Here is how it compares to some typical Irish blends at this price point:<\/p>\n
Bushmills Original Blended: 7.69 \u00b1 0.44 on 14 reviews ($$) Writers Tears is clearly one of the best values for the price in this class (i.e., has the highest score for the $$ price class of Irish whiskeys).\u00a0 This is particularly impressive, given that it is close to the overall average rating across my entire Whisky Database (~8.54).<\/p>\n I recently sampled this from a friend’s bottle, newly opened for the evening.<\/p>\n Nose<\/strong>: Crisp orchard fruit, with green apples, pears, and plums.\u00a0 Light honey sweetness. Fragrant camphor\/eucalyptus aroma, which is distinctive. Unfortunately, there is also a fairly strong organic solvent smell, mainly acetone (i.e., nail polish remover). If not for the latter, this would be a lovely nose. May fade once the bottle has been opened for awhile.<\/p>\n Palate<\/strong>: Same fruits as the nose, along with a touch of green banana now. Not really floral, but I am getting a dried hay note. Vanilla, butterscotch and a touch of baking spice (mild – maybe nutmeg). Still with the eucalyptus, moving more into sweet menthol. Unfortunately, this still brings with it echoes of that solvent – it seems like the two are somewhat inseparable. No real burn from the ethanol, easy to sip.<\/p>\n I haven’t come across this much eucalyptus since the Swedish malt whisky, Mackmyra First Edition<\/a>. Unfortunately, I can’t really separate it from the solvent aroma, which drags down Writers Tears to a below average score from me personally (although still close to the Meta-Critic average). This is an easy to sip whisky, more flavourful than your typical Irish budget blend.<\/p>\n I think it makes a very good introduction to the lighter Irish pot still style, as it still has a decent amount of flavour. I don’t have a lot of experience of this malt\/pot still class, but Writers Tears strikes me as very Midleton-like in its profile (not surprisingly).<\/p>\n For reviews of this whisky, Jim Murray, Tone of Whisky Saga<\/a>, and Serge of Whisky Fun<\/a> are all very positive.\u00a0 Ralfy<\/a> is also generally supportive (and has an amusing backstory for his review).\u00a0 Somewhat less positive reviews include Richard of the Whiskey Reviewer<\/a> and the guys at Quebec Whisky<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Writer\u1e63 Tears is an unusual Irish whiskey.\u00a0 Classically, the Irish method is to triple-distill malted and unmalted barley together, in a single copper pot still. This is known as a Single Pot Still whiskey. But most entry-level Irish whiskey is actually a blend of single pot still whiskey and cheaper-to-produce grain whiskey (i.e., much like a blended Scotch whisky, except<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[68,18,85],"class_list":["post-2563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-irish","tag-nas","tag-pot-still"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2563"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2632,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2563\/revisions\/2632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Irishman Founder\u2019s Reserve: 8.37 \u00b1 0.31 on 6 reviews ($$)
\nGreen Spot: 8.46 \u00b1 0.42 on 14 reviews ($$$)
\nJameson Irish Whiskey: 7.81 \u00b1 0.55 on 19 reviews ($$)
\nJameson Select Reserve (Black Barrel): 8.32 \u00b1 0.41 on 16 reviews ($$)
\nJameson Signature Reserve: 8.40 \u00b1 0.37 on 4 reviews ($$)
\nPowers 12yo Reserve: 8.60 \u00b1 0.26 on 6 reviews ($$$)
\nPowers Gold Label: 7.88 \u00b1 0.48 on 10 reviews ($$)
\nRedbreast 12yo: 8.77 \u00b1 0.42 on 21 reviews ($$$)
\nTeeling Whiskey Small Batch: 8.24 \u00b1 0.42 on 18 reviews ($$)
\nTullamore Dew Blended: 7.75 \u00b1 0.39 on 15 reviews ($$)
\nTullamore Dew Blended 12yo: 8.10 \u00b1 0.27 on 8 reviews ($$$)
\nWriters Tears Pot Still: 8.48 \u00b1 0.38 on 14 reviews ($$)<\/strong>
\nYellow Spot: 8.77 \u00b1 0.27 on 14 reviews ($$$$)<\/p>\n![\"writers-tears\"](\"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Writers.Tears_.jpg\")
Finish<\/strong>: Medium. I suppose you could describe it as gently warming. Slightly sweet up front, dries to a more astringent effect.<\/p>\n