Old Bushmills Distillery

Made a stop here on the tour to Giants Causeway.
Great distillery and a great tour of the history of the oldest whiskey distillery in Ireland. Thoroughly enjoyed the tour there and the whiskey tasting. Grabbed a bottle of the 12 year old as that’s the only place one can get it.
Very nice area as well and it was a really nice and sunny (rare sight) day, we loitered around the place for some time afterwards.

While I am not a drinker myself, I’m naturally curious & I certainly understand its significance & appeal to the Irish economy, so I paid a visit to Bushmills, the oldest distillery in Ireland, after visiting The Giant’s Causeway. Our guided tour lasted roughly half an hour, as we learned the process of making, distilling & bottling whiskey (surprisingly, they use barrels from as far away as Kentucky). You also learn that they do about 5% of Jameson’s bottling for them.
Frustratingly, there was no photography allowed during the tour. This is not Willy Wonka’s secret factory. These are tourists from Alaska, Seattle & NYC.
You’re given a receipt to redeem at the end of your tour to sample your choice of whiskey, or for the non-​drinkers among you, a soft drink or other beverage. There is a gift shop, if a flavor strikes your fancy, or if you want to take home some branded swag.

Very cool to take the tour to see how they make this Irish Whisky! We had lunch there and probably had the best chips ever! Soup of the day was awesome but the traditional Irish stew was just okay. After the tour you get a taste of a whisky of your choice — I tried the honey one as I am not a big whisky drinker and it was delicious — we also tried the 12 year which you can only get at there — we bought a bottle of that. The 21 year old was the best tasting — so incredibly smooth but they do not sell it there. Definitely worthwhile.

Ive been here 3 times now and every time I come I see something different. Place is so old and legendary it gives ya chills. I recommend to anyone come visit the 6 beautiful counties of Antrim and sip some of the best Ireland has to offer. They have swanked up the tour with a new layout and meeting room which is cool. Price isn’t too bad but drop the extra few quid and get the tasting. Hopefully you will be with people who aren’t big whiskey drinkers and get all of theirs as well. Tour guide we had this time was super young and brand new but she did awesome. At a few stages she looked like a deer in headlights but she carried on with no problem. The whole feel of the place is respectful of the craft and history… unlike a lot of the frat boy, lets get hammered kind of tours we have in the States…

Came in right after jumping around the Giant’s Causeway (only a bus ride away!) to get a tour of the oldest legal whiskey distillery around.
Our tour guide was great. No pictures allowed, which was a bummer, but we got to see fermentation tanks, wooden barrel casks, the works! We had the tour when the distillery was not in operation, so we watched a short video on it instead (totally not quite the same experience, I’m sure). Walking through some of the rooms, the smell of whiskey is strong and hits you right in the face. Thought I’d get drunk just off the smell, but got used to it after a few minutes.
With our tour price (only £7.50 for me as a non-​student adult) came a single complimentary sample of a few different types of whiskey to sip on. I got the 12-​year-​old reserve, and it went was good. One of the smoothest whiskeys I’ve ever had.

I enjoyed exploring the distillery and ate a wonderful meal here, perhaps one of my best meals while in Northern Ireland/U.K. Sat with travelers from all over the world and enjoyed lively conversation. Took some great pictures and posted a few.
My vegetarian meal consisted of lumpy, buttered mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, a great pasta dish that was creamy and had red peppers, peas, corn, broccoli and onions in it, a drink and brownie! The food was delicious! I wish I would have gotten a second helping, but I was quite full.

Despite all the stereotypes of the Irish having an unhealthy relationship with their whiskey, my research only yielded two distilleries on the island open for tours: Jameson and Bushmills. I’m not going to turn this into an entire compare and contrast exercise like my old grade school English papers, simply suffice to say that Bushmills was a more enjoyable experience.
The distillery itself is very easy to find from the road signs without a GPS, nice for us foreign tourists. The lobby had the usual friendly Irish employee at the ticket counter and some comfy couches to sit on and watch a video about the history of whiskey while you wait for the tour to start. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and funny, and seeing the working distillery was a pretty cool experience.
Obviously, you really only came for the tasting at the end, so let’s cut to the chase, and this is the best part of the whole experience. When you get to the tasting room to hand over your ticket for your sample, you have a choice of four different Bushmills varieties, including their distillery reserve that they don’t sell in shops. It would be easy to fob off tours with just the regular-​grade stuff, so having an option to taste the slightly fancier aged whiskey seemed like a nice touch. Overall it was a fun experience and worth any whiskey fan’s while.
Pro tip: If you’re already in the town of Bushmills, do not under any circumstances skip the Giant’s Causeway, just 2 km up the road on the coast. It is the coolest natural geologic feature you’ll ever get to clamber over while accidentally photobombing Asian tourists.

