Try Before you Buy: Whisky Samples and Miniatures

• Jameson

• “When John Jameson a Scottish businessman [2] acquired the Bow Street Distillery in 1780 it was producing about 30,000 gallons annually. By the turn of the century it was the second largest producer in Ireland and one of the largest in the world producing a million gallons annually. Dublin at the time was the epicentre of world whiskey production. It was the second most popular spirit in the world after rum, and internationally Jameson had, by 1805, become the world's number one whiskey. Today Jameson is the third largest Single Distillery Whiskey in the world. Historical events, for a time, set the company back. The temperance movement in Ireland had an enormous impact domestically but the two key events that affected Jameson internationally were the Irish war of Independence and subsequent trade war with the British which denied Jameson the export markets of the Commonwealth, and shortly thereafter, the introduction of prohibition in the United States. While Scottish brands could easily slip across the Canadian border, Jameson was excluded from its biggest market for many years. It was also a fact that the introduction of basic grain whiskey production using column stills by the Scottish blenders in the mid 1800's enabled them to produce vast amounts of almost neutral flavoured components for blending with some malt whiskey. This enabled them to create low cost blends that the Irish, still using the original Pure Pot Still technique could not compete with. This differing opinion of what a true whiskey consisted of culminated in a legal enquiry in 1908. It was a huge turning point in the history of whiskey. The Scottish blenders won the case and the blend became recognised in law as being whiskey. The Irish in general and Jameson in particular stubbornly continued with the traditional Pure Pot Still production process for many years and, to this day, a large proportion of Jameson is still composed of Pure Pot Still component. Jameson also produces a special limited edition Pure Pot Still Whiskey, Redbreast to celebrate the ancient Irish whiskey making craft. In 1966 John Jameson joined forces with their rivals the Cork Distillers company and John Powers to form the Irish Distillers Group. The new Midleton distillery built by Irish Distillers now produces most of the Irish whiskey sold in Ireland. The new facility adjoins the old one, which is now a tourist attraction.”
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  Jameson
  
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  Jameson / Round Shape / Large / Green Jug
  
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  Jameson 12 year
  
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  Jameson 12 Year Old Miniature Pot Still Irish Whiskey Miniature
  
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  Jameson 18 Year Old Blended Irish Whiskey
  
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  Jameson 2007 Rarest Vintage Reserve Blended Irish Whiskey
  
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  Jameson Crested Ten / Bot.1980s
  
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  Jameson Gold Reserve
  
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  Jameson Gold Reserve
  
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  Jameson Irish Whiskey Miniature Blended Irish Whiskey
  
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  Jameson Miniature Blended Irish Whiskey Miniature
  £2.45
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  Jameson Select Reserve Small Batch
  
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  Jameson Select Reserve Small Batch Irish Blended Whisky
  

• Jim Beam

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  Jim Beam 12 Year Old Signature Craft Sample
  £4.65
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  Jim Beam Black
  
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  Jim Beam Black Label / 8 Year Old Miniature
  
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  Jim Beam Black Label Miniature Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
  £2.80
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  Jim Beam Devil's Cut Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
  £2.95
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  Jim Beam Devils Cut
  
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  Jim Beam Double Oak Sample Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
  £4.15
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  Jim Beam Honey
  
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  Jim Beam Honey Miniature
  £2.75
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  Jim Beam Kentucky Dram Sample Blended Whisky
  £4.95
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  Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon
  
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  Jim Beam Red Stag / Black Cherry / Miniature
  £3.25
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  Jim Beam White Label Miniature Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
  £2.45
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  Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2017
  £12.99

