It’s been a big year for Bushmills. The single-malt Irish whiskey specialist unveiled its £37m new distillery, next door to the Old Bushmills Distillery. It has also expanded its range of permanent single malts, adding a 25 Year Old, aged in port pipes for 19 of them, and a 30 Year Old, with 16 of those years in Pedro Ximénez butts.

Those are on top of an award-winning trio of single malts: 10 Year Old (bourbon- and sherry-aged to produce a creamy milk chocolate character), 16 Year Old (bourbon- and oloroso sherry-aged and finished in port pipes, resulting in caramelised fruit and nut with a red fruit finish) and 21 Year Old (same but longer initial maturation, with two years in Madeira casks for deep flavours of nuts, ripe fruit and dark chocolate).

The village of Bushmills has a long history of malt whiskey production, with the first distilleries to officially bear the name Bushmills debuting in 1784. In the 1850s, many Irish producers responded to increased barley taxes by changing their recipes, reducing the amount of malt whiskey in their blends. Bushmills sucked up the tax to maintain consistency.

The distillery’s first fully fledged single malts arrived in the 1980s, when tastes shifted. And now, with super-aged premium single malts all the rage, the 25 Year Old and 30 Year Old are available, albeit in limited numbers.

Tasting notes: the 25 Year Old (46% ABV, £790; limited to 3,500 bottles annually) offers blackberry and floral raspberry, stewed plum and dark cherry, dark chocolate and caramel. The 30 Year Old (46% ABV, £1,990; limited to 1,500 bottles annually) evokes autumn leaves and tagine spices on the nose, with marmalade-glazed madeleines and cinnamon-dusted pastéis de nata on the palate. The lengthy finish delivers different fruit and spice notes over time.

bushmills.com