Bushmills 16 Year Single Malt

Ah, Bushmills. Up until I recently devoured bottles of the Green and Yellow Spots, this was one of my favorite Irish whiskies- alongside a few West Cork releases. This 16yo Bushmills that advertises Port Wine finishing really had me thoroughly excited. I had a sample of the 21 year old Bushmills a couple of years ago and I believe I gave it a perfect score of 5 stars. It was a delicious, complex dram. I was hoping for similar results here... Well, let’s just say, that didn’t happen. This 16 year old release contains 2 whiskies: one aged in ex-bourbon casks and the other in ex-Spanish Oloroso sherry casks. They were blended together and then finished for an additional 6-9 months in ex-Port wine casks. It was then where I believe this whiskey went awry: it was blended down to 40% ABV. It’s weakness is where I place all the blame for the negative aspects I detected in this dram. It’s a beautiful, dark copper in the Glencairn (which I’m not sure if there was color added). There were large, watery drops that were chased down by undefined, heavy legs. There even seemed to be a thin layer of water overtop of the entire pour. The nose was initially soft wood and sweet raisins but was ultimately taken over by a nutty dominance that never released its hold. Giving it time and a concentrated nosing I was able to pick up faint notes of grape must and bitter chocolate. The palate stayed true to the nosing with raisins, grapes and cereal oatmeal with a slow-burning, wood characteristic that neither excited, nor hurt the overall flavor profile. It was just a constant, yet restrained smoke. The infusion of a drop of water only killed what was already a weak mouthfeel. An oily mouthcoat might have actually saved this dram for me, but alas, the watery feel washed everything quickly away. This also left the finish a bit wanting. It ended up very short and sickly sweet. Smoky wood and chocolate gave it a funky aftertaste that left me disinterested in trying to pick up more from this dram. This bottle really begs for a higher punch from the ABV- I think 44-46% would’ve given this one some heat and necessary character. Overall, the biggest plus I got from this bottle was the sale price- I picked it up out of the U.K. for a song: $59. I’ve seen prices here in the USA for $125+. There’s no way it’s worth that price, but $59 is an absolute steal and a price is actually pay again for a bottle of this caliber. Sadly, I doubt I’ll see it again at that level. It’s still a middle of the road dram, and if you’re a Bushmills fanboy then I’d say splurge for a bottle if you can find it under $100. Otherwise, pony up the extra and buy the 21 year old or divert that money to a bottle of wine finished Green Spot. That’s money better spent, IMHO. As is, this is a 3.25-3.5 star dram, tops. Cheers.

A bitter wooden taste. Very mild aroma.