Old Bushmills Distillery, The Legend - 1608

The Bushmills 1608 Bar in the Tavern Dining Room; at a stopover with its tour, cafeteria, bar and gift shop. The Irish foods were excellent and worthy of the visit. The whiskey choices are excellent, as you could dream. Picture "leprechauns" dancing in the aisle, sampling the Bushmills. You can smell the peat and malt in the air. 

I started with a Bushmills 12YearOld,as smooth as you could wish for. Served neat, splash of water - an enjoyable method to taste a good Irish whiskey. My girlfriend on the trip tried the Bushmills Irish Honey, neat with splash of water. She liked it! Surprise! A whiskey drinker, I find, after 46 years. I plan to marry the girl!

Happy as can be, we were joined by Ann from Dublin and her friend who had journeyed up from the Irish Republic. This was only their second journey to Northern Ireland, north of Dublin.  In response to my question about why so infrequently to the North - she said she'd traveled to the United States four times, once as far as Hawaii. We talked about that, visiting places so far away and yet "the North", only twice in her lifetime. But admittedly, I am in the same situation. Two trips to Europe in a year and haven't made it to the Grand Canyon! As the lovely Ann offered me her coupon for a second drink, she said she was not a drinker. Well, except for the Mai-Tai in Hawaii. And then there were the cocktails in New York. Well, you get my drift. All that as she offered me her ticket for a complimentary drink at the pub.

Speaking to the Barman, I asked his advice on what to have that would be different from the first one.  Touching his nose, just as I had seen the young man at Trinity College in Dublin had, he said, "between you and me" as he poured the The Bushmills 16YO. Another equally as smooth, gentle down the throat. As we'd been to Scotland, I took note that in Scotland it was whisky, a uniformly measured pour from a measure. In Ireland, normally a pour with no measure. And they spell it "whiskey".

Bushmills was a very charming visit, made more so by the two Irish ladies, a knowledgeable and kind barman, and a lovely day at Bushmills in Northern Ireland sipping  Bushmills 12YO and later a 16YO.  And my sweetheart's Bushmills Irish Honey.

And of course there was the remarkable geometric rocks at the storied "Giant's Causeway".

Ann of Dublin, Sla'inte! .....

Drink - a Bushmills Whiskey
   served neat with a splash of water; or
   alternately - one large cold ice cube


Music - The Pogues, "If I Should Fall from Grace With God"
Appetizer - lamb slice, cold and accompanied by "UK brown sauce"