Bushmills Irish Whiskey
Written by Brian Donnelly
May 24, 2023
Overview
Bushmills is the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery. King James granted the original license to distill on April 20, 1608. The brand specializes in two styles of whiskey: unpeated Irish Single Malt and Blended Irish Whiskey, with a high proportion of single malt whiskey in the final blend, unique for the Irish whiskey category. The distillery is located in Bushmills in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the River Bush, where the mills initially processed the grain to make whiskey. The water from the River Bush is still used to distill and proof down the whiskey. This river is filtered through the volcanic bedrock and flows from the village of Bushmills to the world-famous Giant’s Causeway. Single Malt whiskey forms the backbone for all expressions of Bushmills. All their Single Malt whiskey is triple-distilled in traditional Irish copper pot, and the proprietary design has been the brand’s logo for three centuries. All barley is 100 % sourced from the Island of Ireland, and all Bourbon barrels are sourced from Kelvin Cooperage.
““We are not the best because we are the oldest, we are the oldest because we are the best.””
History
On April 20, 1608, King James I granted Sir Thomas Philips, a landowner and governor of this district of Ireland, a license to distill in the Bushmills area. Distilling was already widespread in the area but until then was a clandestine, illicit practice, a favorite pastime of small farmers. Hugh Anderson registered the Old Bushmills Distillery and the Pot Still became its registered trademark in 1784.
In the 1850s, the Crown imposed a tax on those distilling in Ireland through a tax on barley. Even then, malted barley was known to make the finest whiskey, known as “pure malt” whiskey. The tax forever changed Irish whiskey, as distilleries began trading barley for corn or other grains. Irish blended whiskey was born, and Irish single malt fell out of favor.
On November 25, 1885, a disastrous fire destroyed The Old Bushmills Distillery, but its whiskey was in such high demand that it was soon rebuilt and back in full production. Electricity was instilled in the new state of the art distillery. At the turn of the 19th Century, the brand had become so popular, the distillery had to commission its very own steamship, the SS Bushmills, to deliver whiskey across the world. Fun fact, the square-shaped bottle was engineered in the late 1800s to fit more bottles in a case when shipping to the United States.
In 1923, the distillery was bought by a Belfast based wine and spirit merchant, named Samuel Wilson Boyd, who set up the distillery for expansion. Boyd anticipated the end of US prohibition and geared Bushmills up for success, ensuring that there were stocks of mature whiskey ready for export when the time was right. This expansion was brought to a hold during WWII (1939-1945), and the distillery was used to house Allied troops, and the archives of the Belfast Bushmills Hill Street Headquarters was destroyed in the ensuing fire following a German bombing.
With the decline in the Irish whiskey category in the 1960s, John Powers & Sons, John Jameson and Cork Distillers Company merged to form Irish Distillers Ltd. (IDL) in 1966. In the early 1970s, the IDL began to consolidate production of all its whiskey brands into one new colossal whiskey distillery in Midleton, County Cork. The Bushmills distillery came under their ownership and control in 1972. In 2008, Bushmills celebrated the 400 the anniversary of the 1608 license to distil and announced a landmark agreement with the Bank of Ireland for the Old Bushmills Distillery to feature on all new banknotes.
Bushmills Original
Bushmills Original, or white label, is the brand’s flagship expression. The original recipe has remained unchanged since 1888. This expression is unique for its high single malt content, compared to most blended Irish Whiskeys at this price point, mostly made using corn (maize). The blend is 45 % Single Malt Whiskey, using only Irish malted barley, and 55 % Grain Whiskey made from corn (maize). Next, the whiskey is matured for a minimum of 3 years with an average age of 4 years in a combination of Kentucky bourbon barrels and Spanish Oloroso sherry casks. This expression is bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV).
Bushmills Red Bush
Bushmills Red Bush is the newest product in the core lineup, first released in 2016, and is the perfect Irish whiskey for a bourbon drinker. This expression is a blend of 30 % Irish Single Malt whiskey and 70 % Irish grain whiskey, aged for 4 years exclusively in first-fill Kentucky Bourbon barrels sourced from the Kelvin Cooperage and bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV).
