Description
In September 1890, the steamship of BUSHMILLS set sail for America on its maiden voyage. Her hold was full of the finest Irish Bushmills whiskey, and she embarked on the first of several extraordinary journeys to new markets around the globe, where she faced many daunting challenges. The first series of the Steamship Collection marks the 125th anniversary of her maiden voyage. She introduces a collection of special barrel-aged Bushmills Irish whiskeys inspired by her journeys to new corners of the world.
The story of THE STEAMSHIP It was not an easy journey for such a small ship. She struggled with raging storms and had to avoid a giant iceberg just three weeks into her journey. This was just the beginning of her adventures. She ran aground off New York, rescued a damaged American sailing ship in a storm and continued to experience unfortunate situations on her way to the Far East. No wonder that half of the colourful crew abandoned the ship en route. Despite everything, Captain Brady brought the ship home safely and reported a demand for her whiskey that would have filled a ship twice as big. As a result of this success, new voyages were soon planned to secure the future of our whiskey around the world.
Working with shipping historians, we were able to identify the ports they used from Philadelphia to Yokohama and beyond. When the ship's hold was filled with Caribbean rum, Madeira, bourbon and port barrels for the journey home, Bushmills' whiskey makers opened up a whole new world of flavours. This caught the imagination of Bushmills' Master Distiller Colum Egan and Master Blender Helen Mulholland, who began exploring the possibilities for a range of Bushmills malt whiskeys, aged exclusively in different casks from around the world. They started with a malt whiskey aged exclusively in sherry casks. The Steamship Collection now includes 4 permanent bottles inspired by their journeys.
