Bushmills 10 YO

Bushmills 10 year old

The iconic 10 year old Single Malt is a wonderfully honeyed whiskey, with gorgeous vanilla notes.

Bushmills 10-year-old single malt Irish whiskey is the entry level bottling in the Bushmills single malt range. It’s the youngest of a trio of bottles that celebrate everything special about this Northern Irish distillery.

Well known as being the world’s oldest whiskey distillery, it’s no surprise to hear that it’s youngest single malt is a 10-year-old single malt Irish whiskey. Most Irish distilleries, especially the new wave, offer single malts of a much younger vintage.

Old Bushmills Distillery has stood at this site in Co Antrim in Northern Ireland since it got its distilling licence in 1608. That’s a long time to pull water from the same river but St Colum’s Rill, a tributary of the Bushmills River has shown no signs of running dry just yet.

Triple distilled

Bushmills 10 years old is triple distilled and matured in bourbon and sherry casks to create an approachable and elegant whiskey in the Irish single malt whiskey category.

Its rich flavours and complex layers reflect Bushmills signature smoothness, creating rich flavours of milk chocolate, dark fruits, soft vanilla, caramel and raisin. The slightly spicy finish carries lots of toasted wood, zesty honey, ripe fruit. It’s not a hugely aromatic whiskey but does set it self apart from the blended Irish whiskey that comes in the Bushmills portfolio ahead of it – such as Bushmills original.

Award winner

It’s an amber gold colour that reflects the dark sherry element of the maturation. It has done very well at whisky awards frequently taking medals back to county Antrim’s rugged coastline.

It’s best served neat but could also take some ice which would help release the fruity aroma and distinctive light spices. It’s often used as a cocktail base, since its exceptionally smooth finish carries the bitterness of angostura bitters very well in a mixing glass.

Northern Ireland has become a leading part of the Irish whiskey renaissance and Old Bushmills has played an impressive part in that. Craft passed down from generation to generation helps bolster the heritage of Bushmills Irish whiskeys but it doesn’t rely solely on its traditional approach. It also produces fine new releases every year that celebrate the future of Irish whiskey-making in the region. Bushmills 10 is an admirable part of that.