In 2013 KWA went to Ireland. Bushmills is located on Northern Ireland near the cost just around 40 km from Islay. So from Bushmills you can almost smell the peat smoke from the distilleries on Islay. But Bushmills doesn’t make whisky with peat. Bushmills whisky is a in the opposite direction, triple distilled and very smooth.
The distilling in the Bushmills area was started already at 1608. The Bushmills Distillery itself was not established until 1784 by Hugh Anderson. In these days Bushmills is own by Diageo.
When KWA visited Bushmills we have booked the “Public Tour” completed with the “Tasting Experience”. Our guides Betty took us around the distillery and tell us about the history of Bushmills and the whisky making there. The “Public Tour” ended up at the bar for a dram of Bushmills. The “Tasting Experience” was adduced by a guide named Ben. It is always so pleasant to listen to somebody how really loves his job and know how to do it, Ben is that type. The “Tasting Experience” consisted of seven drams with different Bushmills and one dram of Scotch whisky and one Bourbon whiskey. The Scotch and the Bourbon was for tasting reference. It is not so hard to understand that we were a little bit intoxicated after these tours….