Jameson bought his distillery in Bow Street in Dublin in 1780 and for many, many years Jameson Irish Whiskey was a “Dublin Whiskey.” However, Jameson has been distilled since 1971 at Midleton, Co. Cork. This happened as a result of efforts to save the Irish Whiskey industry by moving the production of all of the Irish Distillers brands at the time, to a site with room for expansion.

Fun Fact #5 - Jameson Irish Whiskey is the top-selling Irish Whiskey in the world. In 2021 it sold 8.6million cases globally with just over 4million (4.05million) of those being sold in the US.