Bushmills The Causeway Collection 1989 Port Cask #6095

Distilled in April 1989 and bottled in 2021, this 32 year old single malt from Bushmills comes from a single Port cask numbered 6095, released as part of The Causeway Collection. It spent its entire life in that one cask, quietly doing its thing for over three decades before being bottled at 53.8 percent ABV, non chill filtered, natural colour.

This is not a finished whiskey. There was no late tweak or second act. The Port cask is the whole story here, and after 32 years it shows. The colour is deep red gold. The nose leans into dried fruits, dark berries, stewed plums and old dessert wine notes, with oak sitting firmly underneath rather than on top. On the palate it is rich and layered without being sticky. Think ripe stone fruit, blackcurrant, blackberry, vanilla and toasted oak, with the alcohol carrying the flavours rather than dominating them. The finish is long, warm and dry, with lingering fruit and wood spice.

This cask was selected for release by La Maison du Whisky and bottled in 354 bottles. It sits at the heavier, more intense end of Bushmills’ older stock, helped by the higher bottling strength and the concentration that comes with long Port cask maturation.

What makes this release more interesting is that it has a near twin. Bushmills also released a 32 year old 1989 Port cask from cask 6096 at the same time. Same distillation year, same age, same cask type, same series. The difference is that cask 6096 was bottled at a lower strength and yielded fewer bottles. Side by side, they show how much variation you can get from individual casks even when everything else lines up on paper. Where 6096 is generally described as softer and more restrained, 6095 comes across as fuller, darker and more assertive, with the extra strength giving it more grip and depth.