The excuse for releasing Bushmills: Four Hundred Years in the Making, is the 400th anniversary of the first official license to distil, granted to the Bushmills area. The author, Peter Mulryan, was commissioned by Bushmills to create this commemoration of a distinguished history. Bushmills has been buffeted by many forces, political and economic. As if the story does not have enough twists and turns to follow, the researcher is also confounded by the destruction of distillery records on two occasions - in 1885, when the distillery burned to the ground; and again in 1941, courtesy of the Luftwaffe.
Mulryan firmly places Bushmills in the context of its times. The book describes the effects of two world wars, the temperance movement, Prohibition, the partition of Ireland and the subsequent "Troubles". He also tracks the company in and out of bankrupty, through the hands of numerous owners and laments the many lost business opportunities, not only for Bushmills, but for Irish whiskey in general.
Published in 2008, Hardback, 255 x 255mm, 189 pages, colour plates and other illustrations, Map, Adverts, etc.