Distiller Notes
#16 Whisky Advocate Top 20 of 2022
Bushmills 12 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey is a full-bodied, deep amber whiskey that is both complex and approachable. The whiskey is triple-distilled from 100% malted barley and matured for a minimum of 11 years in former sherry casks and bourbon casks, before combining and finishing for 6-9 months in Marsala wine casks, creating a whiskey rich in dried fruit and nut flavors.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Aged in oloroso sherry and bourbon barrels, then finished in marsala casks, this 12-year-old offers rich butterscotch tones plus a hint of milk chocolate studded with almonds and toasted coconut. Still, it lands lightly, cut with grapefruit peel astringency.
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Whisky Advocate
Layering a marsala wine-cask finish over Irish single malts matured in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks unleashes a visceral, full-bodied Bushmills into its core range, a dynamic juxtaposition from the easy drinking of the honey-sweet 10 year old. Master blender Alex Thomas serves up a magnificently sturdy dram, primed with dark sweet delights and peppered with mixed peel, sultana, and walnut oil, offering tantalizing twists and turns of intensity through its honey, sweet fig, and black tea flavors.
The result of an historically prohibitive tax placed on malted barley by the English crown, Irish Whiskey is most often produced from a combination of un-malted barley and other grains. Whereas most other Whiskeys are twice distilled, Irish Whiskeys are distilled three times in a column still and must mature in oak barrels for a minimum of three years. These intricate production steps combine to make them lighter, smoother and more approachable than other styles.