Jameson Crested Ten Review


Under the recent re-branding exercise completed at Jameson, the Crested Ten has been renamed Crested. Personally I think this is a good thing, the new packaging & livery to me at least, is bold, interesting and eye catching and looks a little more polished and less staid than the old packaging. It also clears away the confusion of the age of the liquid inside, the Crested Ten name leading many to believe the 'ten' referred to the minimum age of the whiskey (myself included at one point) when in actual fact it is between 7 & 8 years old.



The brand dates back to 1963 when Jameson took full control of bottling their whiskey (until that date Jameson used to sell casks of their whiskey to bonders who would bottle it themselves and according to Jameson themselves would often water down the whiskey to increase their margins). As with all Jameson whiskey this is triple distilled but has a high proportion of pot-still whiskey in the blend (pot-still whiskey being made with a mash of malted & unmalted barley), apparently a 60% pot-still, 40% grain ratio. It is a mix of sherry cask and bourbon cask matured whiskey and is bottled at 40% abv. Check out the Jameson website to see the new branding at www.jamesonwhiskey.com/uk/ourwhiskeys/jameson-crested.



Colour:

Gold

Nose:

A hot, spicy hit of pot-still spirit, honey, clove rock & citrus peel

Palate:

Spicy & peppery on the front of the tongue, hints of menthol, ginger, red berries and lastly milk chocolate.

Finish:

Lovely & warming, the notes of ginger, sherry & chocolate linger for a long time.

Overall:

Crested Ten/Crested has long been considered a well kept secret by Jameson, not widely available outside of Ireland. At between £25 - £30 a bottle depending on vendor it is simply cracking value for money and a great introduction to pot-still whiskies. It is smooth but the extra ageing and high pot-still component with the sherry maturation add many extra layers of complexity to it over regular Jameson and for me is where the Jameson range really starts to shine. It is best enjoyed by taking a good mouthful rather than sipping to get the full range of flavours. Recommended!

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