Product: Bushmills Original Whiskey Producer: Bushmills Approximate Retail Value: $20 - $65/bottle Category: Whiskey Country of Origin: Ireland Reviewer: J. Harding The F Words: Flavor – Slightly sweet, robust. Feel – Smooth, pleasant. Finish – Citrus and honey.

Rating:

Bushmills makes me feel like a man. There, I said it. Quite often, I find myself doubting my own masculinity. I’ve gotten a manicure. I like to read about celebrity gossip. I know the words to the bridge of Mandy Moore’s breakout single, “Candy.” But where you might see someone with excellent music taste, I see a disturbing pattern. Fish scare me. I wash my hands every time I go to the bathroom. I don’t like killing insects. I hate NASCAR. All these small inclinations and strange behaviors do not add up to the Übermensch ; they add up to a sorry excuse for a man. Or they did, until I tasted Bushmills. I was given four different bottles to review, and each one managed to start the flow of testosterone once again. They grew hair on my chest. They made me want to wrestle a large animal.

Bushmills Original was the first blend that I tried, and it reminded me most of the other moderately priced whiskeys out there, with clean notes and a subtle sweetness. It’s a blend of single malt and grain whiskey with a truly wonderful nose. Anyone just starting out on their tour of whiskey wonderland should make a pit stop at Bushmills Original, because it’s everything a standard bottle should be. Next I tried Bushmills Black Bush, a spicy alternative to the Original. It’s almost all single malt, with just a few drops of single grain added at the end of the distilling process to mellow the flavor. I enjoyed its complexity and depth of taste, and for some odd reason I also thought it had the prettiest color of any of the Bushmills I tasted.

Bushmills 10 Year Old is a single malt, aged in American bourbon barrels, which adds the full body that lowered my voice and my testicles upon my first tasting. Bushmills 16, the last of the Bushmills is clearly the whiskey that received the most care and attention during distilling. It reeks of complexity and flavor, and so it’s almost unfair to compare it to the other three Bushmills. It’s a whiskey for those who know their whiskey.

All of the Bushmills are excellent purchases, and all of them will purge you of your desire to shop or cry. Never mix any of them; they’re all a little too good to be diluted. Enjoy them as you’d enjoy a good joust, or a round of boxing, or a friendly duel. Tres manly.

Bushmills Black Bush

Flavor – Spicy, dark.
Feel – Sharp, crisp.
Finish – Intense.

Rating: 4 Stars

Bushmills 10 Year Old

Flavor – Full bodied, clean.
Feel – Smoky, complex.
Finish – Like becoming a man.

Rating: 4 Stars

Bushmills 16 Year Old

Flavor – Nutty, vanilla
Feel – Cool, mild
Finish – Like becoming a real man.

Rating: 4 Stars