40% abv
Score: 80/100
An interesting Irish from a familiar distillery. For the sake of maintaining its desired anonymity let’s call it Schmidleton. Capiche?
The Writer’s Tears website (which also sports a very rudimentary lesson on Irish whisky) maintains that their ratio of pure pot still whisky to single malt whisky is a closely guarded secret. Ummm…ok. Not really certain why that needs to be kept under lock and key. Two distilleries using the exact same still design…exact same water source…exact same spirit cuts…etc…will still produce VERY different whisky. Truth. But…if marketing some sort of hush-hush recipe helps…so be it.
Anyway…said to be a favorite style of Irish writers through the 19th and 20th century, let’s see how it holds up in this humble hack of a writer’s opinion…
Nose: Lemon and orange zest. I recall a big banana note on the cask strength version. Still here in this standard release to be sure, but milder. Vanilla and lemon yellow cake. Light whiffs of allspice. Slight lilac-iness. Custard and sweet cookie dough. Light and Auchentoshan-ish. (No…this is not simply because ‘Toshan is also triple distilled like many Irish…they really are quite similar!)
Aperitif-like and very easy to put back. Orange, vanilla, oak and nutmeg-dusted creme brulee. If not an aperitif, then certainly a light dessert malt; perfect for following white fish or a mild creamy chicken dish. Very grassy/grainy finish (Sauvignon Blanc-like…reminds of young anCnoc) with an orange and banana cream linger.
Light…pleasant…unoffensive…and entirely Irish.
– Reviewed by: Curt
– Photo: Curt