Another high-​light to my Ireland tour in May 2011. I had friends that had been here before and had highly suggested this tour so I dragged the whole family along.
Personally, I really enjoyed the tour. It was educational and I felt as though I got a good look at the entire distillery. It was long enough to feel like I got my money’s worth and of course I enjoyed the drink at the end. The distillery does have a little shop/​café where you can get a bite to eat at the end of your tour as well.
I did bring Steven C. back one of the specialty bottles that you can only buy at the distillery and he loved it.

It’s great to see people still doing it old school. And they definitely follow the old traditions here. Tours leave the main reception every 10 to 20 minutes in groups of 10 or so. Our tour guide was new, but highly knowledgeable, they must have a good training program. The tour leads your through the fermentation and distillation process of the whiskey. The best or worst part depending on who you talk to, is the tasting at the end. Admission gets you a complimentary tasting in their lounge. My friend who hated whiskey gave it a good go, but even the honey whiskey was too much. I am inclined to agree. The smoke and burn don’t compliment my gin tastes. I’ll leave the whiskey to men in housecoats sitting in front of roaring fires.

The Old Bushmills Distillery was quite a nice stop on our Northern Ireland adventure. We stopped in after we’d seen the Carrick-​a-​rede Rope Bridge and the Giant’s Causeway (both are must-​sees) but unfortunately, we’d stayed out so long we missed the last tour by about 30 minutes. Not to worry, though… the bar was still open! lol
The grounds were very nice and the staff was friendly. They also have a great lil gift shop inside that is more than willing to mail your gifts back to friends or to your home.
I’d recommend the Old Bushmills Distillery for a stop if you’re in Northern Ireland. It’s only a bit more than an hour from Belfast! I’m bringing my parents back to Ireland next summer and we’ll be sure to make it in time for the tour.
Might see ya there!

This place, although in the middle of nowhere, is worth the trip if you are up in the area checking out the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-​a-​rede rope bridge. It is a functioning distillery, which is rare (at least compared to Guinness and Jameson). You see the whiskey made from start to finish, even get to see the bottling plant. Probably takes about an hour, but very interesting. Obviously at the end you get some Bushmills, but you get a variety of choices (Original, Irish Honey, Black Bush, 10 year, and 12 year)…definitely go with the 12 year.
The tour is only £7 and is a good deal. The gift shop has all the different batches they make, and some they only sell at the distillery.

I visited the Old Bushmills Distillery on one of my tours in Northern Ireland. When we drove up, I thought that the grounds looked quite pretty. The buildings on the ground look quite old, which the name implies. The smell on the other hand is not quite so pretty. I had never been to a whiskey distillery before, so the sour vomit smell was a bit overwhelming.
We did not have time to tour the distillery, but we did eat here for lunch. They have a nice little cafeteria set up where you can even have some whiskey. I ordered the Irish stew, which was not like any stew I had ever had before. I am used to the American version of stew that is thick, but has a little bit of liquid in it. This stew was so thick that I could stick my spoon straight up in it. It was tasty overall and the price was not too bad (the whiskey on the other hand is expensive!)

Like another reviewer — we visited the distillery with a tour group and were all ignored by the staff. The bar is next to the gift shop and even though they were open and serving people they wouldn’t let us do any tasting.
No snifting allowed = no buying your brand.

This is my Mecca! I love the sights, the smells, and the tastes of this place. From the old stone buildings that house my favorite libation to the mash house that smells like heaven, I can’t think of a better place to be than the Old Bushmills Distillery.
Their tasting room and café is simply amazing. Try a shot of the 21 Year Bushmills straight. That’s nirvana, baby!

Came here with a tour group to Giants Causeway and was shocked by the way the staff acted – kind of like ‘oh, you were not on the tour of the distillery? i can’t help you’. You can’t get service from the bar if you were not on a tour I guess… but I was just told it was closed and then a tour group came and got service and a mini-​lecture. The staff at the kitchen were not great either, as I asked for Bushmills and he just stared at me because I did not say which kind and then silently handed me the price sheet.
I like Jameson more anyway…

I won’t get into lots of details other to say it was a lot of fun. The tour was very interesting and our guide was entertaining. I liked whiskey before I started the tour… I liked it even better afterwards because of all the behind-​the-​scenes information.
Enjoy the whiskey tasting! We got the 12 & 16 year whiskeys and they were smooth as silk. Even my bf liked it and he’s not a whiskey drinker at all.
Then they let you loose in the gift shop which is awesome! It was difficult not to walk out with less than $ 50 worth of stuff. My bf bought a personalized 12-​year bottle of Bushmills. He loves it.

