Bushmills Red Bush Whiskey Review

Introduction

This week, we’re checking out Bushmills Red Bush, an affordable Irish whiskey aimed squarely at bourbon drinkers. It’s a non-age stated blend of single malt and grain whiskey, aged for at least three years, and matured exclusively in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels—unlike the standard Bushmills white label, which uses a combo of bourbon and sherry casks. Bushmills Black Bush, which we’ll review next week, leans in the opposite direction with solely sherry cask aging, so Red Bush represents one half of their flavor spectrum. Whether you're a bourbon loyalist or a curious whiskey drinker, Red Bush is positioned as an approachable gateway into the world of Irish whiskey—and we’re here to put that to the test.

This review is taken from our episode "The Princess Bride / Bushmills Red Bush" Click the link to listen to this review in audio format.

Nose

Bob:
Like a lot of Irish whiskeys, I'm getting a ton of melon on this. I think it's like a lot of honeydew. There's actually a little bit of tropical like pineapple for me as well. But more than anything, it smells like orange juice to me, like fresh squeezed orange juice, almost like a mimosa, like it has a little bit of that champagne thing going on too. After sitting with this for a couple minutes, there is a really faint, almost vinegary note for me. It kind of smells like a can of pickled beets, which is not a food that I'm a huge fan of. It's just a little wisp of it underneath everything else. So it's really nice—pineapple and orange juice—and I'm digging it. Then there's just a little bit of beet. And then I get reminded of Dwight Schrute, which is not what I want to be thinking about when I'm drinking whiskey. So I'm kind of torn about this one. I think I'd still give it like a 7.5/10, but it was approaching like an 8.5 before.

Brad:
I really like this. For me, it's honey. There's some brown sugar notes. I get the barley starts to come through. It's a little bit raw. And then, like you said, I think honeydew is the right note. It smells like a melon, but not a super strong overpowering nose. I gave it an 8/10 on the nose. I think it's pleasant, but I’m curious to see where it goes, especially after last week, drinking the regular offering and really feeling like it was kind of a white wine feel. I'm curious to see how much more bourbony or even more like classic Irish whiskey this one will come out to be.

Taste

Bob:
This one still has a lot of that white wine character, but this time around it is like a really dry sparkling wine for me. It reminds me of champagne when I drink it. There’s a little bit more sweetness here than there was last week, which I really like. It's certainly not a sweet whiskey at all, but I think a little bit of that bourbon character has been imparted here. It's way spicier than last week's was. From the get go, tip of my tongue, there's a prickliness here that wasn't there last week. I get a lot of citrus peel on this. There's like a grapefruit character to this on the back for me too. It's not like all of the bitterness that you get with grapefruit, but it reminds me of drinking orange juice or grapefruit juice to go along with that kind of champagne thing. I guess I just have mimosas on my mind right now, but this tastes like the whiskey equivalent of a mimosa to me. I'm going to give it an 8/10 on the taste.

Brad:
For me, it was like honey drizzled over a grapefruit with a little bit of a mint sprig kind of put on the side, but crushed a little bit so you smell it. That is what I got on the palate here. It's a little bit of a refreshing mint, but then all sorts of honey mixed with grapefruit. Then it kind of dries out by the end of it and hits a few of those white wine notes that we'd been talking about with our last iteration of Bushmills. Bob, I really like this a lot. I’m also giving it an 8/10.

Finish

Bob:
It’s not bitter—I guess it is kind of bitter in that citrus fruit way. It has that grapefruit character to it. It really does remind me of toasting someone on New Year’s with a glass of champagne, but I don't like champagne that much. I would much rather have this in a glass to toast somebody with on New Year’s. It's really, really good. It's light, it's bubbly. It has that sort of effervescence to it. I'm really shocked that this is coming out of bourbon barrels because it doesn't really remind me of bourbon at all. It reminds me of drinking a screwdriver or a mimosa or something with orange and champagne in it. I'm a big fan. I'm going to give it an 8/10 on the finish.

Brad:
I think I'll come down a tiny bit on the finish, just to say that it doesn't last very long and there's not quite enough of a lingering palate that really makes me in love with it. But I'm right there with you, man. It has all of the notes we've been talking about so far. The citrus, a little bit of honey to finish. It gets a little bit more oaky at the end, but not enough to sour it. So yeah, 7.5/10 on the finish.

Balance

Brad:
I'll give it an 8.5/10 on balance. I just think that balance-wise, you get what you are expecting throughout the entire drink. In order to hit the nine or ten out of ten area, you almost have to transcend that and be more complex than initially you think it is. But with this one, man, there was nothing to complain about here balance-wise.

Bob:
No. And is this the best Irish whiskey we've ever had? No, but for what it is and kind of as a self-contained thing, it balances everything really, really well. Everything I got on the nose was there on the palate. Everything that was on the palate was there on the finish. It's a super consistent product and I really appreciate that. So I'm also going to go 8.5/10 on balance.

Value

Bob:
Now, Brad, as you know, our value score is not dependent on simply, “is it cheap or is it expensive?” It is: does the quality of what we just drank make sense at the price point—or even more, is it a steal at the price point? In the state of Ohio, this is like in the twenties, right? Twenty-two dollars for a 750 milliliter bottle of this is a freaking steal. Like so much so that I thought this was like twenty-eight or twenty-nine dollars. At twenty-two dollars, this is a 9/10 value.

Brad:
$22.49. It’s a 9.5/10 for me, Bob. It's pretty close to being a perfect value. If it was $20 or below, I would give it a ten out of ten. $22.50 is a steal for this whiskey. If you have not tried Bushmills Redbush yet, I am really, really impressed. You can’t ask for much more out of a bottle of whiskey that costs less than twenty-five dollars.

Final Scores

Bob:
I’m coming out to a 41/50.

Brad:
41.5/50.

Bob:
So we’re at a 41.25/50, or an 82.5/100. This is a big deal. It’s pretty rare for a whiskey this inexpensive to score this highly on our show.

Brad:
I always try to score the first four categories with no regard to the value category and allow value to adjust the score as needed. If this was a $90 bottle of whiskey, it would get a 2 out of 10 and be in like the low-to-mid thirties. But because it is a $22.50 bottle of whiskey, it got a 9.5 and that bumped it up to where I think it should be.

Bob:
This is a huge step up from the regular Bushmills white label. So much so that I think we had some complaints about Bushmills last week. I have no complaints about this. This is an immediate go-out-and-purchase, even if you're not an Irish whiskey fan. It’s out of the ordinary enough that I think this should be something you give a try.

Conclusion

Bushmills Red Bush lands well above our recommendation line, with a 41.25/50 total score. On our scale, a 35/50 is where we’d say, “try it at a bar,” while anything 40 or above is a bottle worth buying. Red Bush delivers exceptional consistency, flavor, and approachability for just $22.50. Whether you’re a bourbon drinker exploring Irish whiskey or a seasoned Irish fan, this bottle is a steal. Don’t sleep on it.