Writer's Tears Whiskey

Points: 93

"A blend of pure pot still whiskey and malt whiskey. A deliciously soft, sweet, easy drinking dram.

A glossy pot still character: rather than the usual fruity firmness, the recognisable pot still traits are shrouded in soft honey tones which dovetail with lightening kumquat-citrus tones. Quite a curious,  but always deliciously appealing animal. Works beautifully well: the arrival is an alternating delivery of soft and hard waves, the former showing a more bitter, almost myopic determination to hammer home its traditional pot still stand point; the sweeter more yielding notes dissolve with little or no resistance, leaving an acaia honeyed trail.

There is a wonderfully Irish irony that a whisky dedicated to Ireland's extraordinary literary heritage should be represented by a label, even a brand name, so punctually inept; it's almost brilliant. The reason for the Writers(sic) Tears, if from the spirits of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and perhaps even Maurice Walsh, whose grandson became a legendary blender at Irish Distillers, will be open to debate: we will never know whether they laughed or cried. As far as the actual whiskey is concerned, though, I am sure they, to a man, would have no hesitation but to pen the most luminous and positive critiques possible."

- Jim Murray 2010 Whisky Bible