Jameson Serves up a Clever and Creative Pop-up

With just a few shopping hours to go until Christmas 2019, the Jameson Black Barrel Pop-Up Experience in Dublin’s south inner city is well worth a visit, particularly if you have a whiskey lover in your life.

No ordinary pop-up, Jameson has set out an impressive set of creative credentials with this effort, offering up a carefully curated series of artistic workshops, cultural commentary and whiskey tastings, as well as a performance space.

While you can certainly buy whiskey gifts here, any which way you want them (this includes a limited-edition bottle engraving experience), the emphasis is far more on a cultural “discovery” experience.

Running since December 11th, the events focus on cultural connectivity and feature some of Ireland’s most prominent creative leaders including comedian Blindboy and spoken word performer Natalya O’Flaherty.

Additionally Jameson is facilitating local collectives, collaborators and creatives to use the space and host their own events. A master cooperage demonstration showing the sense of craftsmanship that goes into making the barrels completes the picture.

Tickets to the various events have “popped up” quite literally at a variety of locations across Dublin city throughout the month of December, which has only served to add to the “boho” feel and sense of exclusivity associated with the series.

The Jameson Visitor Centre in Bow Street in Dublin is a key attraction in the capital, contributing a sizeable proportion of the more than 600,000 tourists who pass through Irish whiskey visitor centres every year to experience first-hand the heritage behind this time-honoured spirit and hear the stories of established and emerging distilleries. The Irish Whiskey Tourism Strategy aims to treble this figure to 1.9 million visitors by 2025.

It might surprise but Irish whiskey is actually the fastest growing premium spirit in the world, with sales growing at more than 10% a year in more than 75 countries. Here in Ireland, the shift in image from it being perceived as a “dad drink” to a younger, cooler profile has been sure and steady.

The Jameson Black Barrell Pop-Up is open until 4pm on Christmas Eve, an excellent option for a seasonal toast.