Bow St (John Jameson & Son, original) Distillery — Dublin Single Malt Whisky

Bow St Distillery (originally John Jameson & Son's Bow Street Distillery) was an Irish whiskey distillery located on Bow Street in the Smithfield area of Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1780 and closed as a working distillery in 1971, with production consolidated into the new Midleton Distillery in County Cork. It was the original home of Jameson Irish Whiskey and today the site is preserved as the Jameson Distillery Bow St visitor centre.

History

The Bow Street distillery was established in 1780. John Jameson, who managed the operation, took full ownership in 1805 and expanded it significantly; by 1810 it was formally known as "John Jameson & Son's Bow Street Distillery." Under successive generations of the Jameson family it grew into one of the largest distilleries in Ireland, and by 1886 the site covered more than five acres and functioned as a largely self-contained industrial complex with its own smithy, cooperage, sawmills, and engineering, carpentry, painting and coppersmith workshops. Water was drawn from two deep wells, and the still house held four spirit stills and two wash stills, each with a capacity of around 24,000 gallons (109,000 litres), heated by both direct fire and steam coils.

Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries Jameson was one of the "Big Four" Dublin whiskey firms and Bow Street whiskey was exported worldwide. The 20th century brought sustained pressure on the Irish whiskey industry from American Prohibition, the Anglo-Irish trade war, and growing competition from Scotch blended whisky, which together sharply reduced output and export markets. In response, Jameson merged with fellow Dublin distiller John Power & Son and Cork Distillers Company in 1966 to form Irish Distillers Group, consolidating production.

Quick Facts

• Region: Dublin, Ireland
• Founded: 1780
• Owner: Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard (site); historically John Jameson & Son
• Status: Closed
• Stills: 4 spirit stills and 2 wash stills (pot stills, historic)

Closure & Legacy

Whiskey production at Bow Street ceased in 1971 as Irish Distillers Group moved all distilling to the newly built Midleton Distillery in County Cork, which could produce the various pot still, malt and grain whiskeys needed for the Jameson, Powers and Paddy brands far more efficiently than the old Dublin sites. The Bow Street buildings remained in Irish Distillers' hands and, after restoration, reopened to the public as the Old Jameson Distillery visitor centre in 1997. Following a further renovation completed in 2016, it now operates as the Jameson Distillery Bow St, offering tours, tastings, a bar and a working maturation warehouse where Jameson 18 Year Old is finished before bottling at cask strength. Original Bow Street-era Jameson bottlings, distilled before 1971, are now rare and sought after by collectors as artefacts of Dublin's historic pot still whiskey trade.