St. Patrick’s Day 2026 – Fairlies
Bushmills is the oldest, licenced whiskey distillery in the world and this year they are doing a lot of events around St. Patrick’s Day. I thought I would give the 14-year-old bottling a go neat and in a cocktail. Basically, I came up with an Old-Fashioned variation with a bit of extra sherry.
First, let us take a look at the Bushmills 14-Year-Old: The single malt is triple distilled and aged in first and second fill ex-bourbon casks. Afterwards, the whiskey spends up to 12 months in Spanish Malaga wine barrels. In the end the whiskey is bottled at an ABV of 40 %.
Prototypical whiskey
From the first whiff of aroma the Bushmills shows a typical Irish Whiskeys character. This also continues in the taste. You are greeted whiff some cereal, backing spices and a slight sweetness. The drink is mellow, but also complex with sherry fruits lingering on in the back. Basically, this bottle is the prototype of an Irish Whiskey. You can show it to whisky novices and experienced whisky drinkers alike.
Basically, an Old-Fashioned
The drink using the Bushmills 14-Year-Old started with the idea of combining it with sherry. Afterall, the combination does work extremely well in the Artist’s Special. Yet, I wanted to stay true to the character of the single malt. Therefore, I only added some bitters to the base of whiskey and Moscatel sherry. To round everything off I also included a bit of vanilla syrup.
2 Dashes Angostura & Peychaud’s Bitters Mix
1,5 cl Bodegas Baron Moscatel Sherry
Stir – strain – chilled Old-Fashioned glass over large ice cube;
Garnish: Lemon Twist;
Song: Fountains D.C. – Fairlies;
*Homemade Vanilla Syrup: In a pan – combine ¼ of a vanilla pod with 100 g cane sugar and 50 ml of water – bring to boil – stir until sugar is dissolved – let cool – bottle in clean bottle;
The drink starts off with a beautiful combination of whiskey and fruity notes from the sherry. In a way, the Moscatel and the vanilla syrup only underline the flavours already present in the Bushmills. The bitters as well as the lemon twist add a bit of contrast. I enjoyed the ‘Fairlies’ quite a bit and will be making it again.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. I received the whiskey for free from Schwarze und Schlichte
