The Malt Cask

Christmas is fast approaching and, together with Bushmills UK, I bring you the perfect dram to share with those you love: Bushmills 21 Year Old single malt. Having spent at least 19 years in hand-selected Oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, this award-winning single malt is then finished for two years in Madeira casks. The result makes for an incredibly fruity and engaging whiskey which will appeal to any whisky enthusiast! I guess it’s time to remove the cork and share my thoughts… My tasting notes: Nose: Super fragrant, fruity, oaky, citrusy. It’s full of apple, lemon, orange blossom like a spring orchard! There’s also some milk chocolate, almond, honey and vanilla notes, hints of dill and mint in the background, as well as oak spice, dried apricots and banana. What a start! Palate: Juicy and fruity, a lot of peach notes, apple, ripe mango, orange, pears, apricots, cherries - an absolute fruit salad! All the fresh fruit is accompanied by some toffee, oak spice, dark chocolate...

  Together with Bushmills UK, I bring you something incredibly special for Father’s Day: the GB exclusive 1991 Madeira Cask release, part of the Causeway Collection.   Bushmills is the oldest licensed distillery with over 400 years of whiskey-making experience, and this 1991 Madeira Cask epitomises the brand’s heritage and craftsmanship. After over 13 years in a mix of Oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, the whiskey spent its remaining 15 years in first-fill Madeira casks before being bottled with no chillfiltration, colouring and at the natural cask strength of 50.2%. This single malt has a story to tell, just like the Giant’s Causeway which gave its name to this Bushmills series.   I think it’s time to try it… My tasting notes: Nose: Rich and fruity with plump sultanas, mandarins, vanilla, honey, and rich caramel. Old oak and old cognac with chocolate, some sweet resin and tobacco leaves. The honey turns into Manuka after a little while, with brown sugar, toasted...

Welcome to my first Irish whiskey review. And for the first one, I am going to present the Bushmills 10 which actually is the only Irish whiskey I have in the collection. What made me go for it? I bought the bottle a few months ago now, I wanted to diversify my whisky experiences and it was on offer in my local supermarket. As usual, I did check online and read a few reviews of it whilst in the spirits aisle and they were good enough to let me have a go. Bushmills 10 is a single malt which has been triple distilled, so that should make for a lighter dram. It has been matured in Bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks and the whole production process (malts ditilling, blending, maturation and bottling) is carried out on the same site. Their malting process does not involve any peat and as I mentioned previously, the wash is distilled three times in large copper pot stills. Bushmills 10 is bottled at 40%. As it is not mentioned anywhere on the bottle and I found no specific regulation ...