Bushmills Black Bush
Bushmills Black Bush offers exceptional quality for an affordable price giving drinkers tremendous value. This expression is a blend of 80 % Irish Single Malt Whiskey and 20 % Irish Grain Whiskey, matured for 8 years in a combination of 20 % Kentucky bourbon barrels and 80 % Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks, and finally bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV). This product is best remembered by the “Rule of 8s” (80 % single malt, 80 % sherry cask aging, and aged for 8 years). This whiskey is best served as a Black & Black or an Irish Stout beer and a neat pour of Bushmills Black.
Bushmills Prohibition Recipe
The Bushmills Prohibition Recipe was a limited-edition release and collaboration between the Bushmills brand and the popular Netflix show Peaky Blinders, which takes place around the time of American Prohibition after World War I. Master Distiller Colum Egan wanted to replicate a more Prohibition-era style, so this whiskey is aged exclusively in former Bourbon barrels (so no Sherry casks), non-chilled filtered, and bottled at 92 proof (46 % ABV). The label features “By Order of the Shelby Company Limited.” Whether you are a fan of Bushmills whiskey or the show, this expression is fun and delivers much value for the money.
Bushmills 10-Year-Old Single Malt
The Bushmills 10-Year-Old is the gateway expression to the brand’s Single Malt line-up. Unlike the blended expressions, which contain a proportion of lighter grain whiskey distilled from corn or wheat, their Single Malt whiskey is triple distilled in copper pot stills from 100 % Irish malted barley at a single distillery. This style of Irish whiskey changed when the British Crown imposed a tax on malted barley in the mid-1800s, causing most distilleries to switch to corn or to include unmalted barley. Bushmills continues the original process, and their Single Malts are “pure malts” with no peat or smoked malt. The 10-Year-Old expression is matured for a minimum of ten years separately in ex-Bourbon barrels, sourced from the Kelvin Cooperage in Kentucky, and Oloroso Sherry casks, before being blended and bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV). This product is the favorite of Bushmills Master Blender Helen Mulholland, Ireland’s first female Master Blender.
Bushmills 12-Year-Old Single Malt
The Bushmills 12-Year-Old expression is the newest addition to the single malt lineup and was designed to offer customers a bridge product between the 10 Year-old and 16-Year-Old expressions. This expression is triple distilled from 100 % Irish malted barley and matured for a minimum of 11 years in former sherry casks and bourbon barrels before combing and finishing for 6-9 months in Marsala wine casks, which is a fortified wine from Sicily, a large island south of the Italian Peninsula. This product is bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV).
Bushmills 16-Year-Old Single Malt
The Bushmills 16-Year-Old expression is a favorite among whiskey connoisseurs, arguably the most popular expression in the brand’s single malt collection. This expression is triple distilled from 100 % Irish malted barley and matured for up to 16 years in former Sherry casks and bourbon barrels, then those barrels are mingled together and cask-finished for 6-9 months in Ruby Port pipes and bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV). Port is a type of fortified wine from Portugal, and Ruby Port is made in a less oxidative and fresher style. Port pipes are the official name for the casks used to mature Port. They are usually a long, narrow shape and around 650 liters or 172 gallons. This expression is a whiskey of three kinds of wood; each barrel provides a different influence, complexity, texture, and finish. The bourbon barrel adds caramelization, the Sherry cask adds an almond characteristic, and the Port pipe imparts a finish with notes of dark summer fruits.
Bushmills 21-Year-Old Single Malt
The Bushmills 21-Year-Old is the pinnacle of the brand’s Single Malt portfolio. This expression is tripled-distilled from 100 % Irish malted barley, aged for a minimum of 19 years in former Bourbon barrels and Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks. Those barrels are mingled and cask-finished in Madeira wine drums for an additional two years. The final product is bottled at 80 proof (40 % ABV). If you are unfamiliar with Madeira, it is a fortified wine produced on the Portuguese island of Madeira, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the North-West coast of Africa. Like the 16-Year-Old expression, this product is a whiskey aged in three different types of barrels. The Bushmills 21-Year-Old is particularly rare because the distillery only fills 27 Madeira Drums each year, each of which is around 650 liters or 172 gallons. The Bushmills distillery can fill about 250 barrels daily to put that volume into perspective.
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