WHISKEY FANS DESCEND ON BUSHMILLS FOR ‘WORLD WHISKEY GAMES’

Pairs of whiskey fans from around the world will this week descend on the Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland, in a bid to barrel-roll, beach-golf and whiskey-taste their way to be named the winners of the BUSHMILLS™ Irish Whiskey competition, ‘Make it 2 Bushmills’.

The competition offers two friends the chance to win two weeks working at the world-famous Old Bushmills Distillery, where they will make their own unique blend of BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey, stay in luxury penthouse accommodation and get £5,000 spending money. Then, the winning friends will get VIP access to the ultimate BUSHMILLS party back in their home country.

BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey Master Distiller Colum Egan said: “I can’t wait to welcome the eleven pairs of Make it 2 Bushmills finalists to the three-day global final, Bushcamp.

It’s going to be like the world whiskey games! We’ve got a few great challenges lined-up to test the finalists’ friendships, teamwork and creativity, like barrel-rolling and golfing on the beach.

“BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey is hand-crafted in small batches at the Old Bushmills Distillery, so we’ll have a whiskey-tasting challenge that will make the most of our exceptionally smooth blends and malts, too.”

The pairs of finalists representing eleven countries were elected by public vote on Facebook. They are:

· Johan Lolos and Mathias Gilles, Students from Belgium

· Marin Aganderov and Kiril Todorov, Students from Bulgaria

· Ondřej Šimeček and Jiří Tlach, a Hospitality Product Manager and an Insurance Officer from Czech Republic

· Andreas Andricopoulos and Martin Georg Kosman, Bartenders from Germany

· Keeley Sutcliffe and Tom Lawrence, a School Supervisor and a Telesales Manager from Great Britain

· Richard Beatty and Michael Weijzig, an IT Consultant and a Social Worker from the Netherlands

· Richard Roberts and Carol Roberts, a Customer Service Assistant and a Care Worker from Northern Ireland

· Peter Majernik and Vladimir Majernik, a Hotel Concierge and a Hotel Porter from the Republic of Ireland

· Nikolay Fedoseev and Ilya Rybalsky, a Graphic Designer and a Chemical Engineer from Russia

· Sean Tickner and Jonathan Oliff, an Orthotist / Prosthetist and a Brand Strategist and Marketing Consultant from South Africa

· Curt Neeb and Paul Kowalski, an Inventory Specialist and a Graphic Designer from the USA.

Bushcamp will be judged by the BUSHMILLS Master Distiller Colum Egan and some famous fans of BUSHMILLS, including Kevin Baird of Two Door Cinema Club, Jonathan Galkin of DFA Records and Rob Allanson of Whisky Magazine.

It will take place from Tuesday to Thursday (16th – 18th August) at the Old Bushmills Distillery, in Bushmills village and the surrounding area, with the winning pair of friends being announced on Wednesday evening.

Fans of BUSHMILLS can follow all of the action on the BUSHMILLS Facebook page, facebook.com/bushmills1608 or by following @BushmillsGlobal on Twitter.

Old Bushmills Distillery worker Darren Smyth prepares the Make it 2 Bushmills trophies in preparation for Bushcamp, which will this week see whiskey fans descend on Bushmills for the ‘World Whiskey Games’.

Colum Egan Biography
Colum Egan is Master Distiller at the Old Bushmills Distillery in County Antrim, where BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey is hand crafted in small batches for an exceptionally smooth taste. Since 2002, Colum has been responsible for all the critical stages of whiskey production, all of them carried out at the distillery itself. That’s very handy when your job is to ensure that the production of the whiskies is done to perfection – as Colum likes it to be. Colum lives in the little coastal town of Ballycastle with his wife and two sons and says that he has found his dream job.

Kevin Baird Biography
Kevin is the bass player and vocalist in Northern Ireland indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club. Their debut album Tourist History has gone Gold in the UK, selling over 100,000 copies and recently they’ve made a splash by picking up both the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year and the award for Best New Band at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards. Kevin is a big BUSHMILLS fan and is looking forward to meeting some others at Bushcamp.

Jonathan Galkin Biography
Jonathan Galkin is the co-founder and head of operations for DFA Records worldwide, an independent record label that he launched in 2001.

Rob Allanson Biography
As the Editor of renowned Whisky Magazine, Rob a vast knowledge of all things whisky, from the science to the romance. He travels to distilleries and major whisky conventions around the world, reporting on the latest news in the industry on his blog and in the magazine, which is published worldwide eight times per year. In his spare time, Rob is a keen biker, charity advocate, husband and dad.

About BUSHMILLS
BUSHMILLS Irish Whiskey is hand crafted in small batches at Ireland’s oldest working distillery in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. The brand portfolio includes six exceptionally smooth and multi-award winning whiskeys: BUSHMILLS Original, BLACK BUSH, BUSHMILLS 10 Year Old Single Malt, BUSHMILLS 16 Year Old Single Malt and BUSHMILLS Malt 21 Year Old Single Malt and BUSHMILLS 1608. BUSHMILLS is the only distillery in Ireland to make triple-distilled Malt Whiskey.