Bushmills 16 Year (Irish Single Malt Whiskey: 16 years: 40% ABV)
Visual: Deep, rich gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Pencil shavings to dry oak. Gin. Tart grapes. Light menthol. Dry cumin spice. Water adds shortbread and mild ginger.
Body: Tingling. Apples. Dry Madeira cake. Green grapes. Suet. Dry oak. Turmeric spice. Water adds more sour grapes and orange skin.
Finish: Dry oak. Milky chocolate. Light earthy spice. Water adds lightly oily. Slight bitter character. Suet.
Conclusion: This feels like the spicy take on Bushmills, if that makes sense. With the aging used I was expecting the dark fruit to be dominant, and while those notes are there, what seems to really define it is the range of spice it shows.
There is distinct apples and green fruit notes that, along with the sheen to the spirit, feels like the base Bushmills character showing. It has a slightly light feel, which Bushmills often does, but with a suet character and Madeira cake showing those darker fruit notes I allude to earlier and that does help offset the lighter side.
What really shows though is a bunch of gently dry to earthy spice notes that make this a much more grounded dram than I would usually expect from a Bushmills. It is decent enough, but spicy drams have rarely been my favorite style and often goes against the easy drink Bushmills character I enjoy. That may be why this is the Bushmills expression I have returned to the least.
Fine, but not really my thing.
Background: Ok this is incredibly good value. I picked up a set of mini Bushmills from The Whisky shop. It had 3 cl of Bushmills 10,16,21, Causeway Collection 2000 Port cask, 1997 Rum cask and 1991 Madeira cask. For 30 quid. The 1991 Madeira cask goes for 695 quid a bottle, which works out at just short of 30 quid for 3cl of that alone! I have no freaking clue how they sell this for 30 pounds. Any which way, a must grab for me. I’ve already done notes on 10, 21 and Causeway 2000, so this is the first one I tried which I had not done notes on yet. The 1991 and 1997 are still to try. I am a huge Bushmills fan, they were one of the first whiskies I properly got into back in the day. Then ten year is no longer the favorite it once was, but still a dram I enjoy. I’ve not had the 16 year much, it is matured in Oloroso sherry and bourbon casks, then finished in port pines for nine months. Went with Misfits: Walk Among Us as background music for this.
