Whiskey and music have always been the perfect combination. If you don’t believe us, check our Whiskey Wednesday playlist here.
So, it totally made sense to us when Bushmills Irish Whiskey recently announced its collaboration with Lowden Guitars to unveil a new limited edition guitar made from materials used to make whiskey.
The Bushmills x Lowden Black Bush Edition is the second guitar to be born out of a collaboration between two iconic Northern Irish brands. The guitar features copper from the 10 traditional copper pot stills used to triple distil Bushmills Irish single malt and barrel wood that has been used to mature the whiskey at the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery, The Old Bushmills Distillery. The barrel wood has been complemented by some of the best tone woods in the guitar world, African Blackwood and Alpine Spruce.
According to Bushmills, it took more than 100 hours to design and build the new guitar in the Lowden workshop, and this is the first time copper from the distillery has been used in this way. 25 Bushmills x Lowden Black Bush Edition guitars were made available for sale, each retailing at £9,800 (which translates to $12,975). Sadly, they’ve all been snapped up.
>Colum Egan, Master Distiller at The Old Bushmills Distillery, collaborated with George Lowden to select materials for the guitar from the whiskey-making process. In addition to the original pot still copper featured on the guitar, Oloroso sherry casks have been used on the back inlay and the 12th fret inlay to pay homage to the dark intensity and smoothness of Bushmills Black Bush, an Irish whiskey blend that combines a high amount of malt whiskey matured in former Oloroso sherry casks.
“I was fascinated with the copper from the original pot stills at The Old Bushmills Distillery,” said Master luthier George Lowden. “Not only is it a beautiful metal to work with but it’s amazing to think this material has had whiskey flowing over it for hundreds of years. Likewise, the sherry casks are literally steeped in whiskey-making heritage and used throughout to perfectly complement the other tone woods. I chose African Blackwood for the back and sides because tonally it is one of the best woods you can get and when paired with Alpine Spruce on the soundboard, it produces a very clear, very strong sound – everything about it is just beautiful.”
Critically-acclaimed Northern Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance also had a hand in the creation of the guitar, lending a musician’s eyes and ears to the instrument’s final look and sound. Once the guitar was complete, he debuted it at an intimate session in Warehouse No. 2 at the distillery with popular Irish band Beoga and poet Jon Plunkett.
“I have been a fan of Bushmills and Lowden for a long time now and loved working on this unique collaboration,” said Vance. “The guitar is a thing of beauty, so it only felt right getting some of my closest friends in music to help me debut it up at the distillery.”
While you might not be able to get your hands on one of these guitars, might we suggest a dram of Bushmills and our aforementioned Whiskey Wednesday playlist?
