The famous name isn't the cheap way into good Irish

Here is the shape of it. Each bottle below gets compared to its own crowd, the ten bottles the model rates closest to it on flavour. Call that crowd price "where the neighbours sit". A bottle can match its neighbours, step over them, or sit below. Across these six the pattern is almost a staircase. The one bottle that sits right on its neighbourhood is the one almost nobody asks for by name. The famous names climb. The trophy climbs furthest.

Start at the quiet end, because that is where the surprise is. Powers Gold Label runs $70. Where its neighbours sit is $68. That is about 3% over, which is close enough to call it level. Powers is the bottle people walk past on the way to the Jameson, and on the numbers this week it is the honest one. It tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg up front, then honey and pear and a dried sultana sweetness, with a baked-apple edge underneath. Rye and herbal spice carry it; there is a green, yuzu-ish lift on the finish. You are paying roughly what the model says its flavour company costs. No premium for the gold label.

Now the standard Jameson, the one everyone pictures. The litre bottle runs $77, and its neighbourhood sits at $51. That is about 54% over, the widest step of the whole range. Part of that is format, a litre rather than the usual 700mL, so there is more whiskey in the glass. But the gap is large enough that format alone does not account for it. The liquid itself is light and approachable: apple and orchard fruit, a soft sherry note, a berry sweetness somewhere between raspberry and strawberry, a touch of peel. Sherry and dried fruit lead, with a corn-and-charcoal base. Pleasant, easy, everywhere. You are paying for the everywhere.

Jameson Black Barrel is the step up in the same family, and it asks $65 against a neighbourhood of $50. About 29% over. The extra charring in the casks shows in the glass: it is richer and more charred than the standard, with butterscotch and treacle, a toasted sweetness, a thread of coconut from the wood. Corn and charcoal do more of the work here, with sherry and dried fruit behind. It is the better-made bottle of the two Jamesons, and it costs more than its neighbours by a smaller margin than the standard does. Make of that what you will.

Caskmates Stout Edition is the other Jameson here, finished in stout barrels. It lands at $73 with a neighbourhood of $50, about 26% over. The stout finish reads as chocolate and a creamy weight, a green herbal note, a little spice. Sherry and dried fruit again, with an orchard-and-cereal character underneath. It is the most distinctive of the three Jamesons on the nose, and the premium over its neighbourhood is the gentlest of the trio. If you like the idea of a beer-cask finish, this is not an unreasonable ask.

Redbreast 12 is where the range gets serious, and the price follows. It runs $124 against a neighbourhood of $84, about 49% over. This is the single-pot-still bottle the enthusiasts point to, and the glass earns some of its reputation: honeyed and silky, toffee and a toasted warmth, a maple sweetness, a soft banana note. Sherry and dried fruit all the way through. It is a genuinely good whiskey. It is also sitting well above the flavour company it keeps. You are paying for the bottle and the name as much as for the ten nearest pours.

Then the trophy. Midleton Very Rare asks $434, and the ten bottles closest to it on flavour sit at $308. That is about 41% over. The whiskey is soft and sweet, with orange and ripe pear, a dab of honey, a line of pepper to keep it from going flat. Sherry and dried fruit with an orchard-and-cereal frame. I will say the obvious thing: $434 is a lot of money, and the gap over its neighbourhood is wide even at that altitude. This is the bottle you buy for the occasion and the box, not because the price tracks the flavour. The model is not telling you it is bad. It is telling you that a good slice of that price is sitting above where comparable whiskey sits this week.

So, sorted by what you actually want. If you want the best-value pour from this distillery with no fuss, reach past the Jamesons for the Powers Gold Label; it is the one bottle here priced about where its flavour peers are, and it drinks well above its reputation. If you want the familiar Jameson flavour and the make quality matters to you, Black Barrel is the pick of the three, better built than the standard and a smaller step over its neighbours than the litre. If you specifically want a single pot still and Redbreast 12 is the name in your head, buy it knowing you are paying a real premium over its crowd for a real bottle. And if you want Midleton Very Rare, you already know; buy it for what it is, a $434 occasion bottle, and not because the shelf says the number is fair. The famous name is not the cheapest way into good Irish whiskey here. The least-famous bottle is.