Mini-review: Walsh's The Irishman Single Malt

An Single Malt matured in ex-bourbon and Oloroso Sherry Casks from Walsh Whiskey called The Irishman!

In the glass: Yellow gold, 40%, swirls bead up and lead to thin slow legs.

Side by side: Irish Rum?

In the build up to St. Patrick's Day I'm reviewing Irish drams, this time it's two finished in Rum casks, the @TullamoreDEW XO Caribbean Rum Cask Finish and @WalshWhiskey The Irishman Founder’s Reserve - Caribbean Cask Finish.

Side by side: Walsh Writer's Tears

Rather than review drams by themselves I'm doing a little series comparing some 'side by side'.

There may be two or more, they may be from the same or different distilleries, similar ages, ABVs and types or not as I decide!

This time we are reviewing two Writer's Tears drams from @WalshWhiskey distillery in Ireland.

Review of my whisky year - 2018

First of all thank you to all the people who have read my blog (c29,000 up from 16,500 last year) and followed me on Twitter (c1,680 up from 900 last year).

My highlights of 2018 were:

Walsh @TweetTastings

This is the second year in a row I got a chance to take part in the @WalshWhiskey @TweetTasting and what a great evening it turned out to be!

As well as four large measure drams, Walsh included a handy carry bag and two fridge magnets, other received some Walsh Dark Chocolate but I think the postman ate mine...!

Review of my whisky year - 2017

First of all thank you to all the people who have read my blog (c16,500) and followed me on Twitter (c900) since I started back in January with my first whisky post.

Walsh Whiskey @TweetTastings

Another Wednesday - another @TweetTasting from @TheWhiskyWire, this time a set of Irish drams from @WalshWhiskey. This is the second Irish tasting Steve has organised in a few weeks, see Dublin Liberties here.

This one is from a long standing Irish bottler which has also recently opened it's own distillery, and started distilling in 2016 - we look forward to sampling their whiskey in the fullness of time. In the meantime they have a range which includes The Irishman and Writer's Tears which we sampled this evening.

As usual an unmarked package arrived in the post....

Opening it revealed four #dramples of Triple Distilled Irish Whiskey and a nice leaflet giving information about the distillery and tasting notes for the drams.

There was nearly a hiccup the night before the tasting when Rudolf nearly ran away with my drams....

On to the tasting:

First up was Writer's Tears Copper Pot

My thoughts:

Nose : Light gold in colour, initial nose : vanilla and tropical fruit. Woody influence, bags of vanilla, tropical fruit and some baked apples. Hint of a little cinnamon or ginger?

Palate : Smooth and slightly oily, quite sweet initially, then fruity and a lovely spice at he end. Quite a long spicy finish, seems to gets drier as your drink more - the fruitiness tails off a little and the spice kicks in - a very pleasant dram!

Other people's thoughts:

Next was The Irishman Cask Strength 2017

My thoughts:

Nose : Oak, Toffee, old leather. No indication of the 54% ABV, this one develops well have being left in the glass for a while - baked apples or apple crumbles but with a citrus note - oranges maybe? There's some toffee or fudge there too - like a apple toffee cobbler thing - what do you call them?

Palate : Apple crumble and orange,  a bit hit of spice, don't really get the strength very much. Smooth slightly oily, very drying  with hints of the apple from the nose. Some vanilla on the tongue with oak.

Other people's thoughts:

 

Third was Writer's Tears Red Head

My thoughts:

Nose : Lovely red tint to this one. Initial nose has hints of Christmas cake mix and spices. Dried fruit and sherry - some cinnamon, also a little oak and leather - beautiful!

Palate : Very smooth and buttery with a hint of honey, lots of spice with citrus fruit on the tongue. A little hint of nut chewing away in the background!

Other people's thoughts:

Final dram of the evening was The Irishman Founder's Reserve

My thoughts:

Nose : Beautiful golden colour, slow legs in the glass. Initial nose gives the red wine hints but also red fruit! Wine, plums dates and a hint of spice. Some vanilla maybe marzipan (Thanks @Whisky_And1) definitely almonds in there - yummy!

Palate : Unexpectedly chewy! Hints of the wine but hold it on the tongue and it's fruity and it's but as soon as you swallow the spice hits you!

Other people's thoughts:

For me the Irishman Cask Strength was the best of the evening, but not everyone agreed!

Many thanks to Steve for organising, Walsh for supplying the drams and my fellow tweeters for making a really enjoyable evening!

Other reviews:

WhiskyGirl