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Whiskey Explorer: Bushmills 1608

Key Data

  1. The owner is the company that owns the whiskey brand. This may or may not be the same company that actually makes the whiskey.

  2. Only three distilleries produce whiskey at the moment: Cooley, Midleton (operated by Irish Distillers) and Bushmills. To be called Irish whiskey, the spirit must have been distilled on the island of Ireland and thus must be the product of one or more of these distilleries. A very old whiskey might have been made at a distillery that has since closed, of course.

  3. Alcohol By Volume (%). The percentage alcohol figures are those that apply in Ireland and the UK. A whiskey might be bottled at a different strength for sale in another jurisdiction. For example, whiskey must have a minimum strength of 43% to be sold in South Africa.

NameBushmills 1608
Owner1Bushmills
Distillery2Bushmills
TypeBlend
AgeNo age statement
PeatedNo
ABV346%
Chill FilteredNo
Tasting Notes

John Hansell
John Hansell

Notes

This limited edition whiskey is released to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first licence to distill whiskey issued for the Bushmills area.

The whiskey is distinguished by its use of "crystal malt", not typically used in the manufacture of whiskey. This special type of malted barley is obtained by gently roasting the germinated barleycorns while still moist, which partly crystallizes the grains and enhances the natural sweetness of the malt.

This crystal malt whiskey is blended with classic Bushmills malt whiskey matured in a combination of American oak casks and Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks. There is also a small proportion of aged grain whiskey.

Unusually for a blended whiskey, it has been bottled at a strength of 46% ABV and it has not been chill-filtered.

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