Bushmills
Hrabstwo Antrim
Ireland
Owned by:
Proximo Spirits
Place in the hierarchy
The distillery in brief
Old Bushmills Distillery in County Antrim (Northern Ireland) is the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery — every bottle carries the date 1608, when King James I granted the region a royal licence to distil. Continuous tradition by the River Bush has run for over 400 years.
Unlike Midleton, Bushmills champions single malt from 100% malted barley. The malt is not dried over peat, so the spirit carries no smoke, and triple distillation in tall stills yields an exceptionally clean, fruity, light spirit. The brand is now the jewel of Proximo Spirits (owner of Jose Cuervo tequila).
The range
- Original (White Bush) and Black Bush — blends; Black Bush is a legend, 80% malt matured in Oloroso sherry casks.
- 10 / 16 / 21 YO — single malts; the 16 YO finished in port pipes, the 21 YO in madeira.
Browse it in the Bushmills catalogue.
Core bottlings
Timeline
- 1608 King James I grants Sir Thomas Phillips a licence to distil — the birth of the tradition.
- 1784 Hugh Anderson registers The Old Bushmills Distillery and introduces the pot-still emblem.
- 1885 A catastrophic fire destroys the distillery; it is rebuilt larger and with its own electricity.
- 1890 The brand buys its own steamship, the SS Bushmills, shipping whiskey to New York and Asia.
- 1920 Through Prohibition, Jimmy Thompson distils at full tilt — leaving Bushmills huge stocks when it ends.
- 2015 The brand passes to Proximo Spirits (Jose Cuervo), with a focus on the premium segment.
- 2023 The twin Causeway Distillery opens (£46m) — doubling production capacity.
