Luck O’ The Irish: Bushmills Red Bush with Dan

Happy week after St Patrick’s Day! Hey, either we make it a thing or this review sits on the shelf for a year. And by then, who knows? Maybe Red Bush will refer to brigades of aw shucks volunteers fighting under George W’s Veevay La Revolutseeon banner in the Second American Civil War, battling alongside the Juggaloos against the MAGA-hatted hordes and Russian nerve agent umbrella drones. At night, you can hear the memes reloading.

Uh anyway. Bushmills Red Bush! …I guess when the joke is right there, you just gotta go all in on it. This is a bourbon barrel aged Irish whiskey that the marketing says “personifies the gritty Irish character” by being “smooth”.

Hey, it’s easy to make fun of marketing speak. Which is why it keeps happening.

This bottle was interesting in that it was the least Bushmills Bushmills we’ve ever had, without that necessarily being a bad thing. Here’s what we thought:

nose
Dan – sweetish caramel & wood, the smell of cold air
Simon – copper, salt, smoke, sweet, salami, apple

neat
Dan – tart, not sweet, copper, black pepper, spice
Simon – thin, brassy, tea, salt

finish
Dan – long, spicy
Simon – long, throat heat

splash
Dan – neat but less pepper
Simon – simple, core flavour remains

overall
Dan – 8/10 – for a Bushmills, 5, for an Irish, 2, but for a whiskey, 8
Simon – 7.1/10

Bushmills Red Bush – 40% 750ml – $34.95 – Ireland

Try it? Yes. Buy it? Yes.