The A-Z of Whisky by Gavin D Smith

Author:Gavin D Smith [Smith, Gavin D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cooking, Reference, Beverages, Whiskey, Encyclopedias, Wine & Spirits
ISBN: 9781906476199
Publisher: Neil Wilson Publishing
Published: 2009-04-06T23:00:00+00:00

J

jigger The name given to a measure of spirits, specifically for use in ⇒cocktails, and also to the measuring vessel itself. According to Jackson, 'Since most classic cocktails originate from the Americas, the "jigger" used in bars in the United States is a common basic measurement in recipes. A jigger contains 1½ US ounces ... '. (PBB) Chapman considers the jigger equivalent to a shot glass. (NDoAS)

The word 'jigger' is first recorded in 1824 as a slang term for an illicit distillery - 'He said Probert and two others were in the jigger at Gill's Hill' - and the term jigger stuff as a slang allusion to the product of an illicit distillery occurs in 1851: 'They carry about their persons pint bladders of "stuff or jigger stuff".' Partridge (DoHS) lists no fewer than twelve different slang senses of 'jigger', and he considers that with regard to what he terms 'a private or secret still' jigger was current from the 1820s until c.1910, while 'jigger stuff dates from c.1840 to 1900, probably having underworld origins.

Partridge notes, too, the term jigger worker (c.1840-1905), 'A vendor of illicitly distilled spirits', and also 'a drinker of whisky especially if illicitly distilled'. The past participle jiggered, with the sense of having been made from an illicit still, is said by Partridge to date from c.1880, first being recorded in 1886: 'jiggered gin'.

The modern cocktail-related use of jigger probably evolves from the occurrence of the word as an American synonym for ⇒dram in 1889, 'After giving him two small "jiggers", the civilities were brought to an end.' Three years later A.E. Lee (History of Colombus) is more specific about the size of such a jigger, writing that 'The "jigger" was a dram of less than a gill, taken [five times a day]'.

Joe Colloquial term for ⇒wash, used throughout Scotland, origins unknown.

At one time, drinking Joe from the washbacks was a popular, if illegal, activity in many distilleries, but the practice had its perils.

'Drinking Joe was fairly commonplace, three or four of the shift process guys [at Blair Athol Distillery in Pitlochry] were regulars at it. One of them was a stillman, and he was witnessed by a cleaner exiting the stillhouse with his trousers at his ankles, backfiring gas and liquid all the way across the courtyard to the toilet block. This happened quite often if you took the Joe too early, as it would continue fermenting - or even speed up - inside your body'. (Ian Millar, quoted in The Whisky Men)

juice of the barley See ⇒barley, juice of the

julep, mint See ⇒mint julep

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