Whiskey · County Antrim
Bushmills Distillery
The oldest licensed distillery in the world, ten minutes from the Giant's Causeway. Geography does half the work.
Our position
Take it as the afternoon half of a Causeway Coast day, not as a destination on its own, and buy the 16 or the 21 on site.
Bushmills was granted its licence in 1608 and has been making whiskey in the same North Antrim village ever since. The spirit is single malt rather than pot still, so it drinks closer to a Speyside than to Redbreast, which makes it a useful comparison rather than a repeat if you have already toured Midleton.
The visit works because of where it sits. Giant's Causeway in the morning while the light is good and the coaches are still on the road, lunch in the village, the distillery after, then Portrush or Belfast for dinner. That is the day, and it is one of the best in Ireland.
The 16 year old, finished in port pipes, and the 21 year old, which spends its final two years in Madeira casks, are the two bottles we buy at the shop rather than at home. Both are easier to find here than in the United States and meaningfully cheaper.
Book the visit
Which tour to book at Bushmills
Giant's Causeway and Bushmills day from Belfast
Full day · from £45
The sane way to do it if you have been tasting. Someone else drives the coast road.
Check dates and bookBushmills distillery tour and tasting
About 1 hour · from £15
Working distillery, warehouses, a tutored tasting at the end. Book the same day as the Causeway.
Check dates and book
Prefer to build the whole trip first? Plan the week around this distillery.
Buy on site
- Bushmills 16, port pipe finished
- Bushmills 21, two final years in Madeira
- Causeway Collection releases, distillery exclusive
Drink it here after
The Bushmills Inn
Bushmills
Gas-lit snug, turf fire, and a whiskey list that knows what it has.
The Duke of York
Belfast
Down a cobbled entry off Donegall Street. The deepest Irish whiskey wall in the north.
Practical
- From Belfast
- About 1 hour 15 minutes
- From the Causeway
- 10 minutes
- Currency
- Pounds sterling. This is Northern Ireland
- Pair with
- Dunluce Castle and Royal Portrush
Last checked September 2026. Source: the distillery.
Questions we get
- Can you visit Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway on the same day?
- Yes, and you should. They are ten minutes apart. Causeway first thing while the light is good, lunch in the village, distillery in the afternoon, dinner in Portrush or back in Belfast.
- Is Bushmills whiskey pot still?
- No. Bushmills makes single malt from malted barley alone, which drinks closer to a Speyside Scotch. Single pot still whiskey, the distinctively Irish style, comes from Midleton and a handful of newer distilleries.