Bushmills

On Tuesday, we finally took our "company visit" (really we took the tourist tour) of Bushmills whiskey distillery. It was a really cool tour, since the distillery is actively in operation. As soon as you walk up to the buildings, you can smell the yeast.

There are a few interesting things I learned that I want to share! I didn't know the difference between Irish whiskey and Scotch whisky until this tour. There are two main differences, first, the spelling, the Irish wanted theirs to be different right off the bat, so they added an "e" to the name. Secondly, the Scottish smoke their barley as it dries, which gives it a "smokey" flavor when it's finished. Also, to make the whiskey, after the yeast is added and all the chemical reactions have taken place, they keep it at really high temperatures, and they collect the steam that escapes. This is the actual whiskey that you drink. Most of their "leftovers" from the process, like the gooey mixture that is leftover from this process is sold to local farmers as feed for their animals!

Those are my fun facts, but the other neat thing we got to do was taste test the whiskey. I'm not a huge fan of the taste, and luckily they offer an option for people like me. They make what they call a "Hot Toddy." It's a shot of whiskey with hot water flavored with cinnamon, sugar and allspice. It was actually pretty delicious!