I have to sat the staff is very friendly and helpfull, very interesting am from Northern Ireland and i didnt know half of what they tell you and the taste of the wisky was lovely

Ca. eine Stunde (60 Miles) von Belfast entfernt befindet sich an der Nordküste eine der vier Irischen Destillerien.
Die Besichtigung der alten Anlage zeigt die Whiskey-​Herstellung von klassischem, dreifach destilliertem Malt. Angeblich die älteste Destillery in Irland. Tatsächlich hat man sich auf des Jahr 1608 bezogen, in dem erstmallig Rechte für die Whiskeybrennerei vergeben wurde. Die Destille wurde nach einem Brand Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts hier in Unmittelbarer Nähe wieder aufgebaut.
Nice to taste two samples after the tour! Destillery Eddition und 12Y. Signatur Bottles sind nur hier im Shop erhältlich.
Übrigens wird auch Jameson hier abgefüllt.

The tour was nice, we really got to see the behind the scenes stuff that goes into whiskey making, the one guy in the room who controls it all and the black cat that is either fast asleep or dead.
it was a bit confusing trying to get on the Bushmill’s tour grounds, it was super cheap b/​c we only got a «half tour» due to the shit weather, but quite honestly, I just came for the drinks. Overall HIGHLY rec the tour! And while you’re there go check out the Fin McCool mural and might as well drive up to Giants Causeway.

Note: all my recent vacation in Ireland Unilocal reviews will have the same 1^st paragraph preamble, for just the review itself skip to the 2^nd paragraph.
On a whirlwind 2 week vacation to Ireland, the girlfriend & I tried to see & experience absolutely as much of this incredible land as we could. We did not accomplish every last activity we wished we could have on our rather ambitious itinerary. Nonetheless, we did discover a land of numerous stunning & magical wonders. We did see a land of unending natural beauty. We did learn of a land with a monumentally long history of trials, tragedies & triumphs. We did get to meet many kind, humorous, warm & generous people. Our vacation to Ireland was just 2 weeks, but that was time enough to know this is a land easy to love & a land to be sorely missed.
After getting a good bit of exercise & fresh air surveying Giant’s Causeway from the cliffs above, climbing down those cliffs & then clamoring all over the funky hexagonal rock formations, it was time for the girlfriend & I to get a refreshing beverage. Fortune has definitely blessed this little area of the Antrim Coast as the Old Bushmills Distillery is very nearby. Being a lover of all things whiskey & with the world’s oldest licensed distillery a mere 4 miles away, it was a moral imperative for us to go have a drink & a look around.
The grounds are well-​kept with a quaint traditional feel, not nearly as sprawling as I had imagined for a modern distillery with international distribution. We arrived just in time for the last tour of day. Our tour guide was friendly, knowledgeable & traded a lot of casual banter with our tour group. The tour of the Old Bushmills Distillery wasn’t so much a multimedia entertainment presentation like distillery/​brewery tours we went on in Dublin, but it was a tour of an actual, operational distillery. I really enjoyed & appreciated seeing the warehouse of port, sherry & bourbon barrels, the fermenters, the stills & the bottling facility.
The tour ends with a tasting of Bushmills whiskey that is included in the ticket price. A generous number of Bushmills whiskeys are available to choose from. The girlfriend & I had the 12 Year, which is only available at the distillery, & the 1608, a 14 year commemorating Bushmills 400^th year anniversary. Both were fantastic, each in their own distinct way.
For any fan of the spirits, going to the Old Bushmills Distillery is a grand experience. Being the site of the oldest licensed distillery in the world but using very modern equipment, this place is a little bit of the old & a little bit of the new. Cap it all off with sipping some smooth whiskeys & everything is, indeed, grand.

Wow! What an interesting tour! Good price too! The boys in my family love a little dram of a finely refined whiskey and so they’re particularly proud of good old Bushmills Distillery and the ‘aqua vitae’ they provide. I’m proud to say that in 2008 the distillery celebrated 400 years of their Northern Irish heritage, they even launched a whiskey to commemorate the occasion! :)
I learnt a lot, more so than I’ll probably ever need to know about whiskey on this tour.
For example, I bet you didn’t know that…
Bushmills sell five different blends of their liquid delight; original, black bush, 10, 16, and 21 year old malt. (The 16 year old is my personal favourite! Try it for its chocolatey, nutty, fruity tones… mmm!)
The process of making the whiskey is extremely complex. It’s divided in to five stages; mashing, fermentation, distillation, maturation, blending and finally bottling. (Bushmills are one of the only grain to glass distilleries in the world!)
In 1885 the distillery burnt to the ground! (Don’t panic, it was rebuilt!)
But I’ll let you discover more for yourself, if you’re a fan of the ‘uisce beatha’ — Gaelic for whiskey, then this place is 100% worth the visit. You can watch the whiskey making take place, and N.B. You still get free samples at the end of the tour. Don’t miss out on this!