Win a trip to Bushmills to make your own blend

The oldest licensed distillery in the world celebrated St Patrick's Day by launching a competition offering a dream job to one lucky whiskey lover.

The Bushmills Whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland is scouring the planet for someone to work with master distiller Colum Egan and his team for a month to create his or her own blend of Irish whiskey.

The winner will spend a month on Northern Ireland's north Antrim coast, near the Giant's Causeway, where Bushmills has distilled whiskey since James I authorised it to do so in 1608.

To win the job, prospective whiskey makers ought to make sure they know the difference between Irish whiskey and its Scottish rival, beyond the fact that one is spelt with an "e" and the other is not, when they apply online at the Bushmills Facebook page.

Mr Egan said: "If someone can prove to us that they have what it takes, then we'd be delighted to let them be the first person outside of the distillery to work alongside me to create their own special blend of Bushmills Irish whiskey."

Don't mention the vomiting dog

Aye it’s a varied life, this whisky game. Fresh from drinking 70 year old Mortlach at Edinburgh Castle last week, your humble chairman found himself, and it seemed, about half of Glasgow’s Whisky Club and forum members from whiskywhiskywhisky.com at McSorley’s for the opening of a cask of Abhainn Dearg.

The McSorley boys took it upon themselves to take a 600-mile trip to pick up a wee cask from the Red River Distillery on Lewis, where McSorley’s manager Mike Donald hails from.

Various adventures unfolded which you can see here http://www.vimeo.com/9977614

Don’t mention the vomiting dog!

The pub was packed, the nibbles were great and there was a fabulous exhibition of the ancient art of cooperage when the Fishers Cooperage boys came along and built a cask before our very eyes.

Start of the show was Marko Tayburn who flew in on the last plane from Stornoway to officially open the cask. The usual speeches were made, including some incoherent bumbling from your chairman, then Marko cracked the cask. In the ensuing melee, I was able to get a hold of a dram (see above for proof) and for a new make eight weeks old, it was remarkable. Already it had colour, a light pink bluish, and had pear drops, peaches, bags of fruit and was very very fresh.

It’s on sale at the end of McSorley’s Bar until it runs out, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.