Old Bushmills Distillery

Location

Bushmills, Co. Antrim , Northern Ireland

History

The home of Irish Malt Whiskey, the Old Bushmills Distillery is the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world making whiskey since 1608. Single Malt Whiskies such as Bushmills and Black Bush are produced here and guided whiskey tours are available.

Whiskey the "uisce beatha" - water of life in Irish Gaelic has been distilled here at Bushmills since the 13th Century. But it was 1608 when the area was granted an official license by King James I to distil whiskey and has been making the finest Irish Malt Whiskey here for nearly 400 years.

Whiskies from "Old Bushmills" are renowned for their warm, distinctive taste and the art and craft of distilling them, which has been handed down for generations, can be experienced on a tour through the working distillery. The tour takes you through the processes from the water of the springs of St. Columb's Rill, the malting of Irish barley, its triple distillation in copper stills and its maturing in oak casks and of course the tour ends with a sample of one of the distillery's famous, Bushmills whiskies.

There is a close association between Irish Malt Whiskey and the Scotch Malt Whisky of our Celtic cousins but there are subtle differences. The most immediately notable is that Irish is spelt with an "e", but also in Scotland the malted barley acquires a peaty smokey character as it is dried, whereas at Bushmills the malted barley isn't smoked giving Irish Malt Whiskey a more honeyed malt flavour.

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Details

Visit Length

2hrs

Information

Leaflets: Yes Guided Tours: Yes Audio Visual: Yes Exhibition: Yes

Facilities

Restaurant: Yes Car Park: Yes Coach Park: Yes Disabled Access: Yes