Cheers to all the excellent Coopers out there!

Back in the late 1700’s Ireland, there was one powerful distilling family in two branches — the Haigs and the Steins. John Jameson was originally from Scotland, but married into the Haig family and moved to Dublin in 1777 where he was put in charge of the new Bow Street Distillery which was founded in 1780. After working hard for years, he eventually acquired the entire operation in 1810, and the Jameson & Son Distillery Company was born. Since then Jameson has become the most recognizable and best-selling Irish Whiskey in the world with a wide-ranging product line delivering over 56 million bottles of golden Irish nectar each year.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again… when the Whiskey-drinking world thinks of Irish Whiskey, they think of Jameson’s. It’s not only the largest selling brand of liquid Irish culture, it is the standard by which all others are measured.

And we'll say this, too. We always speak of Master Distillers, but it takes a damn good Cooper to make a damn good Whiskey. For those not familiar: Coopers are masters at selecting, repairing and maintaining the casks. At Midleton distillery, Ger Buckley is the guy in charge of all that and the Cooper's Croze, the first of the Whiskey Makers Series, celebrates his craft. Aged in virgin American oak, seasoned ex-Bourbon and ex-Iberian Sherry barrels, it focuses on the woody character these barrels are responsible for. Bottled at 86 proof, this Blended Irish Whiskey is well balanced and full bodied.