“We are determined to make our whisky, so far as quality is concerned, of such a standard that nothing in the market shall come before it.” - Alexander Walker

Johnnie Walker is one of the most recognized and most widely distributed Scotch whisky brands in the world. Originally sold by John Walker in 1820 at his grocery store under the name Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky, it was not until his death in 1857 when his son Alexander Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II made the brand popular.

In 1906-1909 under the control of John's grandson Alexander II and his other grandson George Paterson Walker the brand expanded and obtained its current name and look.

Alexander Walker had previously introduced the signature square bottle and the angled label in 1870 but it was Alexander II and George who introduced the coloured labels and in 1908 the managing director James Stevenson suggested renaming the brand from Walker's Kilmarnock to Johnnie Walker. This was also the time when the iconic Striding Man figure, designed by Tom Browne and modelled after the founder John Walker, was introduced as the Johnnie Walker logo.

The review of Jameson Irish Whiskey this week is a special one because instead of one review you will get to read two reviews written by me and our guest writer Esteban Fontsworth. On top of that at the end of my review I’ve written a short comparison between oxidised Jameson and fresh Jameson. Some of you may wonder what it means for a spirit to be oxidised but read on and all shall be revealed.

History

Scot John Jameson moved to Dublin in the 1770's and went on to found one of Ireland’s first legal distilleries in 1780. He went on to acquire more distilleries and was once able to claim he had more than one million gallons of whiskey aging in Dublin.

The Jameson bottle is made of green glass, which is quite apt for an Irish whiskey. The label sports the Jameson family crest that says Sine Metu, which is Latin and means "without fear." This crest was awarded by the monarchy to John Jameson’s forefathers for capturing pirate ships on the west coast of Scotland. Sine Metu is seen on all Jameson bottles today.

One other thing that I found interesting is the code JQ-058548, which appears to be on every Jameson bottle I've seen. So far I've not found any information about this mysterious number but should you know anything about it please post about it in the forums or contact me using the contact form.