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The Old Bushmills Distillery is a distillery in Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is owned and operated by Diageo plc, and is a popular tourist attraction, with around 120,000 visitors per year. According to the company, a distillery by this name was first recorded in 1743, although at the time it was "in the hands of smugglers" (in a quote attributed to Victorian whiskey journalist Alfred Barnard).
All of the whiskey bottled under the Bushmills whiskey brand is produced at the Bushmills Distillery. A licence to distill in the area was granted to Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1608 by King James I, and the 1608 date is printed on the labels of the Bushmills brand whiskey. It uses water drawn from Saint Columb's Rill which is a tributary of the River Bush.
The Bushmills Distillery claims to be—and is almost unanimously considered to be—the oldest licensed distillery in the world.

==History==
The Bushmills Old Distillery Company itself was not established until 1784 by Hugh Anderson. Bushmills suffered many lean years with numerous periods of closure with no record of the distillery being in operation in the official records both in 1802 and in 1822. In 1860 a Belfast spirit merchant named Jame McColgan and Patrick Corrigan bought the distillery; in 1880 they formed a limited company. In 1885, the original Bushmills buildings were destroyed by fire but the distillery was swiftly rebuilt. In 1890, a steamship owned and operated by the distillery, the S.S. Bushmills, made its maiden voyage across the Atlantic to deliver Bushmills whiskey to America. It called at Philadelphia and New York before heading on to Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Yokohama.

In the early 1900s, the USA was a very important market for Bushmills (and other Irish Whiskey producers). American Prohibition in 1920 came as a large blow to the Irish Whiskey industry, but Bushmills managed to survive. Wilson Boyd, Bushmills' director at the time, predicted the end of prohibition and had large stores of whiskey ready to export. After the Second World War, the distillery was bought by Isaac Wolfson, and, in 1972, it was taken over by Irish Distillers, meaning that Irish Distillers controlled the production of all Irish whiskey at the time. In June 1988, Irish Distillers was bought by French liquor group Pernod Ricard.
In June 2005, the distillery was bought by Diageo for £200 million. Diageo has significantly increased production at the distillery and hopes to double production by 2011. Diageo have also announced a large advertising campaign in order to regain a market share for Bushmills.
In May 2008, the Bank of Ireland issued a new series of sterling banknotes in Northern Ireland which all feature an illustration of the Old Bushmills Distillery on the obverse side, replacing the previous notes series which depicted Queen's University of Belfast.

==Bottling==
*  Bushmills Original – Irish whiskey blend sometimes called White Bush or Bushmills White Label. The grain whiskey is matured in American oak [[cask]]s.
* Black Bush – Has a significantly greater proportion of malt to grain whiskey than the white label. Spanish Oloroso sherry-seasoned oak casks mature the malt.
* Bushmills 10 year single malt – Matured in American bourbon barrels for at least 10 years.
* Bushmills 12 year single malt – A special edition currently sold only at the Bushmills distillery, matured mostly in sherry casks.
* Bushmills 16 year single malt – Matured for 16 years or more in a combination of American bourbon barrels, Spanish Oloroso sherry butts and Port pipes.
* Bushmills 21 year single malt – A limited number of 21 year bottles are made each year, and are matured in three different types of casks: first in American bourbon barrels and then in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks. Together it will total 19 years in these casks, after which it may lie in Madeira drums for a further two years until bottling.
* Bushmills 1608: A special 400th Anniversary whiskey. From February 2008 it was available in Bushmills outlets across the world; however, from 2009 it will be available only in the Whiskey Shop at the distillery.

==The taste==
It has a fruity flavor on the noise side, especially lemons. Vanilla, sugary sweetness. Absolutely no smoke or peat whatever.
Its body is not so old as to be syrupy. Lovely on the tongue, like a kiss with a lemon drop in your mouth. It avoids the bitterness and burn of say Jameson. For being a single malt, it's surprisingly smooth. Warmth, spice & pepper finish. Comes in light inviting and warming but ends a little quick.

==Sources==
www.forpeatsake.com
www.wikipedia.org