Bushmills: Black Bush 80/20 PX Sherry Cask Reserve (Irish Blended Whiskey: 40% ABV)
Visual: Quite dark apricot skin to gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Plum pudding/Christmas pudding. Ginger spice. Charred wood. Raisins and sultanas to eccles cakes. Light sugar dusting. Touch of smoke. Water adds a touch of apricot.
Body: Light up front. Shimmering mouthfeel. Red grape juice. Soft citrus. Ribena. Malt chocolate. Thai seven spice. Charred touch. Dry fruitcake. Water adds apricot touch and more fruitcake.
Finish: Slight lime. Metallic air. Digestives. Ribena. Blueberry. Light charring. Crushed bourbon biscuits. Thai seven spice. Water makes for a small amount of sulfur and smoke. Suet to mice pies.
Conclusion: This is another whisky where it warmed on me about a week after I opened it up. So many whiskies are not at their best from a freshly opened bottle. Though that new appreciation for this goes way back down as soon as I add water to it. Ok, lets dig into that.
When I first opened this it felt like the younger Bushmills spirit didn’t have the weight to handle the PX aging. The normally delicious PX barrel aging notes coming across slightly rough in the lighter spirit.
A bit of time to air really helped that – the aroma really picked up with plum pudding, dark fruit in general and a measured dose of spice. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much here but it seemed far more promising.
The body initially seemed disappointing again, light at the front with some of the shimmering Bushmills texture and light citrus, but lacking the promising character from the aroma. A a few moments held on the tongue, or after enough sips for the flavor to build up you get the change. Now you get more blueberry spice and fruitcake which leads into similar in the finish. Like this it isn’t better than Black Bush per se, just different and enjoyable in that different way. It is less immediately rewarding but with heavier and richer notes when they come.
Water ruins that, reducing the good notes and making it a little bit sooty and sulphurous weakening the spirit a bit.
So, not bad, Black Bush is great standby of a whisky at its price point and while this version is slightly more expensive and not better as such, it is different and with a bit of time to open up a fine whisky.
Not a must have, a few flaws but I’m enjoying it a lot more than I initially expected.
Background: This was not bought at at duty free, despite supposedly being a travel exclusive. I did see it at duty free but KLM cancelled part of my flight back from Japan and ended up sending me via Aberdeen so I could not buy any of the tasty duty free specials as my last part of my flight was UK to UK. Also they are claiming not to owe me compensation for that screw up. Tossers. Anyway, thankfully it is not 100% travel exclusive as I found it and another one available from whisky websites, so I now have it. This is Black Bush but with an 80% Malt aged in a PX sherry barrel 20% grain mix, hence the name. I dunno what the break down was on original Black Bush but I presume less than 80% malt and was in an Oloroso sherry cask. Standard Black Bush is very nice for its cheap price point, and at duty free this is similarly quite cheap so I had high hopes. Unfortunately not at duty free is a tad more expensive. Grrr. Darn cancelled flight. Music Wise I went With Jack Off Jill: Teenage Humid Mediocrity – always been a Jack Off Jill fan but had not picked up this one until recently.
