Hello and welcome to another edition of Booze reviews, I am the man called Justice and in the spirit of the holiday on we just celebrated I’d like to request that for the duration of this article you read it with an Irish accent.
Yes, yet another St. Patrick’s day has come and gone, complete with bits of green hastily thrown into your outfit, strange foods most of us wouldn’t normally eat, and Booze. Lots and lots of Booze. This St. Patty’s day William Henri Neve IV and myself sat down with some Irish whiskey and now I’d like to present one of them to you.
Bushmills Black Bush (yes I know it’s a funny name , but if you giggle at it too much people will think you’re twelve) is a delicious and dark Irish whiskey, perfect for the day we celebrate green things, corned beef and alcohol.
Now I typically am a person more biased towards Scotch Whisky, and going into this review I thought I might have to curb my bias so that I could appreciate this one. As it turns out that was completely unnecessary. This drink was on par with several mid-tier blended Scotch Whisky’s like Johnnie Walker Black Label while still having its own uniquely Irish taste.
What they Say: “…”
And that’s about it. The bottle is completely devoid or wank of description of any kind really. On the front of the bottle there’s mention of the distillery, the fact that its won many awards, that its matured in Sherry Casks, but other than that very little is given away by the bottle itself. Its corked which is always a plus with Whiskies, and the glass is raised with the Bushmills emblem and the date the distillery was founded. Personally this is the kind of bottle I find most appealing, it lets the Whiskey speak for itself without undue hype or the risk of disappointment.
Now it’s time for some numbers. Also, please note that for this review it was only William Henri Neve IV, myself, and a mysterious guest reviewer:
Taste: 6.7 – It’s really good, nice dark flavor to it.
Aftertaste: 5.7 – Stays in your mouth a little too long, but still not bad.
Burn/Smooth: 6.5 – It goes down pretty smooth, but it still has a burn I’ve come to expect in Irish blends.
Aroma: 5.8 – This category was a bit polarizing, I thought it smelled great, Reviewer X nearly choked.
Honesty: 7.3 – As my description of the bottle no doubt gave away, it’s quite the whiskey.
Mixability: N/A
It was St. Patty’s day, all we had to mix it with was beer and corned beef in which respect it did very well.
Value: 4.3 – And here’s where it dropped the ball, with a Google shop average of about $40, none of us seemed too eager to go: ‘well that was the deal of the century!’
Google Shop Average: $40
Website: http://www.bushmills.com/
Reviewer Scores:
William Henri Neve the IV: 6
Justice: 6.5
Reviewer X: 6
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Metric Score: 36.3/60 |+| Metric Average: 6.05 |+| Reviewer Average: 6.17
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Final Thoughts:
It was a nice solid whiskey if you’re looking to try something new. It’s definitely at the very least worth what you pay for it, but it’s not something I’d rush out to buy again.
Editor’s Note: While heavily intoxicated on Jameson I walked to my nearest packy to help participate in this review and I bungled it by picking up a nip of regular Bushmills. Now I suppose in the future we will give it a formal review, but until then note it isn’t nearly as good as what’s going on here. The taste feels light and you can sort of feel the oddness from the sherry cask – only the smoky aftertaste makes it slightly passable, and it appears you get more of that here. So while it’s a lower cost, if your looking for that Bushmills Irish Whiskey go for the Black.