1784 headquarters bushmills county antrim northern ireland products irish whiskey parent casa cuervo website www.bushmills.com the old bushmills distillery is a distillery in bushmills county antrim northern ireland . as of december 2014 update it was in the process of transitioning from ownership by diageo plc to jose cuervo . all of the whiskey bottled under the bushmills whiskey brand is produced at the bushmills distillery and uses water drawn from saint columb s rill which is a tributary of the river bush . the distillery is a popular tourist attraction with around 120 000 visitors per year . the company that originally built the distillery was formed in 1784 although the date 1608 is printed on the label of the brand referring to an earlier date when a royal licence was granted to a local landowner to distil whiskey in the area . 1 2 after various periods of closure in its subsequent history the distillery has been in continuous operation since it was rebuilt after a fire in 1885 . contents 1 history 2 current whiskey range 3 critical acclaim 4 in popular culture 5 see also 6 references 6.1 notes 6.2 bibliography 7 external links history edit old bushmill s distillery co. antrim northern ireland 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 . 3 in 1608 a licence was granted to sir thomas phillipps by king james i to distil whiskey . 4 for the next seven years 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 . 1 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 they 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 ss bushmills made its maiden voyage across the atlantic to deliver bushmills whiskey to america . it called at philadelphia and new york city before heading on to singapore hong kong shanghai and yokohama . a showcase at the distillery in the early 20th century the u.s. was a very important market for bushmills and other irish whiskey producers . american 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 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 . 5 6 in november 2014 it was announced that diageo was to trade the bushmills brand with jose cuervo in exchange for the 50 % of the don julio brand of tequila that diageo did not already own . the deal was expected to be completed in early 2015 . 7 current whiskey range edit bushmills whiskey range on display at the distillery bushmills original irish whiskey blend sometimes called white bush or bushmills white label . the grain whiskey is matured in american oak casks . 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 and oloroso sherry casks 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 is made each year and is 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 . bushmills 1608 a special 400th anniversary whiskey . from february 2008 it was available in bushmills outlets across the world ; however from 2009 it will be available only in the whiskey shop at the distillery and at duty free shops . 8 bushmills sherry cask single malt a special edition the first in the steamship collection only available in belfast dublin and london heathrow airports . 9 matured in oloroso sherry casks . critical acclaim edit some bushmills offerings have performed well at international spirit ratings competitions . in particular its black bush finest blended whiskey received double gold medals at the 2007 and 2010 san francisco world spirits competitions . 10 it also received a well above average score of 93 from the beverage testing institute in 2008 and 2011 . 10 in popular culture edit the band nofx mentions bushmills in the song theme from a nofx album on the 2000 release pump up the valuum tom waits mentions old bushmills in the song tom traubert s blues which was also covered by rod stewart in the third season episode of the wire back burners jimmy mcnulty refers to bushmills as protestant whiskey when he s offered it after being told jameson is unavailable burt reynolds plays a police lieutenant in the 1975 movie hustle whose favorite alcohol is bushmills in the 1982 film the verdict the paul newman character frank gavin orders bushmills and water at his neighborhood pub in rescue me the series seasons 1 7 bushmills is the common whiskey shared and favorited among the entire irish gavin family and referred to in at least ten episodes see also edit irish whiskey list of irish whiskey brands whiskey cask distillation list of oldest companies master blender diageo references edit notes edit a b old bushmills history official website alternative whisky academy ray foley 1 january 2006 . the best irish drinks . sourcebooks inc. p. 2 . isbn 978 1 4022 0678 8 . retrieved 31 october 2010 . george hill 1877 . an historical account of the plantation in ulster at the commencement of the seventeenth century 1608 1620 . m caw stevenson & orr . p. 393 . retrieved 31 october 2010 . bank of ireland to feature old bushmills distillery on new northern ireland note issue . bank of ireland . 2008 02 11 . retrieved 2016 03 07 . bank raises glass to famous drink . bbc news . 2008 04 23 . retrieved 2008 10 30 . taylor charlie 2014 11 03 . jose cuervo to acquire bushmills from diageo . the irish times . retrieved 2014 11 03 . bushmills kick starts 400th anniversary campaign 1 a b product review of bushmills black bush finest irish blended whiskey bibliography edit mccreary alf 1983 . spirit of the age the story of old bushmills . bushmills antrim northern ireland the old bushmills distillery company ltd. isbn 0950908304 . mulryan peter 2008 . bushmills 400 years in the making . belfast appletree press . isbn 9781847580689 . external links edit bushmills official site coordinates 55 12 07 n 6 31 11 w 55.201919 n 6.519648 w 55.201919 ; 6.519648 v t e diageo people franz humer paul s. walsh beer brands guinness guinness black guinness foreign extra stout harp kilkenny satzenbrau senator keg smithwick s tusker windhoek spirits brands gin booth s gilbey s gordon s tanqueray liqueur baileys irish cream romana sambuca sheridan s rum bundaberg rum cacique captain morgan myers s rum pampero ron zacapa centenario vodka c roc ketel one popov silent sam smirnoff whisky bourbon bulleit bourbon canadian whisky crown royal seagram s seven crown yukon jack irish whiskey bushmills scotch whisky bell s black & white blair athol buchanan s caol ila cardhu classic malts of scotland cragganmore dalwhinnie single malt dimple glen elgin glenkinchie glen ord johnnie walker justerini & brooks j & b knockando lagavulin single malt oban old parr royal lochnagar singleton talisker vat 69 white horse windsor premier tennessee whiskey george dickel other archers don julio goldschl ger hennessy1 pimm s raw tea rumple minze sirop de picon wine brands dom p rignon1 justerini & brooks mo t & chandon1 veuve clicquot1 breweries and distilleries blair athol distillery caol ila distillery cardhu distillery cragganmore distillery dalwhinnie distillery desnoes & geddes east african breweries glen ord distillery glenkinchie distillery great northern brewery guinness brewery guinness ghana breweries guinness nigeria haig & haig industrias pampero knockando distillery lagavulin distillery north british distillery2 oban distillery old bushmills distillery talisker distillery other diageo hotline poll diageo staff association gleneagles hotel grand metropolitan guinness brewmasters guinness storehouse johnnie walker championship at gleneagles johnnie walker classic united distillers 1produced by mo t hennessy a joint venture between diageo 34 % and lvmh mo t hennessy louis vuitton s.a. 66 % 2owned by lothian distillers a joint venture between diageo 50 % and the edrington group 50 % category v t e irish whiskey whiskeys bushmills clontarf crested ten green spot jameson midleton very rare paddy powers redbreast tullamore dew tyrconnell distilleries cooley distillery dingle distillery kilbeggan distillery new midleton distillery old bushmills distillery companies beam suntory diageo dunville & co irish distillers former whiskeys comber whiskey dunville s three crowns dunville s vr styles blended whiskey poit n single malt whiskey single pot still whiskey liquor portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title old bushmills distillery & oldid 739312848 categories buildings and structures in county antrimcuisine of northern irelanddiageo brandsdistilled drinks from northern irelandfood and drink companies of northern irelandgrade b1 listed buildingsirish whiskeyvisitor attractions in county antrimcompanies established in the 1600sdistilleries in the united kingdomhidden categories articles containing potentially dated statements from december 2014all articles containing potentially dated statementscoordinates not on wikidatause dmy dates from november 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages danskdeutscheestifran ais nederlands suomisvenska edit links this page was last modified on 14 september 2016 at 00 03 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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