Bushmills’ Fourth Causeway Collection Is A Moscatel-Influenced Marvel

Bushmills’ Fourth Causeway Collection Is A Moscatel-Influenced Marvel

Randy Lai
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Randy Lai

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Bushmills, in collaboration with The Whisky Club (the world’s largest whisky subscription club with over 36,000 members) is unveiling The Causeway Collection 2010 Double Moscatel.

The newest addition from the famed Irish whiskey maker, it also happens to be the fourth expression made in close consultation with The Whisky Club.

Available exclusively to the club’s members — signing up is easy and free-of-charge — this limited edition provides Aussie malt lovers with a genuinely rare opportunity: to own a mature-age single malt from the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery.

RELATED: The 6 Best Whisky Subscription Services In Australia

As it happens, through its partnership with The Whisky Club, Bushmills boasts quite the connection to Australia.

Since 2020, the venerable Irish whiskey distillery (which was first granted a distilling licence in 1608) has developed a trio of Causeway-badged expressions for connoisseurs down under, with the goal of “showcasing Bushmills’ single malt excellence” and shoring up the brand’s “credentials among whiskey gatekeepers”.

Bushmills’ Master Blender Alex Thomas describes this release as “a labour of love between both parties for the last 18 months”, revealing that this release marks another milestone for the partnership as the first “full Sherry cask-matured Bushmills to receive a secondary maturation.”

Bushmills Causeway 2010 Double Moscatel
Bertie and Emily Ashbolt Cason, founders of The Whisky Club; with Bushmills Master Blender Alex Thomas (pictured centre).

According to Emily Ashbolt Cason, Co-Founder of The Whisky Club, the Causeway Collection expressions aren’t just “the most popular whiskey series we’ve launched at the Club” — they’re “one of the most popular whiskey series released anywhere in the world.”

The first of these, the 2006 Marsala Cask, routinely sells for a 4x premium in the secondary market and is underpinned by several qualities that are now-characteristic to the Causeway Collection range: think a mature spirit, triple-distillation and, with every release, a focus on a specific rare cask.

“Now we’re absolutely thrilled to launch the next history-making whiskey in the series,” continues Ashbolt Cason, “to the world’s biggest community of whisk(e)y lovers…following rave reviews and record auction prices for its predecessors.”

Bushmills 2010 Double Moscatel
NOSEPALATEFINISH
HoneyMilk chocolateAllspice
Florals Summer fruitsWalnut
Muscat Raisin49.1% ABV
Bushmills 2010 Causeway Collection Double Moscatel

Having previously worked with Bushmills’ Banyuls and Burgundy wine barrels, this go round, Bushmills has chosen to highlight the influence of Moscatel grapes (a.k.a. Muscat) on the whiskey-finishing process. The change has paid off, with the bottle not only winning a Double Gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, but also currently being on the shortlist for Best Irish Single Malt.

Often compared with Port, Moscatel has a tendency to impart rich aromas of flower and fruit to whatever wood it’s aged in.

Precise notes will vary — based on whether you’re working with the dark-skinned or white Muscat grape — but in the case of this 2010 Causeway Double Moscatel, the use of two casks, both previously employed to make Muscat d’Alexandria, delivers an enticing combination.

On the one hand, it’s impossible to ignore the Alexandrian grape varietal’s famously bright, summery bouquet along with warm, honeyed flavours on the palate. But below that initial sensation, there’s an undercurrent of chocolate-covered toffee and stewed fruit: both delicious notes that are telltale signs of a long sleep in Spanish sherry casks.

Bushmills 2010 Causeway Collection Double Moscatel will begin shipping this month. To learn more, and obtain your bottle while stocks last, explore the link below.

Randy Lai
WORDS by
Following 6 years in the trenches covering consumer luxury across East Asia, Randy joins Boss Hunting as the team's Commercial Editor. His work has been featured in A Collected Man, M.J. Bale, Soho Home, and the BurdaLuxury portfolio of lifestyle media titles. An ardent watch enthusiast, boozehound and sometimes-menswear dork, drop Randy a line at [email protected].

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