Bushmills 10 Year Old Malt

This is the youngest of the Bushmills single malt range and the most widely available of the malt range. It has won a few accolades down the years, including ‘Best Irish Single Malt Whiskey’ at the world whiskey awards in 2007. It has the usual Bushmills Modus Operandi (bottled at 40%, triple distilled, etc).

Single Malt

10 years old, almost all of it in bourbon. A tiny undisclosed time in ex sherry casks

40% ABV

70 cl

Approximately £30

Colour: Yellow. I can’t be fucked with that “Angels halo in winter sunshine” bollocks, mainly because I’m not very good at colour assessment.

Nose: Dry hay and at the same time, fresh cut grass. The usual Bushmills nuttiness and honey come through. This is very much a summer whiskey. The barley is the underlying note, as it should be.

Taste: Triple distillation does its fantastic work again. A satin smooth mouth feel with no solvent notes whatsoever. Vanilla and marzipan, light oakiness and summer barley. Cereally notes with a hint of cherry. Seriously, how poncey are these tasting notes? I sound like some kind of hideous lovechild of Gilly Goulding and Laurence Llwellyn Bowen.

Finish: The finish falls *just* on the right side of astringent, a wee bit of burnt flour and distant milk chocolate.

Where Black Bush seemed to inspire a vague sexism, Bushmills 10 year old seems to invoke my mildly embarrassing pretentiousness, so in order to surmise, without sounding like a complete Twunt, I think this is a nice whiskey. I’d buy it with a spare 30 quid. Try to drink it on a beach in August. 7.5 / 10