Northern Irish Bushmills Whiskey named among most pioneering

Old Bushmills Irish Whiskey in Northern Ireland has been named among the world's 10 Most Pioneering Distillers by the influential Spirit Business magazine.

The magazine said: "Although his name may be somewhat lost in the pages of history, Sir Thomas Phillips was the man behind what is now generally considered to be the world's oldest working distillery - the Old Bushmills Distillery.

"The Irish whiskey distillery, now owned by UK drinks giant Diageo, was first established when Sir Thomas, landowner and Governor of county Antrim Ireland, was granted a licence to distill whisky by King James 1 in 1608, bringing legal whiskey production to the UK and Ireland.

"The Irish whiskey brand was officially given a registered trademark in 1784 by Hugh Anderson and has the date 1608 printed on its bottles."

Old Bushmillls today produces an extensive range of award winning single malt and blended Irish whiskey. It also launched an Irish Honey Whiskey.

The current range includes:

Bushmills Original - Irish whiskey blend sometimes called White Bush or Bushmills White Label. The grain whiskey is matured in American oak casks Hugh Anderson

Black Bush - has a significantly greater proportion of malt to grain whiskey than the white label. Spanish Oloroso sherry-seasoned oak casks mature the malt;

Bushmills 10 year single malt - matured in American bourbon barrels for at least 10 years;

Bushmills 12 year single malt - a special edition currently sold only at the Bushmills distillery, matured mostly in sherry casks;

Bushmills 16 year single malt - matured for 16 years or more in a combination of American bourbon barrels, Spanish Oloroso sherry butts and Port pipes;

Bushmills 21 year single malt - a limited number of 21 year bottles are made each year, and are matured in three different types of casks: first in American bourbon barrels and then in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks. Together it will total 19 years in these casks, after which it may lie in Madeira drums for a further two years until bottling.