Introduction

The story of whiskey stretches back hundreds of years and encircles the globe, but if you trace whiskey’s lineage back to its beginnings, you’ll end up at the very top of Ireland.

People have been making distilled spirits for around 1,500 years. Some of the earliest archeological evidence of spirits distillation has been found in India and the Middle East. These early distillers were using sugar cane, grape juice and other local ingredients. This knowledge then traveled along trade routes. When it reached Ireland, distillers ultimately adapted the basic recipe to work with barley and grain, since they, of course, didn’t have access to sugar cane or grape juice.

The Beginning Of Whiskey

Of all places, why was whiskey able to thrive in this small corner of the world? Why Ireland? Along the rugged north coast, you found the three ingredients which ultimately came to make the whiskey we know today: barley, fresh water, and an industrious spirit. A cottage industry was born around this imported distilling technology and ultimately thrived because of the bounty of barley and nearby rivers to make the first whiskeys.

THE EARLY SPIRIT

In the 1400s, the cottage industry of backyard distilling was underway along the north coast of Ireland, where the first evidence was discovered of what will eventually be called "whiskey."

In Irish Gaelic, “water of life” translates to “uisce beatha", which is pronouncehd “ish-ka ba-ha. The “ish-ka” over time became anglicized to just “whiskey.” In those early days, it was distilled from barley (like it is today), but was also made with oats, rye and/or wheat. It was also often flavored with raisins, spices and honey or, later, cane sugar. In many ways, it was more like a liqueur than what we now know as whiskey.

IRELAND'S REPUTATION GROWS

The English traveler, Fynes Morison, wrote in 1603, “The Irish aqua vitae, vulgarly called usquebagh, is held the best in the world of that kind…And the usquebaugh is preferred before our aqua vitae, because the mingling of raisins, fennel seed, and other things, mitigating the heat, and making the taste pleasant, makes it less inflame, and yet refresh the weak stomach with moderate heat and good relish. These drinks the English-Irish drink largely, and in many families (especially at feasts) both men and women use excess therein.”

THE VILLAGE OF BUSHMILLS

By the late 1500s, bootleggers and ne’er-do-wells could be found running a robust and illicit distilling business in and around what would become the town of Bushmills. The area attracted distillers because it was located at the very top of the island far away from the royal tax collectors, and given its proximity to barley and the pure waters of the River Bush.

To this day, the River Bush flows over mineral-rich volcanic rock, the same volcanic rock that forms the world famous Giant’s Causeway, offering the perfect water source for whiskey making.

The nearby farms were also essential, offering an abundant supply of high-quality barley, processed by the mills that lined the River Bush. Nestled along the coast, these scrappy entrepreneurs could easily load the whiskey cargo onto ships for export to nearby Scotland and ports beyond. In the village of Bushmills and surrounding County Coleraine, you see the essential building blocks that a fledgling whiskey town needed: barley, water, and the open waters to sell it.

You also now see how the village of Bushmills earned its name. Imagine arriving in this industrious little hamlet by horseback in the year 1600, where you would see the River Bush, lined by the mills processing grain for whiskey production. In the very name of Bushmills, both the village and the distillery, you have the formula for making whiskey.

THE DISTILLING LICENSE

In 1608, buckling to the pressure from the crown, the town of Bushmills and the surrounding area finally sought legal recognition. In response, James I granted Sir Thomas Phillipps a license: “for the next seven years, within the countie of Colrane, otherwise called O Cahanes countrey, or within the territorie called Rowte, in Co. Antrim, by himselfe or his servauntes, to make, drawe, and distil such and soe great quantities of aquavite [unflavored spirit], usquabagh and aqua composita [flavored spirit in general], as he or his assignes shall thinke fitt; and the same to sell, vent, and dispose of to any persons.”

With this license, all of those Irish bootleggers finally went legit.

THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

A largely undiscovered destination to most Americans, one of the world’s greatest natural attractions is the Giant’s Causeway. Located along the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean, just miles from the town and distillery of Bushmills, an extremely rare field of geometric rock outcroppings birthed millions of years ago is still taking visitors’ breath away to this day, after first becoming famous worldwide in the 1600s. The Giant’s Causeway was first made a sensation when it was written about in 1693 by Sir Richard Bulkeley. Some years later, it famously graced a Led Zeppelin album cover.

Over the next hundred years, the Giant’s Causeway became an international tourist destination. One could not make it to the Causeway without first stopping in the growing town of Bushmills and sampling a taste of its whiskey, which grew Bushmills’s fame in its own right.

THE COLUMN STILL

What helps take whiskey from a small-time farm product to a global best-seller are a few technological breakthroughs. First among them, and perhaps the most lasting of them, Irishman Aeneas Coffey’s column still, patented in 1830. This super-efficient style of still was widely rebuked by his Irish brethren, insisting that you can only make whiskey of any quality in pot stills. The column still was meant to be cheap and efficient, but it also strips much of the flavor and nuance from the spirit. It is how vodka is made.

According to Max Watman at the Daily Beast, the pot still is the only serious choice for whiskey production today. While soundly ignored in Ireland, Coffey did have success wooing the Scotts, where the column still remains widely used in the production of Scotch whiskey. In Scotland, whisky (without the “e”) is double-distilled in column stills. You can see how the Irish have come to view their triple-distilled pot still whiskey as the best.

"The pot still is the only serious choice for whiskey production today"

The Coffey still, then, is one of the primary distinguishing differences between Irish and Scotch whiskey. Bushmills certainly did not give in to the temptation to save a few bucks on the cost of distillation with the column still, and continues to use its proprietary copper stills that ultimately made the whiskey world famous.

