Whiskeyindex - Bushmills

Bushmills

Ireland County Antrim County Antrim Located in the extreme north of Ireland in Country Antrim, just two miles from the Giant's Causeway. - Near the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ulster.

Distillery: Old Bushmills Distillery
BT57 8XH
N. Ireland
Phone +44 01265-731521
Fax +44 01265-731339
Guided tours are available all year-round. For tour hours, contact Ireland 012657 31521.
Visitors are welcome 09.00 - 12.00, 13.30 - 15.30 Monday - Thuesday., 09.00 - 11.45 Friday.

Founded: License to distill in 1608.

Owner: Pernod Ricard Group.

Producer: Old Bushmills Co.

More Info:
OLD BUSHMILLS :From the book 'The Scottish Collection' Classic Malts by Carol P. Shaw :
Old Bushmills glories in the status of the oldest licensed distillery in the world. It is though that distilling may have begun on the site as early as the thirteenth century, but the first permit was granted by James VI and I to Sir Thomas Phillipps, a local landowner, in 1608. The site was especially well suited for its purpose, standing on the banks of St Columb's Rill, or stream, which flowed over the nearby peaty ground and into the River Bush, and which still provides the distillery with its fresh water supplies today. Belying its antiquity, Old Bushmills is distinctly Victorian-Speyside in appearance - a legacy of its rebuilding and the addition of its pagoda towers after a devastating fire in 1885. Although no longer in use, the tower remain the distinctive landmark of a distinguished distillery.

The Old Bushmill's can glory with the title 'The oldest licensed distillery in the world'.
The license was granted in 1608 to Sir Thomas Phillips who were a local landowner.
It was founding as a company in 1783 but local competition of legal and illegal distillers made thecompetition hard making the Bushmills to close and re-opened several times.
It revived under the ownership of the Boyd family, but again under thesecond world war it moved inevitably from being a family concern through a succession of larger, corporate buyers until in 1972 it joined the Irish Distillers Group. Irish Distillers Group were the bought by Pernod Ricard Group at the end of the 1980's.

Rip from www.whiskypages.com
The year 1608. Shakespeare had already written Macbeth. The explorer John Smith became president ofJamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. It was an era of Milton and Galileo.And it was the year that Bushmills distillery was granted a license to distill whiskey.Today, 389 years later, the Bushmills distillery is still producing whiskey.
It is now the oldest operating licensed distillery in the world.
Records actually show that whiskey was distilled, and consumed, at the site much earlier than 1608.Sir Robert Savage, ground landlord of the town of Bushmills, was known to have fortified his troopswith "aqua vitae" (whiskey) in 1276. And the Book of Leinster mentions a feast in the town ofBushmills back in 1490 where the local spirit helped to "down the food."
It is quite remarkable that anything lasts nearly four centuries, let alone a distillery.Throughout the years it has endured fires, wars, U.S . Prohibition, and multiple owners-fromSeagram, Irish Distillers Group, and Pernod Ricard. Not only is Bushmills the world's oldest licenseddistillery, it is also the only operating whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland.
With more than a dozen active distilleries in the early 1900s, the amount was reduced to threeby the mid 1900's. The Comber distillery closed in 1953, and the Coleraine distillerystoped making malt whiskey in the mid-1960s, and closed down completely in 1978.
The Bushmills distillery is located on the edge of the town of Bushmills in Country Antrim,about an hour's drive north of Belfast and a short distance from the coast. The town itself issmall and quaint, with two streets connecting in the center of the town to form a 'T'. There you'll find a small war memorial, a clock tower, and several small shops.
The distillery is two miles from the Giant's Causeway, described as the eighth natural wonderof the world. Its impressive vista of regular shaped stone outcrops of black basalt formed nearly60 million years ago from the slow cooling of volcanic lava.
Mythical legend describes the causeway as a passage across the Channel to Scotland so that theIrish giant Finn McCool could cross the water without getting his feet wet.Also near the distillery is Portrush, a highly acclaimed championship golf course, and Dunluce Castle,which sits along the coastline impressively perched on a rock outcrop since around the year 1300.

Other rips :
The Bushmills distillery, in the little town of the same name was licensed by King James I(and James IV / Red.) in 1608.It is the world's oldest licensed malt distillery though its single malt was launched only in the mid 1980s.There are three labels - "Bushmills Malt", a de luxe blend partner "Black Bush" and a regular"Old Bushmills". They are all triple distilled.

There's lots of info about Bushmill's on other whisky related sites, seek your self or try some linkson the buttom of this page.

From the Whisky pilot by Uniqum Systems :
Bushmills was granted a licence to distil in 1608, making it by far the earliest legal distillery of all. Operated by Irish Distillers which, in 1988, was the target of a hard fought take-over battle between British giant Grand Metropolitan and French rival Pernod Ricard, which the latter won.
Bushmills is triple distilled, although it is not alone in this respect. Auchentoshan, Rosebank and Benrinnes also use forms of triple distillation. Bushmills is also available in duty- free markets at 43% vol.
Irish whisky is unpeated, unlike most Scotch whisky.
Irish Distillers own two distilleries, Bushmills and the modern Midleton complex near Cork. Irish blends such as Jameson, Original Bushmills, Black Bush, Powers, Paddy and Tullamore Dew are produced from whiskies distilled at these two distilleries.
In 1920, there were 23 distilleries in Ireland and 134 in Scotland.
The distillery is situated near the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ulster.
Water is drained from the Saint Columb's Rill.
The distillery is open to the public all year. April to Octobeer, M-S 9.30am-5.30pm, S 12noon- 5.30pm.(Last tour 4.00 pm each day)
Off Season : M-F 6 tours daily, 10.00am, 11.00am, 12 noon, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm sharp.

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