Writers Tears Pot Still Blend

The beer shop that I manage now sells whisky, in no smart part thanks to me. Originally the owners had no interest in selling whisky, didn't think it'd do well enough, etc.

However thanks to my blog, the fact that I'm friends with most of the whisky guys in Australia and quite a few around the world, they decided that we should sell whisky.

Whatever whiskies I thought were good, we'd carry.

And it's completely taking off, at times accounting for a large percentage of our sells. And that means these days I have whisky reps in and out of the shop left, right and center.

A couple of weeks ago I had a whisky rep in the store and we'd got to chatting. The thing is I refuse to carry anything that the major chain stores sell just because I can't be competitive enough to justify it.

And so this whisky rep is in and we're chatting about that and he mentions an Irish whiskey that the major stores aren't carrying.

At this point I look a wee bit sheepish and comment that to be honest I'd yet to be suitably impressed by any of the Irish whiskies. They haven't been bad, but just haven't done it for me.

He looks at me in horror and states that he'll bring me a bottle in a couple of days time that he hopes will change that opinion. Fair enough, I'll bring the Kavalans I was telling him about as he can't believe that there are these legendary Taiwanese whiskies out there making waves.

It'll be a whisky trade!

On Friday he comes in, I've brought in the Kavalans and some glencairns and he brings me in a bottle of Writer's Tears Pot Still Whiskey.

He tries the Kavalans and is suitably impressed, commenting on how awesome they are. He then gives me the bottle of Writer's Tears to take home and play with.

Whoa!

So last night I crack open this bad boy while watching Castle with my wife and pour a nip into a glencairn.

The nose is very light and fruity with vanilla, lychee, apples, citrus, orange zest, cinnamon, slightly floral, lily's and lilacs.

It's a nice little aperitif type nose, reminding me at times of Auchentoshan and Glenmorangie, being a very light easy drinking whiskey (well at least the nose leads you to that thought!)

Time to taste though and see if I'm seduced into loving Irish whiskies!

Sweet, again very much an aperitif, light and sweet with heaps of vanilla, lots of citrus, orange peel, some oak, little grassy, honey, possibly just the slightest hint of cinnamon.

Very nice and easy going! I'm impressed. It's not a whiskey that I would normally go for as I generally enjoy the bigger casks strengths then the 40% abvs.

A very short finish with heaps of orange zest ends this whiskey.

Definitely a great whiskey to start the night on or finish a meal on. Am I sold on the Irish whiskies?

Nah, but that's more due to me preferring monsters like the Stag, Handy, Octomore, etc.

Am I sold on this being a good little whiskey?

Definitely!

You can pick it up at some of your higher end bottle shops here in Perth, not Dan Murphy's, for around $65 to $70 a bottle.

If you see it in a bar and would like to try an Irish whiskey that's better then Jameson then look no further!