A curveball. This bottling of Bushmills 10 is one from the 1990s, if my information is correct. That also means that the distillate is from the 1980s at the latest. Therefore it should be quite a ways different than current bottlings, although it’s been ages since I tried one.

I got this in a blind sample pack from MvZ, as did everyone else who tried it according to Whiskybase’s stats, since I know four of the five people who left a rating.

Sniff:
Cigar tobacco leaves, leather, old grains and oak. A bit of sweetness, but also hints of cracked wallpaper and dusty attics.

Sip:
The palate is slightly dry and dusty, and has a little of pepper on it. There’s barley and sawdust, a hint of banana and apple, and that slightly papery thing persist on the palate too.

Swallow:
The finish is very old fashioned and has a hint of cask aged white wine as well. Lots of barley and a hint of old leather. Dusty and dry, like old attics with wood worm dust everywhere. Autumn leaves.

To me, when trying it blind, it tasted like way older Speyside whisky instead of a rather young Irish one. I guessed this to be some kind of standard bottling from the 1970s, and mentioned that I wouldn’t be overly surprised if this would turn out to be a Fino cask of some sorts.

Of course, I was about as far off as one can be, but it does say something about the quality. Especially on the finish. The palate and nose were a bit dusty and didn’t score very high for me. But, all in all, a very decent dram that I wouldn’t mind trying again (as in, if I had a bottle, I’d gladly drink it over some time).

86/100