The spirit of tradition and innovation

A conversation with Alex Thomas, Master Blender, Bushmills 

First granted a license to distil in 1608, the village of Bushmills in County Antrim is home to the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery. Fed by the pure waters of the River Bush, and inspired by the highest quality barley available, the distillery has evolved through the centuries, with the wisdom and experience of master blenders being passed from generation to generation.

Bushmills is uncompromising in its steadfast commitment to producing truly unique single malt whiskey. No distillery in Ireland has carried forward this tradition from ancient times, and its one that lives on in every drop of their finest triple-distilled pure malt whiskey. 

Shaping the legacy of this iconic distillery is no mean feat. Alex Thomas joined Bushmills in 2004, and qualified as a distiller in 2021 when she assumed the mantle of Master Blender. The Luxury Report caught up with Alex to learn more about the role of Master Blender and to get the inside track on what makes Bushmills’ single malt quite so special. 

You’ve mentioned that you take inspiration from the north coast of Ireland for your whiskey portfolio. Please expand on this – how does the region inspire the whiskey?

I absolutely love this island, I have grown up here all of my days and we have the best climate in the world for creating whiskey. Our weather is very balanced and never goes from too cold to too warm – so we haven’t got to rush when we create our whiskey. In warmer climates the change within a flavour profile of a cask happens much faster, and in a cold climate, it is too slow, here it’s just perfect. 

We draw great inspiration from the landscape. The River Bush here in County Antrim is the source of our water, and has been at the heart of everything that Bushmills has achieved since the very beginning. It is where our journey started all those years ago from just a small distillery to where we are today. It illustrates a little bit of that courage Finn McCool showed when he took on the Scottish giant Benandonner! Which is how in folklore the Giant’s Causeway was created. I find the legend inspiring, as it speaks to how I want to fight so hard for this category of whiskey.

You also say that you use the wisdom and experience from those who have gone before, whilst also cutting your own path to create a new era for Irish whiskey. Speak to us about your inspiration. 

So many people have inspired me over the years from this wonderful island. The list is endless, but everything they have achieved in their lives, whether pioneering whiskey or in other areas, they always remembered where they came from. Remembering our roots is something that we are really good at on this island. We love where we are from, we love what we do, and we give everything to create wonderful things, not least incredible whiskey. 

I draw inspiration from so many people that have worked at the Old Bushmills Distillery before me. Every day I’m inspired to be the best that I can, and to understand the privilege of this opportunity. To have this water source from the River Bush, our barley growing in the south of Ireland, the people from the area working in the distillery – fathers, sons, husbands, wives, it’s a wonderful legacy and a wonderful place to live. These traditions inspire every bottle of Bushmills.

Bushmills famously has a whiskey for every occasion, meaning different flavour profiles. Please talk a little about innovation in the blending process, and even taking certain risks. 

Innovation is at the heart of what I do. Although, when you take over at a brand like Bushmills you have an incredible legacy, you have heritage, so it’s a scary responsibility. But I have been very blessed to be given freedom, so there are no boundaries in what I am willing to try. And the wonderful thing is due to the art of blending you never lose whiskey. 

If I put a whiskey into a Brazilian Amburana cask for example, which is very powerful in flavour and imparts flavour really quickly, a creative flavour journey then begins. You see, these casks can very easily overpower more delicate flavours, so you are reluctant to leave the spirit in the cask too long, but you also want to push the cask as far as you can to see what it can achieve. 

You never have to be scared as you can take a whiskey which you feel is too strong in the flavour from a particular cask profile (e.g. the Amburana) and marry it with a lighter flavoured cask which will balance it out. So, you create a whiskey in the individual cask – then you can create something completely different by marrying casks with different flavours together and balancing it out. This is where a risk is worth taking because you can push a cask to a position you didn’t know was possible and create something totally unique. Or, if you don’t want to have to marry with other casks and you take it a step to far and think I wish I’d stopped 6 months ago you can start over with a new cask! This is what I do as a Master Blender, like a chef balancing and marrying flavours. 

As we’ve touched on above, whiskey is aged in different casks, sherry, port, etc. Describe how the different notes from the casks impacts the eventual flavour, and how this process unfolds. 

The seasoning of the casks imparts very different flavour profiles on the whiskey. For example, a sherry cask can be quite dry, so it’s much more of the dried fruit notes you are getting in there. So, if you wanted to have a very sweet note, you might go for a Pedro Ximenez sherry, whereas if you’re looking for more dry and delicate flavour profiles, the Oloroso also works a lot better. Having a balanced sherry cask works really well for me. The Pedro Ximenez is very powerful and bold, so you need to weigh up how you would use that, because it’s quite different. It all depends on where you want to go on that flavour journey, once you decide, there are cask profiles that will work for you. 

The port casks offer much more of the strawberries and raspberries, so it’s more of those hedgerow fruits that you are getting, which is why we want to experience different casks. 

At Bushmills, we have a DNA in our distillate, which gives you very much a pear and apricot flavour, so when selecting the cask profiles to work with, it has to enhance that DNA and not overpower it. That is one of the most important things when you are putting anything into the cask – if you have something that is very vibrant and flavoursome in the cask flavour profile, you run the risk of it overpowering. Therefore, when you do your distillation process, and we do triple distillation at Bushmills, you end up with something really delicate and fruit-forward, you have to be careful what cask you then put it into.

Further information – Bushmills Distillery