Thursday, August 18, 2005

For the last year or so, I had been under the impression, thanks to a tip from a former colleague usually well-versed in such matters, that in the great divide over Irish whiskeys, Catholics supposedly drink Bushmills while Protestants prefer Jameson. But as of yesterday, it was pointed out to me that I have it reversed, since Jameson is distilled in Cork while Bushmills comes from the north. No doubt Galley readers, drinking connoisseurs all of you, can confirm this. But if true, it will be hard to switch labels.

For as the saying goes, Once you go Black Bush, you never go...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

. . . Hindu Kush.

Jorge said...

All's I know is Jameson is usually in a car bomb. After a few of those, of course, the memory goes the way of the buffalo. So I could be remembering it wrong.

Anonymous said...

Vic,

It's true, Bushmills is Protestant whisky- nothing like coming home after the missus drags me to mass and having a snort or two of some Bushmills 10 Single Malt

It always does the trick

Anonymous said...

I believe the Catholic Irish wiskey is Powers, very very harsh FYI.

Anonymous said...

Powers harsh?

I have to disagree and I'm the one who enjoys the Bushmills 10 (I guess I should be straddling the sectarian divide- Mom is Catholic, Dad Protestant)

Powers is good old slugging whisky- cheap (few books less a bottle than plain Bushmills) and smooth. It's what my sushi chef demands I bring him... which reminds me it is Friday...

For me a good marketing slogan for Powers would be "If you're going to have more than 1, make it....."

Anonymous said...

Jameson has always been my whiskey: nothing else tastes as smooth to me. And I'm from a family that is both very Irish and Protestant.

Or so I thought. At a recent reunion, I asked my 86 year-old grandfather about the family's Protestant roots. He surprised me by saying we didn't have any. The family was originally Catholic but converted in the 1950s.

So my love for Jamesons may mean that my Catholic roots remain strong. We lost the church but kept the whiskey.

Hmmm, sounds like the punchline to an Irish joke ...

C. Van Carter said...

I was informed by an Irish employee of Pernod Ricard (the conglomerate which owns both Jameson and Bushmills) that the Bushmills=Protestant was something he had never heard of until coming to America. He also noted the head distiller of Bushmills (at least at the time - this was a few years ago) was a Catholic.

Anonymous said...

Great, so Pernod Ricard owns both Catholic Jameson AND Prod Bushmills?

So what's a sectarian simpleton to do now, check into the sectarian lineage of Pernod Ricard?

What if they're atheist?

And what would Jesus drink?

Anonymous said...

As someone who lives (and has done all my life) in Belfast N.Ireland, I've never heard such bullshit before. For a start Prodestants and Catholics live both north and south of the border.

Anyway religion in North/South of Ireland has very little to do with what people drink (with the exception of the wine in the communion cup) - otherwise I'd imagine it'd be very easy to pick cath's and prod's out in the bars of B'fast - in reality you can't!

Personally I drink Bushmills cause I like the taste over all other whiskeys I've tried. And I drink Guinness too cause it's the best stout and tastes better than beer,ale and bitter.

Anyone know what relgion that makes me???

Anonymous said...

Your nationality is drunkard and therefore a citizen of the world. Just ask Rick.

matthk said...

"since Jameson is distilled in Cork"???
POWERS is distilled in Cork. The Jameson is distilled in Dublin - and always has been.