Following our time at Dunluce Castle, we went on to Bushmills, where we toured the Bushmills Distillery, which started in 1608:
History: Despite a lack of historical evidence, it is believed
[citation needed] that troops of
King Henry II drank Bushmills some 400 years before the distillery became officially licensed in
1608 by
King James I. In
1784 the Bushmills Distillery became an officially registered company. From 1740 to 1910 Irish emigrants to the
USA spread the word of Bushmills, as did the product's wins in international spirit and whiskey competitions.
A showcase at the distillery
In the early 1900s, the USA was a very important market for Bushmills (and other
Irish Whiskey producers).
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. This is in contrast to the serious neglect that the brand suffered during its time under Irish Distillers, during which the whiskey stocks at Bushmills were severely decreased in order to increase the market share of
Jameson Whiskey, which is Irish Distillers' main brand. 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.
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| The fake drunks. |
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| Still at it! |
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| Noel treated us to tickets! Thank you, Noel! |
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| Anja and Noel |
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| We couldn't take pictures inside the distillery for fire concerns, but could take them on the grounds. |
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| Our tour guide had a great sense of humor. |
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| Oops! Karen momentarily forgot the rule about not taking photos inside, when she took a photo of "Batman" Noel! We had a good laugh about her rules breach! |
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| Our guide, while explaining that whiskey is not taken with ice cracked a funny. He said Irish-made things and ice do not go well together...consider the Titanic.... |
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| Anja, Noel, and John sample different whiskey years. Karen is the designated photographer, being a teetotaler and all! |
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| Poor Noel--we were bugging him to speak in Gaelic. |
2 comments:
Mom you are so rebellious, please stop. What? You were bugging someone to speak a different language...that is so not like you! Oh wait, yes it is.
You know me too well, Its Bits...!
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