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Old Bushmills Distillery

It feels as though there’s been a distillery at Bushmills in County Antrim forever. Indeed, it is officially the oldest whiskey distillery in the world, with a royal licence to distill granted in 1608, a number emblazoned on every bottle.

The distillery produces a triple distilled malt whiskey in a range of age statements that have traveled the world from the tiny village of Bushmills, near the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.

International Ownership

While this is a quintessential Irish whiskey brand, it is owned today by Proximo Spirits, a US drinks giant that also has Jose Cuervo in its stable. Proximo is owned by the Beckmann family from Mexico.

Back in Bushmills, the whiskey distilled here is made using water from the same tributary of the Bushmills River, Saint Columb’s Rill, that it has drawn from for over 400 years. The distillery itself though is state of the art and while it employs traditional methods in its distillation, the technology, development, and output represent some of the best in the world.

Bushmills Blends

Bushmills Original

Bushmills Original is the entry-level bottle in the range. You’ll find it in nearly every bar in Ireland and its distinctive white and gold label and the rectangular bottle is immediately recognisable to fans. Drinkers often refer to it in bars as White Bush to distinguish it from its Black Bush counterpart. It’s a triple-distilled blend of malt and grain whiskey, matured in American bourbon barrels and Spanish oloroso sherry butts. Bottled at 40%

Black Bush

Black Bush is another iconic blended Irish whiskey with a huge connection with Irish drinkers. An approachable whiskey, often referred to as Bushmills Liqueur in Irish bars, it is also blended in ex-bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. This has a significantly higher amount of malt whiskey and the majority is matured in sherry casks. The texture and flavour are much therefore much richer than the original bottling.

Bushmills Malts

There are currently five aged single malts in the collection. These are 10-, 16-, 21, 25- and 30-year-old bottles.

Bushmills 10

This is the first tier in the Bushmills single malt collection. It is matured in bourbon barrels and sherry butts and offers layers of honey, vanilla, ripe fruit and gentle wood. Bottled at 40%.

Bushmills 16

This excellent 16-year-old bottling starts in sherry and bourbon casks, just like the 10-year-old, but then gets transferred to a port pipe for an elegant finish for one year. This brings a ruby-red colour to the whiskey and lots of dark ripe fruits to the palate. Bottled at 40%.

Bushmills 21

The 21-year-old release is the first signal that something very special is happening. This decadent bottling with its 21 years in wood also benefits from a two-year finish in Madeira drums. This Portuguese wine cask imparts lots of raisin and dried fruit notes to the single malt, raising it to an elevated position within the Bushmills range. Bottled at 40%.

Bushmills 25

The 25-year-old turns the idea of a finish on its head. It receives the same traditional bourbon and sherry maturation to begin with but after six years it is transferred to port pipes for another 21 years. This incredibly rich and decadent maturation is superb, delivering an entirely new experience to the Bushmills drinker. You’ll find almonds and cherries, blackberries and apples inhabiting your glass and all combined in a silky smooth vanilla-driven malt whiskey. Bottled at 40%.

Bushmills 30

This top-end single malt spent 14 years in oloroso and ex-bourbon before a 16-year finish in PX sherry. Pedro Ximenes is the sweetest of all the sherries and the most sought-after. It drives a rich and luscious silky element into this whiskey that celebrates figs and nuts with lots of citrus notes among the chocolate, dates and layers of Crème Brûlée. Only 1,500 bottles of this pinnacle whiskey were released.

The Causeway Collection

The Causeway Collection is an annual release of a complete collection of specially finished single malt releases. It’s rooted in the landscape of the Giant’s Causeway, minutes from the Bushmills distillery, but with an outlook that is distinctly global.

Bushmills has created a global exclusive series of Irish whiskey that fans love and some even board planes to buy. Each release is exclusive to one country, making gathering a collection of these fine single malts an incredibly exciting endeavor for the Bushmills family and a cornerstone of their future development.

In previous releases, Australia got the 2011 Banyuls Cask, France got the 1992 Cognac cask, Portugal got the 2008 Duoro Cask while the UK got the 2001 Feuillette Cask, among many others.

Master Blender Alex Thomas launched her first causeway Collection in 2022.