BEFORE the Covid pandemic I have to admit that I wasn’t really a whiskey drinker – apart from the odd Irish Coffee. Ever since, I have sampled and enjoyed many types of whiskey and expanded my knowledge in an industry which is growing year upon year.
With my new found love for whiskey, I have been delighted to see many bars around Belfast take advantage of the growth of Irish whiskey by hosting various tasting and sampling nights.
I was therefore delighted to see that Ben Madigans Bar and Kitchen on the Cavehill Road were hosting their own whiskey night, thanks to a collaboration with Bushmills.
Perhaps the only downside was that it was on a Tuesday night, but nevertheless I could not turn down the opportunity of a midweek tipple.
It was a small group of eight of us, but for these type of events small numbers are perfect.
Taking part in the successful tasting night
We were welcomed by Mark McConville, Brand Ambassador for Bushmills whose job was to guide us through the night with a bit of history and to answer any questions we had.
The main event of the evening was of course the whiskey tasting itself and we were provided with six samples from across the Bushmills range – Black Bush, 10 Year Old, 14 Year Old, 16 Year Old, 21 Year Old and finishing with a 2011 Bushmills Causeway Collection whiskey, from Sauternes Cask.
Black Bush, 10 Year Old, 14 Year Old, 16 Year Old, 21 year-old and finishing with a 2011 Bushmills Causeway Collection whiskey, from Sauternes Cask.
Mark was highly knowledgeable and informative throughout as we went through each whiskey one by one. “We’re not good because we’re old, we’re old because we’re good,” said Mark, quoting Colum Egan, Master Distiller at Bushmills. It is easy to see why. The range of Bushmills whiskey is exceptional. The reality is Bushmills are good at what they do and it works – 400 years after first making whiskey in the Country Antrim village and it will continue for many years more.
My personal favourite before the session was Bushmills 10 Year Old; a go-to for me and many others. I left Ben Madigans with two more favourites from the range – the 14 Year Old and 16 Year Old are also exceptional. There are, however, no rights or wrongs with whiskey, it is very much a personal choice and as Mark said, “all we want is for you to open a bottle of any of our whiskeys and enjoy it.”
A big shout out also to Ben Madigans for the food served on the night – a huge platter of home-made canapés, including wheaten bread and pâté, squid, calamari rings and garlic prawn kebabs. It was a perfect accompaniment to some fantastic whiskey. I already can’t wait until many more similar events at Ben Madigans in the near future.
