Old Bushmills Distillery

Old Bushmills Distillery sits on the banks of Saint Columb's Rill, a tributary of the River Bush, in the village of Bushmills, County Antrim, on Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast. It draws its water from that same rill and has been distilling in the area under royal license since 1608, making it one of the oldest licensed whiskey distilleries in the world. Every drop of Bushmills whiskey is still triple distilled in copper pot stills at this single site.

History & Heritage

The right to distil in the Bushmills area traces back to 1608, when King James I granted a royal license to Sir Thomas Phillips. The Old Bushmills Distillery Company itself was formally established in 1784 by Hugh Anderson, giving the operating company its own founding date distinct from the older royal license. Fire destroyed the original buildings in 1885, and the distillery was rebuilt on the same site.

Ownership has changed hands several times over the past half-century while production stayed anchored at Bushmills. Irish Distillers took over the brand in 1972. Pernod Ricard acquired Bushmills in 1988 as part of its purchase of Irish Distillers. Diageo bought it from Pernod Ricard in 2005. In 2014, Diageo traded the Bushmills brand to Proximo Spirits in exchange for the roughly 50 percent stake in Don Julio tequila that Diageo did not already own. Bushmills is owned, as of July 2026, by Proximo Spirits, a subsidiary of Becle, the parent company of Jose Cuervo. Proximo continues to operate Bushmills as a working, grain-to-glass distillery rather than a satellite bottling site: malting, distilling, maturing, blending, and bottling all happen on the Bushmills grounds.

The Whiskey

Bushmills is one of the few Irish distilleries to use 100 percent malted barley across its single malt range, and all of its whiskey is triple distilled in copper pot stills, a hallmark of the traditional Irish style that yields a lighter, smoother spirit than double distillation typically produces. The distillery runs ten copper pot stills and ages its whiskeys predominantly in ex-bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, supplemented by Port wine pipes, Marsala casks, Madeira casks, and Acacia casks for select finishes.

The core range spans several distinct styles. Bushmills Irish Whiskey (Original) blends 45 percent single malt whiskey with 55 percent grain whiskey, matured a minimum of three years (averaging four) in Kentucky bourbon barrels and Spanish Oloroso sherry casks. Bushmills Black Bush Irish Whiskey is a heavier blend, 80 percent single malt to 20 percent grain, matured eight years in a mix of Kentucky bourbon barrels and Spanish Oloroso sherry casks weighted toward sherry. Bushmills 10 yr Single Malt Irish Whiskey is triple distilled from 100 percent malted barley and matured a minimum of ten years in former sherry and bourbon-seasoned casks. Bushmills Irish Single Malt 16 Year goes further, aging up to sixteen years in sherry casks and bourbon barrels before a finishing period of six to nine months in Ruby Port pipes.

In April 2023, Bushmills opened the Causeway Distillery, a new production facility on the same site that doubled the distillery's overall capacity while leaving the historic distillery buildings and process intact.

Why It Matters

Bushmills' age and continuity give it a claim few distilleries can make: whiskey has been distilled on this exact site, using this same local water source, for over four centuries of licensed history. The triple-distillation, 100-percent-malted-barley approach to single malt sets it apart within the wider Irish whiskey category, most of which is dominated by column-still grain blends. The whiskey's quality has been recognized repeatedly on the competition circuit, including a Gold medal at the 1889 Paris Expo, Best Irish Single Malt Whiskey at the 2007 World Whiskies Awards, Double Gold for both the 10 Year Old Single Malt and Black Bush at the 2019 San Francisco Spirit Awards, and Irish Single Malt of the Year for the 21 Year Old in Jim Murray's 2020 Whisky Bible.

Visiting the Distillery

Old Bushmills Distillery welcomes roughly 120,000 visitors a year and offers guided tours that walk through the copper pot stills and maturation warehouses, typically finishing with a tasting. Options range from a one-hour standard tour to a 2.5-hour premium tour with a sampling of six whiskies, and private tours can be arranged for groups. Children under 8 are not permitted on guided tours, and guests under 18 cannot take part in the Premium Tasting. Groups of 12 or more should book ahead.