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Bushmills Malt 21 Year Old Madeira Finish

Emperor of Ireland

4 494

@DutchGaelischReview by @DutchGaelisch

10th Dec 2016

0

Bushmills Malt 21 Year Old Madeira Finish
  • Nose
    23
  • Taste
    24
  • Finish
    22
  • Balance
    25
  • Overall
    94

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Irish whiskey, with a ‘E’ of course. Matured in Oloroso Sherry and Bourbon casks, before a two year marrying period in Madeira casks. Bottle no: 05938/2014.

The Madeira finish is spot on! It works really well for Bushmills. The 16 yo has a Port finish, for me that isn’t working at all. Ok, back tot he 21 yo. The price of this one is € 85,- really a bargain for this quality!

Deep amber color. Taste: richly flavored, toffee, chocolate, BBQ-raisins (really it’s in there), dates, white grapes, honeyed barley, oak, vanilla. Finish: dry, lingering notes of oak and BBQ-raisins. It keeps coming back. A complex whiskey and very well balanced.

At first I was dissapointed bij the 40% ABV, but I can imagine now that a 43% ABV could ruin the balance in the whiskey and spoil the delicate flavours. I’ll give the distillers the beneffit of the doubt that 40% ABV was only to enhance the tasting experiance, not the profits :)

Big big compliments to Bushmills fort his stunner, this is the Emperor of Ireland and a benchmark for all other whiskey’s. It’s a proud bottle standing out in my cabinet full of Scotsman. I've got two stashed away to enjoy for the years to come.

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4 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

There is a big fan club for Bushmills 21 yo Malt, I among them. You may notise that Jim Murray has held Bushmills 21 yo as the Irish Single Malt Whiskey of the Year for multiple years in a row now. I only have one unopened bottle of it remaining, and sometimes I think that is not enough. Where I live it was sold at an insanely low price for quite a long time, and then suddenly, Poof!, all of the bottles of it disappeared from the shelf and have not reappeared for about 2 years now. Carpe diem.

7 years ago 1Who liked this?

@DutchGaelisch
DutchGaelisch commented

@Victor Salutem! Life is to short to drink mediocre whisk(e)y. The Connosr community has been a big help for me to find the gems more efficiently. What's your thought on the 40% ABV?

7 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@DutchGaelisch, I have given an enormous amount of thought to the 40% ABV of Bushmills 21 yo malt. I am inclined to agree with what I believe that you are saying that maybe it would be hard to keep the character of this particular whiskey at a higher abv. It would be enormous fun to be able to experience the smell and taste of Bushmills 21 at a variety of ABVs going up from 40% to 55%, wouldn't it? That would be an enormous treat.

As it stands at 40% ABV, the thought I have most often about Bushmills 21 yo malt is that it is just too easily drinkable, and that one can or could go through a bottle of this precious juice much too quickly!

7 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Ol_Jas
Ol_Jas commented

After 21 years of theft-by-angel, not to mention losses incurred during the various cask shuffles, I wonder how high its cask strength is to begin with. Maybe it's not taking a whole lot of water to get down to that 40%.

7 years ago 1Who liked this?