Bushmills Irish whiskey has a long and distinguished history. Since it was founded in 1790, it has been making single malt whiskey and other Irish-style booze. The distillery is based in Ireland, although its goods may be found all over the world today.
Bushmills isn’t content to rest on its laurels. Over the years, the company has sought to innovate, introducing 10-, 12-, and 17-year-aged whiskeys in 1983 and a bourbon barrel-aged whiskey in 2017 to their catalog. Its distillery is also a draw for tourists. Bushmills distillery is Northern Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction, and tourists from all over the globe have been flocking to the site in recent years.
Bushmills Irish whiskey has a rich history, and the following are interesting facts about the venerable whiskey distillery.
It’s possible that it’s the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery.
Bushmills has been brewing whiskey for more than 400 years. With pride, Bushmills displays 1608 as its foundation year on every bottle it makes today. To put its age in perspective, 1608 was 41 years after Henry VII and his six wives governed England and 12 years before that first Mayflower set sail for America. Even though Bushmills is often considered to be the oldest legal whiskey distillery in the world, it was established long ago.
In honor of Northern Ireland’s distinctive landscape, the name has been chosen.
Located on the banks of the River Bush, Bushmills Distillery is situated in the shadow of the Atlantic Ocean in Northern Ireland. For generations, Bushmills whiskey has been diluted to 80 proof using water from the river Bush. Bushmills gets its name from the distillery’s grain mills and the river Bush. Located in the bigger community of Bushmills, the distillery’s name is derived from the region’s topography.
In order to maintain its original formula, Bushmills had to pay a tax on barley.
In the 18th century, malted barley was the primary ingredient in the production of Irish whiskey. As a way to raise some extra cash from distillers while discouraging excessive alcohol use, the British government enacted the 1785 Malt Tax.
Many distilleries changed their mash budgets to include more unmalted barley to save costs rather than pay high tax fees. Corn was used by others in order to evade the tax in its entirety. Bushmills, on the other hand, had no intention of altering its methods. The company hoped that the greater cost would pay off in the long term. It is now claimed that only this distillery employs malted barley in all of its whiskeys, making it the only one in Ireland that can make this claim.
It has remained faithful to single malt whisky throughout the whole process.
Bushmills uses just barley as a grain source. The distillery solely produces single malt whiskeys, which are single distillery whiskeys that are completely made from barley. The brand’s name does not appear on any blended whiskeys, which are whiskeys manufactured from a combination of barley and other grains. Even when the Malt Tax was implemented, Bushmills was certain it wanted to continue with single malt and hasn’t deviated since.
In 1885, a fire destroyed the old distillery buildings at Bushmills, bringing tragedy. However, there is a rumor that the whiskey bottles were saved. In the late 1880s, the distillery was reconstructed on a much greater scale, and production restarted.
In 1890, Bushmills whiskey made its maiden voyage over the ocean blue.
1890 was the year the first bottles of whiskey were shipped out of Northern Ireland aboard a distillery-owned steamer, the SS Bushmills. After sailing over the Atlantic Ocean, the bounty initially made its imprint on the United States, before spreading its horizons across the globe.
For the first time in its history, Bushmills launched its Steamship Collection in 2015. There are four special-edition Irish whiskies in this range, each of which has been matured in a different spirit barrel – bourbon, sherry, port, and rum.
