Bushmills 26 Year Old Crystal Malt

Released in 2024 for Global Travel Retail, Bushmills 26 Year Old Crystal Malt joined the distillery’s Prestige Collection, a range that showcases some of the oldest and rarest whiskeys from the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery. The Prestige Collection lineup includes 25, 30, and 31 Year Old single malts, with this 26 year old release adding a different style of rarity through its production method as much as its age.

This whiskey is built around crystal malt, a specialty malt (also known as caramel malt) made by heating malted barley while it still contains moisture. During this process, starches convert into sugars inside the husk before a hotter kilning stage caramelises those sugars and drives Maillard reactions. That creates a higher load of caramel and toasted sweetness precursors that carry through fermentation and distillation, pushing the spirit towards butterscotch, toffee and cocoa like richness. Crystal malt is also typically more expensive and less efficient for alcohol yield than standard distilling malt, making it a deliberate choice where flavour is prioritised over output.

Matured for the full 26 years in first fill bourbon barrels, the whiskey then builds further depth through concentrated American oak extraction and long oxidation, reinforcing the crystal malt character with vanilla richness, caramelised sweetness and rounded structure. Expect honeyed apple and warm caramel on the nose, followed by crème brûlée, roasted nuts, dark chocolate, spiced pear and vanilla through the palate, leading into a long, warming finish.