After difficult debuts, Old Bushmills, whose origins date back to 1608, was bought in 1860 by an independant resaler for a small £500. Partially destroyed by a fire in 1885, it was rebuilt the same year in a pure scottish style, leaving the Irish pot still for the single malt. It was bought in 1972 by the Irish Distillers group, now controlled by Pernod-Ricard, which definitively put Old Bushmills on the road to success.