BDanner
Bushmills 10 Year Single Malt
Single Malt — Ireland
Reviewed
August 10, 2019 (edited December 26, 2019)
This is one I've wanted to try for a while. Visiting family in Virginia and stopped in a small town ABC and saw it closed out for $26 so I bit. I recently was impressed by my first bottle of Black Bush, so my expectations going in are fairly high. Let's see if it meets them.
NOSE: Fairly Light. Cereal Grains & Apple Juice at first. With time it develops Sherry, Tea, Light Oak, and a heavy scent of Flowery Perfume.
NEAT: The first sip was almost effervescent. Light and Tingly with a healthy dose of Peppery Spice. Subsequent sips revealed it to be relatively Thin and Fruit Forward. Sweet Apple & Pear. Some Wood and Sherry notes. Bitter Finish with Sherry Notes lingering. Every tasting note listed you really had to work to find with the exception of the bitterness. It was front and center.
Splash: A little water really makes the Sherry Notes pop on the nose. Eliminates some of the bitterness, but makes the palate a one note Vanilla affair.
VERDICT: This one was a disappointment from the opening of the way too thin and flimsy paper tube to the bitter (pun intended) ending. This did not taste like 10 year old whisky. I much prefer the Black Bush. Hell, even though it's been while since I've had it, I may even prefer the standard White Label. Glad that I bought this at a closeout price and not the regular $40+ that it normally sells for. It will not be a repeat buy.
40.0
USD
per
Bottle
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
@BDanner nice review, though i find more to enjoy in this than you did. I’m with @Slainte-Mhath - the 16yo is top of the range IMO
@Slainte-Mhath Thanks for the heads up.
@BDanner Try the 16yo Bushmills, it's light-years ahead of the 10yo. A bit hard to find, though.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the Black Bush but I really liked it, disappointing to hear about this one.
@BDanner I remember 3 or 4 years back when I was starting to become more adventurous in the scotch/Irish aisle and I snagged this on a whim for $29.99 saying "its ten year, how bad can it be..." just like you did. I remember water making the sherry influence "too much" like you noted... it just doesnt have a stout body at the end of the day. My final thought was "shouldve bought glenmo"
Okay...Not crazy. This is a direct quote from the Bushmills Website "Bushmills Single Malt Whiskey 10 year old is triple distilled from 100% malted barley and matured for a minimum of 10 years in former Sherry casks and bourbon-seasoned casks which gives it its honey, vanilla and milk chocolate aroma". I feel a little more confident in my review now.
I never read the Distiller notes until after I've reviewed something. I have no idea what note I was getting that was sherry. Now that I've read that it is only aged in ex-bourbon, maybe I was having an off night and will visit this one again. Weird.