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Whiskey Explorer: Crested Ten

Key Data

  1. The owner is the company that owns the whiskey brand. This may or may not be the same company that actually makes the whiskey.

  2. Only three distilleries produce whiskey at the moment: Cooley, Midleton (operated by Irish Distillers) and Bushmills. To be called Irish whiskey, the spirit must have been distilled on the island of Ireland and thus must be the product of one or more of these distilleries. A very old whiskey might have been made at a distillery that has since closed, of course.

  3. Alcohol By Volume (%). The percentage alcohol figures are those that apply in Ireland and the UK. A whiskey might be bottled at a different strength for sale in another jurisdiction. For example, whiskey must have a minimum strength of 43% to be sold in South Africa.

NameCrested Ten
Owner1Irish Distillers
Distillery2Midleton
TypeBlend
AgeNo age statement
PeatedNo
ABV340%
Tasting Notes

Whisky Magazine

Notes

Crested Ten was introduced by Jameson in November 1963. It was the first whiskey bottled for sale in Ireland by the distiller.

Before 1963, Jameson had only supplied whiskey by the cask to retailers and bonders. Naturally this led to some variation in the consistency and quality of the Jameson product eventually tasted by the consumer. The company therefore decided to begin vatting and bottling its own whiskey. Within a decade or so it had completed the transition.

The "Crested" part of the name refers to the Jameson crest that appears on the label. This underlined the important marketing message that this was Jameson whiskey bottled by Jameson and thus of guaranteed quality.

When Crested Ten was introduced it was genuinely a vatting of whiskeys aged ten years or more. Hence the name. At some point, no doubt due to a lack of aged stock, it quietly became a younger vatting and the name lost its meaning.

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