JOHN JAMESON

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7452, 29 May 1911, Page 9

JOHN JAMESON

GOOD TASTE AND COMMON SENSE ' PREVAIL AGAINST PATENT IMITATIONS. Men and women of taste and judgment take reasonable cure to-ensure that what they use shall be genuine of its kind. The connoisseur prefers—and rightly prefers—a glass of good beer to the most ingenious imitation of hock or moselle prepared by the synthetic process of a clever German chemist. The three francdinner offered by some Paris restaurants, with coffee and champagne included, is doubtless a marvel. But the cosmopolitan who knows his Paris well would rather have plain coffee and rolls, good .of their kind, for a few sous at a cremerie. There is common sense as well as good taste here. The imitation is always inferior. Often enough it is also actively harmful. This rule applies in an especial degree to whisky. During the past few years immense quantities of so-called whiskies have been sold in this country that are very different from whisky as our fathers knew it. They have the name, they have the colour, they superficially resemble the taste—but they no more possess the essential characteristics of really good whisky than the three franc dinner approaches a meal at Voisiu's or the Ritz. The old style of whisky was and is made in a pot still. The man who buys a pot still whisky, such as John. Jameson's, knows wliat he is buying. Here is a drink whoso soft, full flavour is obtained by the hereditary knowledge of a firm with over a century and a quarter of experience in the art of distillation behind it; a drink that is made from the finest raw materials —malt, barley, wheat, and oats —and from nothing else. The fuel used in making the malt comes from two of the finest pits in South Wales, because it has been found that fuel affects .flavour. The casks for the storage of tho whisky have mostly been already used to mature the finest sherries, and the ripe flavour comes from years of storage in these casks in bonded warehouses. What does the man who drinks the newer stylo of spirit, made by the patent still, obtain? One of the best known distributors of patent still spirit was asked, when giving evidence before a recent Royal Commission, to define whisky. “Whisky is an alcoholic drink made palatable by direct distillation from almost anything and anyhow," he replied. This is not, and-never has been, tho John Jameson plan. The Jamesons believe that Irish whisky should be distilled from Irish grain, and nothing else, amid those Irish influences of atmosphere and water which have for centuries given Irish spirit its reputation; that it should acquire its flavour, not by doctoring, but by a natural agoing; and that it should be made by the old pot still process. This plan is expensive and .slow. A bottle of John Jameson by the time it leaves the bonded warehouses has cost three times as much to manufacture as has one of the better brands of patent still spirit. Tho preparations of the patent still can be placed on the market as soon as made; there is no object in storing them, for they do not improve with age. No bottle of John Jameson bearing their registered label is sold retail under less than four years old; mast of it is at least seven years old. This moans that several million gallons of John Jameson have to be stored and kept for years in Dublin alone, besides extensive stocks elsewhere. John Jamosou and Son have refused To adopt the patent still method because they know that the pot still whisky is better—-a better and finer drink, better flavoured, bettor for health, belter for social intercourse. Ireland, the land of whisky connoisseurs, backs their opinion. In the Green Isle, despite tho fiercest competition, “J. J." stands supreme. Why? The Irish know how it is made, they have grown up on it, and one and all believe in it. Tho man who takes no trouble about anything naturally will not trouble even about the whiskv be drinks. lie will take tho first that is offered to him. even though it be decocted turnip juice. The man ivho wishes to do justice to himself and his friends will see that he has the best. There is only one “best," “John Jameson." *