Bushmills Malt 10 - soft as new milk (and about as exciting)

Bushmills Single Malt Double Wood 10. 40%abv Diageo

Bushmills puts this in a bottle with a fancy green label bearing the motto "Matured In Two woods" - by which they mean bourbon and sherry cask. I'm all over secondary wood finishing (although apparently Bushmills does this "backwards" with a short sherry initial aging and then a long period in the ex bourbon cask (Woodford, i've heard). All this sounds wonderful. It's Diageo, so they'll chill filter and maybe add some color (not much - this stuff is pale) - but how can this go wrong, really?

Color: pale gold

Nose: It's very shy and retiring. It takes quite a bit of air and time to come out of it's shell - but is nice when it does, with notes of malt, vanilla, sherry, some old cloves and a hint of mint.

Entry is sweet and light with a malt mint and pink fruit medley (airs of grapefruit - without the citric acid). Midplate is gentle as milk with a thin grain body and the characteristic minty Bushmills flavor signature - just like you'll taste it in White and Black Bush - but without the grain alcohol. Indeed, in this young single malt expression I feel like we are at the root of this flavor profile. The mint turns a tad bitter at the finish - which is exceptionally brief. There's a hint of sherry sweetness at the end to offset it - but just a hint. The dominant word here is "gentle". Indeed, "meek" may be a better term. It's exactly the flavor signature of gentle Old Bushmills White, but with more malt in the midpalate - more malt grain foundation - and a richer mouth feel because it's free of the grain. It's perfectly pleasant. There's nothing wrong here. If you like the base Bushmills expressions you will feel right at home.

Ultimately, a snooze. Get the 16 - which has more vinous influence and wood or stick to White or Black and save a few bucks. The 10 hews too close to the blends; splitting hairs.

**

Black Bush is a step up but still falls short.

Bushmills and Jamesons are the leading brands of Irish whiskey. The white labelled "Old Bushmills" as the entry level product has a high proportion of neutral grain spirits which give an insipid weak and fishy quality which mar the lovely minty clean Irish whiskey flavor. Black Bush is still a blend, but ups the proportion of malt whiskey substantially to the benefit of the flavor and enjoyment. Clean and minty - the malt in Irish whisky is baked in sealed kilns, rather than over peat fires like Scotch so, unlike Scotch, Irish generally has no smoke and no peat. This arrangement allowed the use of sooty coal fires for malting without affecting the flavor of the malt. This cleanness of malt flavor is amped up by the use of triple distillation which removes most of the heavy volitiles. This is changing, particularly as regards Cooley's Connemara line which makes peated Irish using double distillation.

Black Bush, however is an old traditional style. The "Johnny Walker Black" of Irish whiskey in almost every detail.

Color: a rich old gold with amber tint. Caramel color? I'd bet there's some. In any case it is a darker, prettier dram than the white by far.

Nose: Not a big nose, but polite, sweet, delicate and amiable with minty malt, green pear, and some toffee malty sweetness subtly underneath.

Entry is sweet and clean with refined white malt sugar and gentle spearmint. The mint note expands and becomes peppery - merging with spirit heat at mid-palate. The malty grain emerges and gives a bit of body before becoming a bit beany and rough at the finish. The finish is short with a bit of bitterness at the end. This bitter finish almost has a toasted oat, woody quality - but not quite. I find it ends up more neutral bitter, almost like a chemical.

Black Bush is light and easy drinking, but isn't distinguished or memorable in any way. It's a clear step up from white label Bushmills - but not enough to recommend. The front end really does show you malt flavor. It's nice in coffee, or for other Irish mixing duty. It's ok to sip neat. However, it's too dilute at 40% to add any water to (to help smooth the bitter note). Bottom line - an ok option if you want a nice middle of the road Irish minty flavor option but there are far better Irish whiskeys out there for not much more money such as Tyrconnel, Redbreast 12, The Knot 100, Kellan, or even Jameson 12 (not the undated expression).  Even Tullamore Dew 10 (not the undated expression) is a step up in my opinion.  Meanwhile, I consider Bushmills 16, Bushmills 1608, and Bushmills 21 among the finest Irish whiskeys (just a notch below Midleton's Very Rare) - so it's not as if the distillery doesn't know what they are doing.

**

Bushmills 1608 is a an usually rich and complex Irish whisky

Bushmills 1608 is a limited anniversary edition made with a more richly flavored grain: crystal malt.

Rosy amber - coppery - in the glass. It's a much richer color than usually seen in Irish.

The nose is rich and sweet with butterscotch, maple, and malted milk with vanilla and sherry lingering. It's yummy.

Entry is toffee sweet with a gentle midpalate expansion of sherry, vanilla, cream soda with muted hints of the Bushmills mint. It is a rich and sweet presentation. Peppery around edges of tongue. Finish is gentle and relatively short, arriving with drier notes of herbal bitters, oats, and more oaky vanilla. The herbal quality adds a bitter final note that feels bracing - a balance to the sweetness up front. The herbal final note is recognizably kin to the mint found earlier in the palate in the more commonly met Bushmills & Bushmills black.

All in all a richer more complex array of flavors than one usually meets in an Irish whisky. Bravo. If it weren't for Midletons I'd say this rivaled the top of the heap. This is clearly one of Ireland's stand out whiskeys. Highly recommended.

****