Bushmills: 15 Year (Ireland Single Malt Whiskey: 15 Year: 40% ABV)
Visual: Clear, just slightly darkened gold. Medium speed and thickness streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Stewed apricot. Soft lime. Wholemeal rice. Chewy banana sweets. Warm golden syrup. Custard. Warming. Sugared orange sweets. Water makes softer and adds more lime.
Body: Smooth. Warm honey. Lime crème to choc lime. Golden syrup. Tinned tropical fruit. Peach. Water adds softer lime, and a more natural Bushmills character.
Finish: Honey. Cooked white rice. Lime jelly. Orange jelly sweets. Tinned tropical fruit. Cognac. Peach skin and peach. Water adds soft lime.
Conclusion: So many whiskies improve after a little time to air in the bottle after you open it. For example, this one! On first opening I enjoyed it, but it seemed the base spirit could not compete with the time in cognac wood, resulting in something a tad alcohol touched and VERY cognac led.
Now a monthish later I finally pull my finger out and do notes on it, aaand it is much smoother and better balanced now.
There is still a lot of cognac influence, with a bunch of notes I could best describe as just “Cognac” but smoothly delivered now. The base even manages to show a touch of citrus fruit character that shows the base Bushmills character coming through, along with touches of tinned tropical fruit that are tells of the bourbon aging it had before ending up in the cognac. The only down side now is a slightly neutral rice character, something I do occasionally see in Bushmills – not a showstopper, just a kind of neutral note.
The cognac seems to give honey, apricot and peach notes, custard sweetness and golden syrup as well as, well, as admitted basically cognac notes, it has a very distinct character that shows cleanly through. Initially I though Bushmills needed a stronger base spirit to work against the cognac, but here with some airing time, it is remarkably well balanced.
Despite being more balanced with the cognac, this is still dominated by sweet notes, so may not be for everyone, but lets face it – it has a cognac finish, you know what you are getting yourself in for. Accept that and it is fun and still notably Bushmills under the cognac.
Background: To my regret, this was grabbed from Amazon. I try to avoid using them as their business practises are shocking, but at the time, and possibly still now it was an Amazon exclusive. I have no illusions that me not buying from them makes much difference, so I wont cut my nose off to spite my face, hence grabbing this, but avoiding them where I can at least means I’m helping other companies. Anyway, this is cognac finished, with the primary aging being in bourbon casks. You don’t see many cognac aged whiskies, and I do like Bushmills, plus it was fairly decently priced for a 15 year whiskey. Especially with how much more expansive so many age statements are these days. Not much else to add. Went with Esprit D’air: Season as backing music. The remix of Shizuku on that is banging.