THE POTATO FAMINE AND HOW IRISH WHISKEY CAME TO BE

From 1845 to 1849, Ireland faced a potato blight that turned into a widespread famine. This caused more than a million Irish people to emigrate to the United States. Many of these immigrants settled along the East Coast, which changed the new country and popularized Irish bar culture, Irish whiskey and whiskey drinking in general. This story of mass emigration is well documented, but less well known, is the impact of this famine to the production of whiskey.

In an effort to control much-needed food stocks, the Crown imposed a series of taxes on barley, beginning in the middle of the 19th century. By this time, barley was known around the world to produce the finest whiskey. But with the taxes, most producers decided to abandon the use of barley, instead choosing untaxed corn as their mashbill ingredient. So widespread was this shift to corn in Ireland at this time, that even to this day, most Irish whiskey producers only use low-cost corn in making their whiskey.

But not Bushmills. Bushmills stayed true to its malted barley formula, stubbornly convinced of its superiority. Today, there are many whiskey brands in Ireland looking to reincorporate malted barley back into their mashbills, the key ingredient to making a single malt whiskey. But only Bushmills has retained this connection to the origins of whiskey through the centuries, where generations have passed down the experience and inherited skill to craft the “pure malt” whiskey that made the distillery famous then, and now.

This decision ultimately distinguishes Bushmills from all the single malt distillers across the channel in Scotland as well. Where in Scotland, the barley was historically peated, or smoked, Bushmills continues to use unpeated barley. Scotch has become synonymous with the smoky whisky from their peated barley, where at Bushmills, the distillery still offers a “pure malt” flavor, true to the very origins of whiskey.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR & THE EFFECTS OF PHYLLOXERA

In the 1800s, the popularity of Irish whiskey was helped by two unrelated and significant historical events, the American Civil War and Phylloxera. With the majority of its whiskey industry on the front lines of a civil war, America quickly became Ireland's #1 customer, as Irish Whiskey flowed stateside from across the Atlantic.

Phylloxera destroyed vineyards across Europe in the 1880s and upended the drinks world, a devastating farm louse that kills vines at the root. Cognac, sherry and port producers struggled to supply customers and retain their status. This disruption allowed whiskey to take more of a starring role. Cognac never regained its stature in the cocktail world and whiskey producers never looked back.

Due to the crisis caused by Phylloxera, journalist Alfred Barnard traveled around the United Kingdom visiting distilleries. His dispatches were eagerly read by a thirsty English population. He ultimately collected his research and reporting in a landmark book, The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, which was published in 1885.

He includes 28 operating Irish distillers in his book, featuring, of course, Bushmills, which he notes uses barley from the surrounding area:
“Bushmills, no doubt the oldest Distillery in Ireland... [was] making about 10,000 gallons of Whiskey per annum, most of which, at the time, was exported to the West Indies and America.”

He continues: “The Company have recently increased the capacity of their old Pot Stills, and erected the electric light on their premises, which has a very pleasing effect, and shows that they are alive to all modern inventions…From this department, we were conducted to the Still House, a very large building, containing two old-fashioned Pot Stills, holding 2,500 and 1,500 gallons respectively; and space has been left for two more equal to those at present in use…The annual output is 100,000 gallons.”

Whiskey became king. Bushmills was thriving, and the whole world was buying.

FIRST GLOBAL WHISKEY BRAND

Back in 1833, Philadelphia merchant David Ranken advertised in American newspapers for Bushmills “Old Irish Malt Whiskey… said to be the best that has ever come to this country.” At that time, there were few global brands of any sort, much less global whiskey brands, and few advertisements from that time survive to this day. Almost 100 years ago, Bushmills was known for its malt whiskey, “smooth and mellow” and “said to be the best that has ever come” from Ireland. Before the modern name “single malt” was established, Bushmills was making it.

In the 1800s, advertisements can be found around the world and Bushmills becomes synonymous with whiskey in Ireland and in America.

FIRST GLOBAL WHISKEY BRAND

Back in 1833, Philadelphia merchant David Ranken advertised in American newspapers for Bushmills “Old Irish Malt Whiskey… said to be the best that has ever come to this country.” At that time, there were few global brands of any sort, much less global whiskey brands, and few advertisements from that time survive to this day. Almost 100 years ago, Bushmills was known for its malt whiskey, “smooth and mellow” and “said to be the best that has ever come” from Ireland. Before the modern name “single malt” was established, Bushmills was making it.

In the 1800s, advertisements can be found around the world and Bushmills becomes synonymous with whiskey in Ireland and in America.

PROHIBITION

The 20th century turns out to be a time full of challenges for whiskey makers around the world, and Ireland is hit particularly hard. From World War I to the Spanish Flu to Prohibition in the U.S. to World War II, Irish distillers are sent reeling. Prohibition alone delivers a devastating blow. Overnight, Ireland’s biggest customer no longer can legally buy alcohol. As a result, the hundreds of distilleries that Ireland once boasted during its golden age of distilling were devastated and ultimately reduced to just two by the 1970s, at opposite ends of the island.

REBIRTH

Fortunately, over the last 20 years, people around the globe have rediscovered the wonders and joys of drinking Irish whiskey and Bushmills’ rare single malt whiskey. Ireland is now home to 38 distilleries making a plethora of different styles of whiskey, turning old conventions on their heads and often times retrofitting their mashbills to match that which Bushmills had perfected centuries ago. Some now even use peated barley to match the fashionable Scotch whiskies.

But as before, Bushmills continues to do what it has always done: make its unique single malt whiskey. No distillery in Ireland or worldwide has carried forward this single malt whiskey tradition from ancient times, from before whiskey was even called “single malt.” While many Irish distilleries are scrambling to catch up, only in Ireland, at Bushmills, will you find triple-distilled “pure malt” whiskey passed down from generation to generation.