Bushmills will today ring in St Patrick’s day at the New York Stock Exchange, where it will launch a worldwide scheme called Make it at Bushmills.

The winner will receive a 30-day behind the scenes experience of the Old Bushmills Distillery and work with its team to create their own blend of the famous Irish whiskey. Master distiller Colum Egan will start the campaign when he rings the bell to close the stock exchange today.

Millions of people can apply online for the one-off opportunity through Bushmills’ Facebook page.

Mr Egan: “This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to come to the home of Bushmills Whiskey and get a truly unique insight to what goes on here - it will be an incredible experience. Bushmills is a special place filled with special people - we want to show them the very best of what the village, the community and the north coast of Ireland has to offer.

“Over the past 400 years we’ve learned a lot about making great whiskey and a lot about enjoying it! That’s something we want to share with the winner; from learning how to select the perfect mature whiskey, to learning the best way to catch a good salmon?or even one of our world-famous waves! It’s all part of the Bushmills way of life.

“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 – I hope it’s not too good though?I like my job too much!”

Bushmills Ireland Brand Manager Jennifer Kiernan added: “Last year Bushmills Irish Whiskey was voted Northern Ireland’s best exportii by the great Northern Ireland public. It’s something we are all extremely proud of. Ireland has a rich whiskey making heritage and hopefully lots of people Northern Ireland will enter and continue this proud tradition.”

The global search for someone to ‘Make it at Bushmills’ will give millions of people the chance to apply online through the Bushmills Facebook page. People in participating countries will compete to win a place at Bushcamp, where each of the country winners will try to prove that they have what it takes to be the global winner of the ‘Make it at Bushmills’ challenge.