Aqua Vitae: The Water of Life
The immersive experience The Origins of Irish Whiskey at the Grand Hall Illumes, is the oldest and larges single malt Irish whiskey tasting since Bushmills led a tasting at the Chicago world fair in the 1890’s.
The Origins of Whiskey Immersive Experience Presented by Bushmills is a fun blend of cutting-edge technology and age-old tradition and Myth.
My journey began with Bushmills Distillery’s immersive Northern Irish experience in the spectacular Hall des Lumières. The hall was transformed to the Irish coast with the help of over 130 video projectors, 54 speakers, 22 subwoofers, and cutting-edge mapping technology We were thrilled as monstrous waves seemingly crashed amongst us and roared around us one moment, all the while playful spring lambs frolicked in the countryside.
Bushmills goal was to bring you to Northern Ireland as you entered the space. As the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world, having forged its own path for over 400 years they used some unique technology to tell its story. This was an amazing experience and they were able to accomplish their goal of bringing Bushmills front and center to the Irish whiskey re-emergence.
The story of whiskey is long and varied full of truths and half truths .The word “whiskey” comes from the Gaelic uisge, a shortened version of uisge beatha meaning “water of life,” also known as aqua vitae in Latin.
Whiskey had to be regulated, which means it could only be officially distilled by license. In 1608, King James I granted a license to Sir Thomas Phillips, who owned property and land in County Antrim -Bushmills to be precise! This does give Bushmills the claim to fame of being the oldest surviving grant of license distillery anywhere in the world. However they did not register to trade until the late eighteenth century.
The honor of the oldest operating distillery instead, goes to the Kilbeggan Distillery in County Westmeath, which is also home to the oldest working pot still in the world, at more than 250 years old. In 1757, Matthew McManus began the distillation of the whiskey with his family
Renowned Irish storyteller, Colin Urwin teased our senses of sight, sound and taste as he narrated the journey for us of Giants and how Fin McCool built Giants causeway to walk to Scotland. The Vibrant visuals of the Irish landscape projected throughout the space as Urwin recounted the legendary tales that shaped the story of whiskey all mingled with a telling of Irish myth and how whiskey was born.
This light and sound exhibit transported us out of the a bustling city streets and into the rugged North Ireland Coast where whiskey was first created. We were amazed as the weather and the natural conditions of the Giant’s Causeway as we glided over the flowing River Bush that runs through beds of basalt rock. Then as it reached the golden barley fields that lead into the iconic still houses that are home to the most awarded single malt in Ireland..The walls of the space were turned into the cliffs of the Norh Atlantic as crashed against the basalt stone traditional Irish music Fiddle, Tin whistle, bodhrán was piped throughout the event this helped to lend authenticity and engagement to the experience.
Walking towards up stairs you were able to take in the scope of the space. We were seated upstairs and had a view of the entire event. At our seats were Four samples of Bushmills along with water and soda crackers all used to cleanse the palate for the next tasting of whiskey.
It was really wonderful, especially when we began to be guided on our tasting of the four whiskeys. The sights and sounds were so vivid, it felt like we were quite literally transported to the coast of Northern Ireland. Bushmills used amazing technology for this affect. At once , I was surrounded by the roar of the ocean; the next, I could almost hear the clinking of glasses and laughter in a raucous Irish pub. And the sampling flight of drams? . The tasting each brought fourth a unique feeling married with the narration and the immersion. The Four whiskeys we tasted were a Bushmills 26 year old : a harmony of single malts and matured for at lest 16 years in hand selected Oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels. A Bushmills 21 Year old : An exceptional example of single malts matured for at lest 19 years in hand selected Oloroso butts and bourbon barrels. Next a Bushmills 25 year old Bottled at 46% ABV and non chilled filtered.
Bushmills 25 is a extremely rare find in the United states with only 120 cases imported annually … you can find it at the Dead Rabbit. Finally there was the Rare cask03 Bushmills rare cask is a 30 year old Maderia cask single malt release apart of the rare cask series , which was created to showcase some of Bushmills oldest and most collectable whiskey to date available in the US . This is the last chance to taste this rare cask expression in the USA Each Whiskey was special in its own right out of all them I preferred the 21 year old just an amazing taste and smooth drinking whiskey with a bit of burn for the throat. Our day was not over as we were asked to go to the vault . This is where Bushmills had some of the rarest and most unique samples available, They had transformed the bank vault that once house riches into a bar that now Irish Gold and served some unique and very expensive whiskey. Saliante’!
