Bushmills Original

 

I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Ireland and I loved it. When I left that nice and weird country, I took two things with me. An everlasting love for Guinness, and a confidence that Irish whiskey is crap.

To be honest with you, in those days of my past I didn’t know how to drink whisky. Being a Polish, I do terrible things to any alcohol by definition, and I’ve seen many of my fellow countrymen back in Green Island drinking whisky in so many weird ways, none of you would believe it’s possible. I tried a few local brands like Tullamore, Jameson or Paddy — the last one was a staple in a Christmas hamper given to all co-workers in the factory I used to work at. I didn’t like any of them. Too harsh for me and this burning sensation when going down the pipe was not really my cup of tea. I never tried any of the Bushmills. Eleven years passed and a friend of mine, Kash is his name, a big whisky fan, mentioned that Bushmills is one of his favourite brands (Bushmills 10 in fact) and he told me I should give it a go. I didn’t want to, due to my previous Irish experience.

Some time ago I was looking for some new bottles on Amazon and, without any specific reason, I typed Bushmills. I was shocked. Prices were good! Original for £17, Black Bush for £20 and next step, 10 years old single malt for £30. Still unconvinced (cheap is cheap for a reason) I battled myself for a day or two, and after that I ordered two bottles, one Original and one Black Bush. After all, I said, I can’t lose much. It’s the price of the kerosene type things like Red Walker or Ballantine’s, and it can’t really be much worse than those mentioned above. I just had to try it, if only for science.

When it came I took it out of the delivery box, and I was very nicely surprised with the look of the bottles. They all seem to be the same design, the Bushmills family, square and with some engravings. Plain and simple, but elegant, both bottles and the labels. What I loved the most was one thing - not too much information about what is in the bottle.

Now it’s time to focus on Bushmills Original.
It’s blended whisky, triple distilled and matured in both bourbon and sherry casks, and it’s described by simple “Smooth and Mellow”. That’s it. No more nonsense about nose, colour (am I blind, or what?) or finish. Bushmills Original comes in just a bottle and there’s no gift box, so space on the bottle is limited - which is probably a very good thing, because it doesn’t fall into the “I’m so sophisticated” category right at the start.

I really like Bushmills Original, which is very tasty indeed, and really smooth and mellow. It has this fresh fruit aroma I really like, with some distant raisins in the background. A real pleasure to smell, it’s also very nice to drink. No harshness, no young, grain alcohol, goes down nicely and leaves a pleasurable, fruity and oaky aftertaste. I was very surprised with this one. As for an entry level blend in the family (it has a screw cap, no cork) and for that price - it’s a perfect all-rounder. I bought it three times since, and sometimes the price goes down to an astounding £14 per bottle. One doesn’t need anything more than that. Well done Ireland! You’ve managed to change my attitude toward whisky and I can’t wait to try Black Bush.

And for the specialists - what “all kinds of blossom” really means?

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