Bushmills Distillery

Bushmill’s story

Bushmills is the third largest selling Irish whiskey brand in the world (behind Jameson and Tullamore D.E.W.) and the best selling Irish single malt. In 2023, the brand sold 13 million bottles worldwide. The famous old distillery sits on the north Co. Antrim coast of Northern Ireland, just two miles away from the world heritage site at The Giant’s Causeway. It takes its names from the nearby River Bush.

Two blended whiskeys contribute to a decent proportion of sales – The Original and Black Bush – but the distillery is famous for its single malt. This undergoes triple distillation, meaning that stills work as a trio. This is compared to Scotland where double distillation is most common and stills work in pairs. Triple distillation creates a light, delicate and fruity spirit. The Bushmills brand continues to go from strength to strength with a recent major expansion securing spirit production for the future.

---

Bushmill’s history

King James I issued a License to Distil to owner Sir Thomas Phillips in 1608, making Bushmills the oldest licensed whisky distillery in the world. However, the distillery was not formerly registered until 1784 when Hugh Anderson formed the Old Bushmills Distillery Co, making this the official date of foundation. A century after this, the distillery commissioned the building of a steamship to take its whiskey around the world. The S. S. Bushmills set sail for America on its inaugural voyage in 1890.

In 1923 Bushmills was purchased by Samuel Wilson Boyd, a wine and spirit merchant based in Belfast. Difficult times followed thanks to the Prohibition era in America, which hit Irish whiskey sales in a catastrophic way, and World War II, which saw the distillery cease production between 1939 and 1945. Bushmills and Irish whiskey struggled in the following decades. The distillery joined Irish Distillers in 1972 in a bid to resurrect itself.

Irish Distillers became part of Pernod Ricard in 1987, who in turn sold it on to Diageo in 2005. Their ownership tenure was less than a decade as the distillery and brand was sold to Proximo Spirits in 2014. They have been responsible for the ongoing impressive growth of Bushmills sales.

This has culminated in the opening of The Causeway Distillery, a major extension that doubled annual production capacity and sits next door to the historic Old Bushmills distillery. There are now 29 warehouses on site and all spirit is matured within these. Bushmills welcomes over 120,000 visitors per year making it one of the most visited sites in Northern Ireland.

• How to pronounce Bushmills? bush-mills
• Country: Northern Ireland
• Founded: 1784
• Current owners: Proximo Spirits
• Production capacity per year: 9 million litres
• Mash tun: 2
• Washbacks: 18
• Stills: 20
• Visitor centre: Yes

Bushmills Distillery
2 Distillery Road, Bushmills
Co. Antrim
BT57 8XH
tel – +44 (0)28 207 33218
bushmills.com

Did you know?

Bushmills has the longest continually used logo. In 1784, the pot still emblem was introduced in order to celebrate the formal registration of the distillery and this is still in use on packaging today.