After wandering around the Giant´s Causeway the shuttle bus brought me back to Bushmills and I decided it was about time to stroll around the village and to fulfil the whiskey orders I had brought with me.
Bushmills name came from the River Bush and the large watermill built there in the 17th century and the village is probably best known for its distillery, the oldest one worldwide!
1608 – On April 20th 1608, King James I granted Sir Thomas Phillips – landowner and Governor of Co. Antrim, Ireland – a license to distil.
1784 – The Old Bushmills Distillery is official. Hugh Anderson registered the Old Bushmills Distillery and the Pot Still became its registered trade mark. It’s still our mark of genuine distinction today. (Old Bushmills)
You´ll already smell the distillery before you´ll see it! It´s possible to take a tour around, but I just went into the shop and bought the desired Reserve, only available here.
On my way back into the city centre I passed a watermill – maybe the old one? At least it looked very idyllic!
Bushmills seemed to have quite an interesting project going on – photographs on doors and windows of empty houses (there was a lot of them) show how these used to look.
You´ll find even more images here: The Guardian