• Johnnie Walker

• “Johnnie Walker is the story of a brand that started in a humble grocery at Scotland and became one of the best selling whisky company in the world. Johnnie Walker openend many countries to Scotch whisky: Keep walking. John Walker, born at Kilmarnock in 1805, was a shopkeeper at Kilmarnock, in Ayrshire, Scotland. He founded his grocery in 1819 with only fourteen years. John Walker managed to sell almost everything, even his own whisky, under the Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky, which was surely a single or blended malt, as blended whisky was forbidden up to 1860. In 1843, with the arrival of the railway at Kilmarnock, John and his son Alexander realize the potential of the train for their enterprise. In 1860 they decide to use squared bottles, that remains an icon of the mark, together with the slanted johnnie walker label, that is inclined 24 degrees. Having squared bottles was good because they stock in less space and there were less broken bottles. Five years later, Alexander Walker create their first blend. Each type of blend: Old Highland Whisky, Special Old Highland Whisky and Extra Special Old Highland Whisky, had its label of a different color. Alexander so renamed each bottle according to their label color in 1909. In 1908, Tom Browne, a cartoonist, created during a meal the striding man, that has become the icon of Johnnie Walker to nowadays. More expressions were introduced, in 1920, Johnnie Walker Gold Label was created and it was a special blend given only to the most successfull directors of the brand and in 1932 Johnnie Walker Swing, a blend which bottle was specially created for ships so that the bottle would swing with the movement of the waves. In 1934, King George V gave the Royal Warrant, one of the highest distinctions in the United Kingdom. In 1966 they obtained too the Queen’s Award for export achievement. In 1991, they created Johnnie Walker Premier, a blend of malt and grain whiskies with many of them from closed distilleries. In an attempt to gain the premium market they created the Johnnie Walker Blue Label, that although it is non age statement whisky, contains many old whiskies some of them from already closed distilleries. Expanding the firm, Johnnie Walker Gold Label was introduced in 1995 and Johnnie Walker Green Label in 1997, which is a blended malt. In 2008, they created the Johnnie Walker Blue Label King George V, that contained whisky from oak casks that date of the period of king George V, the one that gave the royal warrant to Johnnie Walker. Now, Johnnie Walker is part of Diageo, and they no longer blend the whisky at Kilmarnock. Also Diageo announced that they were moving what remained of the production out of Kilmarnock too.”
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  Johnnie Walker 1820 Blended Scotch Whisky
  
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  Johnnie Walker Black Label
  
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  Johnnie Walker Black Label / Bot.1970s / Large Bottle
  
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  Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old (Plastic) Miniature
  £3.15
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  Johnnie Walker Black Label Duty Free
  
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  Johnnie Walker Blue Label Sample Blended Scotch Whisky
  £11.45
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  Johnnie Walker Double Black Sample Blended Scotch Whisky
  £4.75
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  Johnnie Walker Glass Tumbler
  
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  Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky
  
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  Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 Year Old Sample Blended Whisky
  £4.95
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  Johnnie Walker Platinum Label 18 Year Old Sample Blended Scotch Whisky
  £6.95
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  Johnnie Walker Premier
  £15.45
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  Johnnie Walker Red Label
  £2.55
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  Johnnie Walker Red Label - 1950s (Small Bottle)
  
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  Johnnie Walker Red Label / Bot.1960s Blended Scotch Whisky
  
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  Johnnie Walker Red Label Miniature Blended Scotch Whisky Miniature
  £2.55
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  Johnnie Walker Swing / Bot.1980s Blended Scotch Whisky
  
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  Johnnie Walker Tumbler
  
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  Johnnie Walker's Blue Label King George V
  
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  Johnnie Walker's Gold Label
  
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  Johnnie Walker's Green Label
  
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  Johnnie Walker's Swing
  
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  Johnny Walker Double Black
  

• Jose Cuervo

• “In 1758, Antonio de Cuervo received a land grant from the King of Spain to start an agave farm in the Jalisco region of Mexico. He built a small factory on this land. In 1795, King Carlos IV gave the land grant to Cuervo's descendant, José María Guadalupe Cuervo. Carlos IV also granted the Cuervo family the first license to commercially make tequila, so they built a larger factory on the existing land. The family started packaging their wares in individual bottles in 1880. The distillery was named Fabrica La Rojeña. The tequila was exported to the United States for the first time in 1873. In 1900, José Cuervo Labastida decided to brand the tequila as José Cuervo.”
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  Jose Cuervo Especial (Gold) Tequila Miniature
  
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  Jose Cuervo Especial Gold Tequila
  
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  Jose Cuervo Especial Slammers Gift Pack
  
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  Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Platino Tequila