| Founded | 1608 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Products | Irish Whiskey |
| Parent | Diageo |
| Website | www.bushmills.com |
The Old Bushmills Distillery is a distillery in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is owned and operated by Diageo plc, and is a popular tourist attraction, with around 110,000 visitors per year. According to the company, a distillery by this name was first recorded in 1743, although at the time it was "in the hands of smugglers" (in a quote attributed to Victorian whiskey journalist Alfred Barnard).[1]
All of the whiskey bottled under the Bushmills whiskey brand is produced at the Bushmills Distillery. A licence to distill in the area was granted to Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1608 by King James I, and the 1608 date is printed on the labels of the Bushmills brand whiskey.
The Bushmills Distillery claims to be—and is almost unanimously considered to be—the oldest licenced distillery in the world.[2][3][4][5][6]
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The area has a long tradition with distillation. According to one story, as far back as 1276, an early settler called Sir Robert Savage of Ards, before defeating the Irish in battle, fortified his troops with "a mighty drop of acqua vitae".[7] In 1608, a licence was granted to Sir Thomas Phillipps by King James I to distill whiskey.[8]
for the next seaven yeres, within the countie of Colrane, otherwise called O Cahanes countrey, or within the territorie called Rowte, in Co. Antrim, by himselfe or his servauntes, to make, drawe, and distil such and soe great quantities of aquavite, usquabagh and aqua composita, as he or his assignes shall thinke fitt; and the same to sell, vent, and dispose of to any persons, yeeldinge yerelie the somme 13s 4d...
The Bushmills Old Distillery Company itself was not established until 1784 by Hugh Anderson. Bushmills suffered many lean years with numerous periods of closure with no record of the distillery being in operation in the official records both in 1802 and in 1822. In 1860 a Belfast spirit merchant named Jame McColgan and Patrick Corrigan bought the distillery in 1880, formed a limited company. In 1885, the original Bushmills buildings were destroyed by fire but the distillery was swiftly rebuilt. In 1890, a steamship owned and operated by the distillery, the S.S. Bushmills, made its maiden voyage across the Atlantic to deliver Bushmills whiskey to America. It called at Philadelphia and New York before heading on to Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Yokohama.
In the early 1900s, the USA was a very important market for Bushmills (and other Irish Whiskey producers). Prohibition in 1920 came as a large blow to the Irish Whiskey industry, but Bushmills managed to survive. Wilson Boyd, Bushmills' director at the time, predicted the end of prohibition and had large stores of whiskey ready to export. After the Second World War, the distillery was bought by Isaac Wolfson, and, in 1972, it was taken over by Irish Distillers, meaning that Irish Distillers controlled the production of all Irish whiskey at the time. In June 1988, Irish Distillers was bought by French liquor group Pernod Ricard.
In June 2005, the distillery was bought by Diageo for £200 million. Diageo has significantly increased production at the distillery and hopes to double production by 2011. This is in contrast to the serious neglect that the brand suffered during its time under Irish Distillers, during which the whiskey stocks at Bushmills were severely decreased. Diageo have also announced a large advertising campaign in order to regain a market share for Bushmills.
In May 2008, the Bank of Ireland issued a new series of sterling banknotes in Northern Ireland which all feature an illustration of the Old Bushmills Distillery on the obverse side, replacing the previous notes series which depicted Queen's University of Belfast.[9][10]
Bushmills' offerings generally have performed very well at international Spirit ratings competitions. In particular, its Black Bush Finest Blended Whiskey has done extremely well, receiving double gold medals at the 2007 and 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competitions.[12] It also received a well-above-average score of 93 from the Beverage Testing Institute in 2008.[12]