Monday, 20 May 2024

Bushmills

You may know of Bushmills from the whiskey.  The distillery lies just outside the village, and the river Bush flows through it:

On old Ilford Warmtone paper, printed as normal, then bleached back
and dunked in hot lith.  Didn't really give me the colours I was after - the water is a very dark brown, almost red - not that dissimilar to the whiskey, truth be told.

Just to the right of this scene lies the old stone mill house, now someone's house.  This is a very well photographed scene and the owners of the mill house have a sign up, welcoming photographers onto their property but requesting they don't venture past a certain point.  That seems very reasonable. 

3 comments:

  1. Lovely scene. Two kinds of Bushmills are sold at my local supermarket. The regular one and the black label(?) one. I don't drink, but my wife said it's good.

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    1. It's a relaxing place to stand for a while, Marcus. There used to be regular Bushmills and then 'Black Bush', a premium version. About 10 years ago they added a malt. No idea what the difference is - I'm not a whiskey drinker. The distillery dwarfs the village - it's a big tourist attraction as well, with guided (and tasting) tours. The Giant's Causeway is only a mile or so away, so lots of people do both on the same day.

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    2. I always imagine Irish and Scottish distilleries being in 300-year-old buildings with copper stills and employees all dressed like the characters in Peaky Blinders. I'm sure the reality is much different. I can't really taste the difference between whiskies, but I know if something is bad.
      About the only alcohol I like is makgeolli, a Korean rice wine. You can buy it everywhere in various qualities, but the best is sold up in the mountains where it's made by restaurant owners along with green onion or potato pancakes. Great stuff on a rainy day.

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