LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2018

SPIRITS  TASTING THE IRISH

The Exceptions

BUSHMILLS SINGLE MALT 10 YEAR OLD LCBO 131870, $45.95 WRITERS’ TEARS COPPER POT IRISH WHISKEY LCBO 271106, 700 mL, $49.95 The first of the revolutionary new generation of whis- keys, Writers’ Tears is a blend of single malt and single- pot-still spirits, created by distiller Bernard Walsh. It’s a style that typified the finest Irish whiskeys during the 19th century, revived here to enormous acclaim. Bushmills, in Northern Ireland, is the oldest distillery in the world (licensed in 1608) and for decades pro- duced the only single-malt whiskey in Ireland.

M E E T OU R TA S T E R CHARLENE ROOKE A contributing editor to Food & Drink , Charlene studied distilling at Moonshine University in Louisville, Kentucky, and at Dry Fly in Spokane, Wash- ington. She’s a Certified Spe- cialist of Spirits and holds Wine and Spirits Education Trust Level 2 certification.

“All the whiskey drinkers I know love Writers’ Tears —or maybe I just keep getting gifted bottles because we’re all melancholy journalists!” Charlene

Single-pot-still whiskey is a particularly Irish idea, made by distilling a mixture of malted and unmalted barley. Said to have come about because the British imposed extra taxes on malted barley in Ireland, it gives a slightly oily texture and a telltale linseed taste. It’s there in Writers’ Tears, part of an intensely aromatic nose which Charlene found floral and heathery but which reminded Sean of caramel and coconut. We all noted a citrus note, like Meyer lemon. “It’s so round, so sweet, so smooth,” pointed out Shane, “it’s more like a Canadian whisky than a spicy Irish—which may be why it’s so popular here!”     The Bushmills Single Malt was definitely the odd man out in our tasting. There’s no peatiness, of course, because the barley is malted with heat but no smoke, but there’s plenty of vanilla and a touch of bittersweet astringency from the 10 years in oak. “I get a nice mouth-watering acidity,” said Charlene, “like biting into a yellow apple.” “A caramel apple,” added Sean. “The flavours are so intense, with that sweet malt everywhere.” But the body is lighter than many single-malt Scotches because the spirit is distilled three times, not twice.

40  FOOD & DRI NK SPRING 2018