This feature has been produced in partnership with Bushmills Irish Whiskey.
Irish whiskey has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, in no small part to the success of Peaky Blinders – the amber liquid being the signature drink of choice for the TV show’s impeccably well-dressed gangsters.
But Irish whiskey isn’t just a rough-and-tumble sort of drink: it’s just as refined and complex as anything out of Scotland or Japan. Indeed, the oldest licenced whiskey distillery in the world comes from Ireland: Bushmills, which was granted its licence to distil back in 1608.
Located on County Antrim’s rugged coastline – just near the famous Giant’s Causeway – Bushmills is an Irish institution and one of the finest whiskey makers on the planet. It’s one of only a handful of distilleries in the world where all of the distillation, maturation, bottling and shipping happens all under one roof, which is emblematic of Bushmills’ pursuit of perfection. Their Master Distiller, Colum Egan, is a custodian of centuries of unique whiskey-making knowledge and tradition – and now, in 2021, they’re gearing up to share more of their rarest treasures.
Teaming up once again with Australia’s largest whisk(e)y subscription service, The Whisky Club, Bushmills is releasing yet another exclusive drop The Causeway Collection: an exclusive series of whiskeys named after the famous UNESCO World Heritage Site situated near the old distillery that pairs Bushmills’ passion for fine Irish single malts and tradition with extremely rare and unique cask finishes.
Their latest creation is the 2011 Banyuls Cask Finish: a cask strength (53.6% ABV), non-chill filtered single malt matured for over six years in oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels, and then finished in rare Banyuls casks for an unprecedented three years. Banyuls is a French AOC-designated dessert wine made from old vines cultivated in terraces on the slopes of the Catalan Pyrenees in the Roussillon county of France. This unique finish lends the whiskey notes of baked peaches, apricots and a hint of anise. The 2011 Banyuls Cask has a long, luscious and warm finish; a truly special and refined whiskey for only the most discerning drinkers.
“At Bushmills, we take our rich history and classic taste and couple it with innovative maturation and finishes to enhance the great flavours that are already there,” Bushmills Master Distiller Colum Egan relates.
“We’re not trying to create a Port, Madeira or a Banyuls, but we are picking up nuances from each of those barrel finishes to bring something new and unusual to our whiskey… Maintaining the unique taste and character is so important, but it’s through innovations in maturation and unique barrel finishes that we can really add some more layers of complexity and nuances to that classic Bushmills taste.”
The 2011 Banyuls Cask is an Australian release made exclusively for The Whisky Club, which has quickly become a must-subscribe service for any Aussie whisk(e)y enthusiast thanks to its unparalleled ability to source rare and exclusive drops from around the globe, especially Ireland.
In 2020, Bushmills launched the global first release from The Causeway Collection through The Whisky Club: the 2006 Marsala Cask. That release has since gone on to become a highly coveted pickup, with bottles now fetching close to AU$2,400 at auction (that’s 20 times the original RRP of AU$120) – indicative of how amazing Bushmills’ Causeway Collection single malts really are.
Join The Whisky Club for free via www.thewhiskyclub.com.au before October 3rd, 2021, to ensure your access to the Bushmills 2011 Banyuls Cask from The Causeway Collection. Your tastebuds will thank you later.
Bushmills encourages you to drink responsibly. The Causeway Collection is only available to whisk(e)y lovers aged 18 years and over.