Drams of 2013, Number 8... The accidental Irish tourist - Writers Tears

2013 has been a year of many wonderful whisky discoveries. I struggled at first to remember writing every single one down. I thought it was rather time consuming and having to drag my pink book everywhere was a royal pain in the ass. However I have to say in hindsight just like every other project I've worked on a bit of preventative maintenance before/during always pays off in the end because by documenting everything as it happened it did two things: A) Made me realize how many drams I actually got to try this year and B) it resulted in 342 nosing/tasting notes.   

Dram #8 - Writers Tears was completely accidental in nature. In March I attended the Celebrate Whisky Event in Halifax NS. It turned out to be a pretty great night considering I was suppose to be flying solo since Graham was working behind one of the whisky tables. I had an extra ticket that I sold to a very nice lady named Phlis McGregor and we ended up spending some time together that night, trying different whiskies that we both had "targeted" for the evening. She and I would part ways and then find each other later on and spend a few minutes discussing what we were nosing/tasting. At one point we decided to try and find a specific whisky together which we thought was at table 24. It wasn't... we had got our numbers mixed up. However a long skinny bottle on the table called Writers Tears caught my eye that I didn't recall hearing about or seeing before so I said to Phlis: "Might as well try it since we are here". So we stood in line, waited until we got to the front and the young man proceeded to tell us a bit about the whisky. As soon as he said the word "Irish" I almost instinctively crossed my arms and tucked my glass in thinking: "Meh? An Irish whiskey I've not heard of" and quickly became disinterested in trying it.

Background: Irish whiskies we have in Eastern Canada: Bushmills, Jamesons, Kilbeggan, Connemara or Tullamore Dew. NOT that there is anything wrong with these = breadth of my experience with Irish whiskies limited. Phlis looked at me like: "Aren't you going to put your glass forward?" so I did; still somewhat reluctantly I have to admit. 

Nosed, tasted -> BOOM! Another one of those wow moments where I wasn't sure how to even describe what I had just experienced. I looked over at Phlis to see if she liked it but she wasn't beside me anymore. Found her at a small table a few feet away where she was busy frantically writing notes. I quickly proceeded to do the same.

IPhone photo - trying to get a close up, hehe!

Color:  Bright amber, reminds me of a pale ale. Legs are super thin and extremely runny. A bit of an oily texture to it, sticks to the glass in certain spots.

Nose: Glorious hay right after it's been cut in late August. Fresh, clean/green followed by a very distinct lime or lemon zest, just bursting with citrus notes. (later on wrote - caramel with a ? beside it)

Palate:  Smooth, delicious mouthfeel with a minted marmalade rollercoaster. This is fabulous! 

Finish: So long and lingering. Mint is still at the forefront but honeyed. Reminds me of a whisky toddy with /mint leaves and honey in it. 

I had never tasted a pot still Irish Whiskey before but truly loved this one on first nose/taste. I bought a bottle that very night. I've since introduced it to many friends most of which have turned around and bought their own. As a result of trying this whiskey I began to seek out other Pot Still Irish Whiskies and since have tried: Red Breast and Green Spot just to name a few. In June I discovered there was only one bottle left on the east coast so of course, I bought it.

Writers Tears is now one of my favorite Irish Whiskies and I can't thank Phlis enough for giving me the "evil eye" that day in March.  :)

For more information about Writers Tears please visit their website:  http://www.writerstears.com/

Available widely in the US and in BC, AB, ON for Canada.  Retails about $50... 

The countdown continues as we make our way toward:

Stay tuned!

Johanne

  

      

Memorable 2013 drams - Dram #9, Lesson in pronunciation & blends...

 Many will complain there are TOO MANY twitter tastings taking place. On the date of this being published, there are 2 to 3 a week. I suppose for most people just sitting on the sidelines that could be quite frustrating considering the twitter sphere blows up and is "busy" with hashtag, tasting notes and conversation for 2-3 hours. But for the people taking part, it can be lots of fun trying new whiskies and being engaged in fantastic conversations. I love good twitter tastings and I've been very fortunate to be one of the few North Americans who gets to take part in the UK tastings. This year I was fortunate enough to be a part of: Compass Box, Balblair, Mackmyra, Tomatin and Wemyss.

The last one especially - Wemyss, was so much fun because it was a surprise. My good friend Dave Worthington (@whiskydiscovery) was super kind and sent me 1/2 of the samples he received for their twitter tasting but we kept it a surprise. The day of the tasting I joined in and we had a blast. 

I had never tried the Wemyss Whiskies before and I loved them so much I bought them. So, don't discount twitter tastings too much, they might be a bit of an annoyance to some but I think they help in promoting and allowing consumers to try whiskies they may not have otherwise. 

If you'd like more information about Wemyss please check out their website:

http://www.wemyssmalts.com/

Dram 9 - King

So in July when we were travelling I finally got the chance to buy a few bottles and I opened one that I hadn't tried in the twitter tasting called Spice King 8 year old. Here are my notes:

Color: Golden yellow with long skinny legs. Seems quite viscous in the glass.

Nose: A bit of a maritimish aroma to this (which confused me), hints of iodine? Dark bananas. After I let is sit for awhile the spices become quite predominant but it seemed to take a bit of time. 

Palate: Full bodied with an oily mouthfeel. wow - does not match the nose, what a surprise! Salted chocolate caramels. Huge spice explosion.

Finish: Long, warm and lingering. What a deliciously sinful dram.

This dram really surprised me and I fell in love with it. It opened my eyes to another company doing blends very well. I also found out that the major component of Spice King is Talisker, which happens to be a distillery close to my heart.

So thank you to Dave Worthington for having a big heart and sharing without him I doubt that I would have discovered this lovely whisky and the fine Malts of Wemyss. 

OH, by the way the pronunciation is "Wheems". Never did find out why, but not one I'll soon forget.

Wemyss malts are available in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. This particular bottle cost me $50.00 and I deem it a fantastic value for money whisky discovery for 2013.

See you tomorrow when number 8 will be revealed.

Cheers!

Lassie