Bushmills whiskey breaks the million-case sales mark and gets onto Global Brand Champion listing

The historic Irish whiskey brand, now managed by Proximo, the Jersey City-based international distributor of an extensive portfolio of premium spirits, also reported a record 9.7% rise in volume sales in 2022 to breach one million nine-litre bottle cases, up from 0.9 million the year before, according to data from The Brand Champions for 2023.

The Brand Champions is an influential report of the world’s biggest-selling brands compiled by The Spirits Business, the industry’s leading international publication.

The growth, in addition, marks the first time that Old Bushmills has featured in The Brand Champions. It signals the consolidation of Bushmills as one of the world’s biggest and most successful whiskeys. It’s probably Northern Ireland’s biggest and

most successful global food and drink brand.

Melita Kiely, editor of The Brand Champions report, says: “To declare your brand a one million case-seller is an enviable feat. One million nine litre bottle cases is an extraordinary number of sales.”

Bushmills is the only Northern Ireland spirit to feature in the prestigious report.

Earlier this year, Old Bushmills opened its new £37 million Causeway Distillery, which more than doubled its production capacity. The state-of-the-art distillery and visitor centre is adjacent to the historic distillery.

Colum Egan, master distiller at Bushmills, reputed to be the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery dating back at last 400 years, commented: “We are obsessed with exceptional whiskeys – the ingredients, the processes, the wood, the ageing.

“Our second distillery represents a great step forward in ensuring generations to come will enjoy our renowned signature triple-distilled single malts alongside the innovations of the future.”

The new distillery in the Co Antrim village is part of Proximo’s £60 million investment in Irish single malt distilling and maturation at Bushmills over the last five years. It’s Proximo’s biggest-ever investment in Irish whiskey.

Causeway Distillery takes its name from the iconic Giant’s Causeway a few minutes from the new distillery, which spans 39,000 square feet.

It takes Bushmills’ production capacity from five million litres of alcohol per annum to 11 million litres per annum, while retaining the exact whiskey character of the original site.

Whiskey produced at Causeway will be used to make Bushmills, not a standalone brand. The Sexton, another single malt whiskey and now among the biggest selling in the strategically important US marketplace, is also produced from whiskey distilled at Bushmills. The US is now the biggest market worldwide for Irish whiskey.

Environmental concerns have also influenced the new distillery which was constructed from the latest thermal technology, cutting energy costs by almost a third. And distilling innovations incorporated into the design have increased material

consumption efficiency by up to 10%.

The distillery will also be run entirely on electricity from green sources. Additional sustainable initiatives include supplying by-products to local farms as animal feed, offsetting 12,500 tonnes of carbon emissions by planting 80,000 trees, and striving

for fully recyclable gift packaging by 2024.

To coincide with the opening of the striking Causeway Distillery, Bushmills added two single malt whiskeys to its core collection: a 25-year-old and a 30-year-old, the oldest single malts it has released to date.

The 30-year-old whiskey joins the core range and was distilled in 1992, the oldest expression in the brand’s core collection.

The whiskey was aged for 14 years before spending a further 16 years in Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks. Bushmills 25 Years Old also has been bottled without chill-filtration. The whiskey spent between four to six years in barrels before being transferred into ruby Port pipes for up to 21 years.

Alex Thomas, Bushmills master blender, added: “Oak has been our infatuation for over 400 years. Over 30 years ago, we travelled all over Europe to hand-select the casks for these fabulous whiskeys. We collaborated with winemakers to specify the fortified wine recipe used to season them and create the flavours of our future Bushmills whiskey.

“We’re proud of that mastery and expertise that ensures every cask is at its freshest and most flavourful to mature our Bushmills whiskey. It means our 25-year-old bursts with intense hedgerow dark fruit and a luxurious honey sweetness.

“It ensures our 30-year-old boasts an exquisite and enticing raisin, fig and praline richness. Even though it takes a lifetime of skill to make something great, it takes an obsession to make something legendary.”