Bushmills Irish Whiskey is made in Co Antrim, in what is the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery. It dates to 1608, which means that, right now, some 400 years of craftsmanship is distilled into one man: Colum Egan.
As master distiller, it is Egan’s job to carry the whiskey maker’s storied legacy through to the next generation. “There is a sense of responsibility,” admits the Laois man, who was its youngest ever master distiller on his appointment in 2002.
“The reason Bushmills is around all these years is down to one thing: taste,” Egan says. “My role is to ensure that taste is maintained. I’d be doing a disservice to all those generations of master distillers before me if that were to change.”
That doesn’t stop him innovating.
Egan (52), from Portarlington, studied production engineering. His first job was in food production, working for a breakfast cereal maker in London. Tasting the ingredients was part of the role. “It started my whole olfactory journey, not just tasting but learning how to verbalise what you were tasting and smelling,” he says.
It couldn't have worked out better. Plus with the scenery, the people and the way of life here, I loved it, it's idyllic
From there he moved into the drinks industry, working for a UK brewery before coming home to join a Dublin distillery. When the opportunity came up to move to Bushmills, working in its historic property in the town of the same name, he jumped at it.
“Being a master distiller is not just nosing and tasting but overseeing all the people, the engineering and the finance too. It requires an eclectic range of skills that, luckily, I had been picking up all through my career.”
As luck would have it, the woman Egan had met, fallen in love with and married in London was from just up the road in Ballycastle. “It couldn’t have worked out better,” he laughs. “Plus with the scenery, the people and the way of life here, I loved it, it’s idyllic.”
The Old Distillery is beautiful, an historic building with spring water flowing through it in an area of outstanding natural beauty with the famous Giant’s Causeway a hexagonal stone’s throw away.
The whiskey produced here is every bit as appealing, whether blends such as Bushmills Original, Black Bush; its 10-, 16- or 21-year-old single malts; or its cask-finished range featuring American Oak or Caribbean Rum.
Causeway Collection
Following on from the success of last year’s rare and limited Causeway Collection – new cask finishes that included very limited bottles of a 1995 Malaga Cask Finish and a 2008 Muscatel Cask Finish – Bushmills is now releasing a new pair of limited edition whiskeys.
This will see the launch of an equally coveted 2011 Sauternes Cask Finish, exclusive to the Irish market. As with everything produced at Bushmills, it’s a labour of love – Colum Egan’s.
The 2011 Sauternes Cask Finish is the result of seven-years Irish whiskey maturation in oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, before being finished in rare Sauternes wine casks.
Its 1995 Marsala Cask Finish spent even longer (10 years) maturing in oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, before being finished in rare Marsala casks sourced from Sicily for an additional, unprecedented, 15 years.
Each shares the classic Bushmills characteristics of fruity, floral and slightly spicy notes. “Once we have that, we add layers of complexity to it,” Egan explains.
One way to add a layer of complexity to whiskey is through time. The longer it stays in the cask, the longer it reacts with the wood. Another way to add layers is through the selection of barrels that previously held other drinks, such as bourbon or sherry.
“These impart subtleties into the whiskey, picking out small notes that are characteristic of Bushmills,” he says.
When you go into our still house, the first scent you pick up is actually a lovely peach aroma
Sauternes, a lovely, sweet desert-wine from France’s Bordeaux region, “has the sort of spicy, zesty characteristics that match very well with Bushmills. When you go into our still house, the first scent you pick up is actually a lovely peach aroma. Sauternes has that fruity characteristic that epitomises summer fruits, with nice vanilla notes from the bourbon casks. It works very well.”
Its Marsala is a 26-year-old whiskey from 1995, which was re-casked in 2006 into a marsala cask.
“Marsala is a very traditional Sicilian wine,” Egan says, “generally used pre-dinner, which is used a lot in cooking because it gives a lovely caramelised, brown sugar hit.”
It too works very well with Bushmills. “It gives a spicy little note on the back of your palate and goes down superbly.”
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Both of these rare whiskeys will only be available in high end stores. Like last year’s releases, he expects them to sell out quickly. They are certainly a source of great excitement, and not just to collectors and lovers of fine Irish whiskey but to their maker.
“For me the excitement comes from trying to find barrels, and from hoping it’s going to turn out right, maybe in five, or 10, or more years’ time. It’s amazing. What food takes 15 or 26 years to make? None,” he says.
Some of those who enjoy the new cask finishes weren’t even born when Bushmills began making them, he points out. And like them, every bottle is an individual.
“There is no bottle like it, before it or after it,” he says.
Each has a cask number and a bottle number on the label. “These are very limited-edition whiskeys,” he stresses. “They come from a single cask and, with each of the barrels, once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
To discover more about the Causeway Collection, visit bushmills.com
Do not share with anyone under legal purchase age. Drink Responsibly.
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