Bushmills Port Cask Reserve - The Steamship Collection

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 40% | Chill filtration: Yes | Colouring: Yes

Special Features:

Maturation entirely in Ruby Port pipes makes this Bushmills Single Malt the Port wine edition of the Steamship Collection. The casks come from wine estates in Portugal’s Douro Valley. Helen Mulholland, the Master Blender at the time, personally selected them during a visit to the region. They held Port wine for at least three years before being emptied and sent to Bushmills to be filled with whiskey. These three years refer to the preparation of the casks, not the age of the whiskey.

Port Cask Reserve was released in 2016 as the second edition of the Steamship Collection, originally developed for travel retail. The range commemorates the voyages of the SS Bushmills: in 1890, the steamship carried the distillery’s whiskey to new markets. The collection began with Sherry Cask Reserve to mark the 125th anniversary of its maiden voyage; the Port wine release continued the exploration of different cask maturations.

This triple-distilled Single Malt combines a honeyed malt character with dark fruit, nutty notes and roasted accents. It is bottled at 40% alcohol in a 0.7-litre bottle and comes in gift packaging.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: Honey-sweet malt leads on the nose. It is accompanied by warm Port wine sweetness and vanilla, with a woody accent.
• Palate: On the palate, this robust whiskey opens with almond notes. Plums and dark chocolate then emerge, before honey and praline round out the flavours.
• Finish: The long finish is warm. Leather, Port wine and coffee linger.

Distillery/Bottler:

The Old Bushmills Distillery lies near Ireland’s northern coast. It uses only malted barley for its Single Malts and distils them three times in copper pot stills. Distillation, maturation and bottling all take place at the distillery site.

Whiskey-making in the region dates back to the distilling licence granted in 1608; the Old Bushmills Distillery itself was established in 1784. A fire destroyed the distillery in 1885, while the whiskey warehouses survived. Reconstruction was followed by a period of international expansion, which included voyages by the company’s own steamship.

Facts: