Billy Leighton on the heritage of Jameson Bow Street

Billy Leighton joined Irish Distillers as a trainee accountant in 1976. He’s now the company’s master blender and recently saw the re-opening of Jameson’s spiritual home in Dublin.

Billy Leighton joined Irish Distillers in 1976

“A lot of people just wanted to come to the home of Jameson,” said Billy Leighton, master blender at Irish Distillers.

The Irish Distillers veteran was talking at the launch of Jameson Bow Street 18 Cask Strength, the brand’s first internationally available cask strength expression. The expression also marks a return of the whiskey making process to the Bow Street site, the original home of Jameson.

“We had never done a Jameson cask strength offering before,” Leighton said. ”Then what happened was that we started refurbishing our Bow Street site and we wanted the visitors to have a bit more of a hands-on experience to the whiskey production, rather than just looking at things that weren’t actually working.”

This is where the inspiration behind Jameson Bow Street 18 came, with the whiskey used in the expression ageing for six months in a maturation warehouse at Bow Street.

Leighton said: “To actually come into a live maturation warehouse was a great addition to the visitor experience.”

The Jameson Bow Street refurbishment was completed last year and in its first year since opening, the visitor centre was named the world’s most visited whiskey visitor experience.

The idea to reopen the historical distillery as a visitor centre came after the brand experienced a rising demand from customers who wanted to be able to visit the home of Jameson whiskey.

“There’s so much history and heritage in the buildings here,” said Leighton. “As the name of Jameson grew in the marketplace, we became a worldwide brand. Then the interest exploded and a lot of people just wanted to come to the home of Jameson.”

Family connections

Upon its launch, Jameson Bow Street 18 Years Cask Strength was something the brand had never done before, but the team that developed it had to ensure that it remained “unmistakably Jameson”.

Leighton said: “The worry for me is what if people can’t recognise this as a Jameson product? If it is outside of the style of Jameson, that’s important.

“There has to be a Jameson family connection, from Original right through to Bow Street 18.”

As the Pernod Ricard-owned brand launched its newest product, Leighton said the wider Irish Distillers portfolio is looking at pushing the boundaries of Irish whiskey.

Method and Madness launched an expression finished in chestnut casks

Leighton said: “At our micro-distillery in Middleton, Brian [Nation, head distiller] is able to use different cereal types for his new make production, and that’s one area I thought we were very blinkered at one time. The scope has really widened out, still staying within the boundaries of the whisky regulations.”

Irish distillers recently expanded the portfolio of its Method and Madness range, a series of whiskeys Leighton said has been pushing the boundaries of Irish whiskey.

“With the Method and Madness brand we took a chance and we took the Irish whiskey regulations at their word,” explained Leighton. “We matured some whiskey in chestnut casks rather than oak, because while the Scotch regulations specify oak the Irish regulations only specify wooden casks, such as oak.”

As well as Jameson and Method and Madness, the Irish distillers portfolio includes brands such as Redbreast, Yellow Spot and Powers, and it’s working across this portfolio of marques that Leighton said he finds the most enjoyable.

As master blender at Irish Distillers, Leighton has the chance to work across some of the biggest brands in Irish whiskey.

“The brands all have their own style,” said Leighton. “Even though we’re working with the product of one distillery, there’s all these different styles and that’s what I enjoy.”