Fresh off my Spot whiskey binge tasting and subsequent binge purchasing of their selections, I've started to get curious now about other Irish Whiskies. In the past I hadn't given them a fair shake... but after tasting the entire line up of Spot Whiskies I've decided to seek out other excellent Irish Whiskies. A good friend of mine visited Ireland not long ago and raved bout this bottle: Writers' Tears Red Head. He lamented that they were near impossible to find local to him and I was just lucky enough to pick up two bottles somewhat local to me. One for him, one for me. Typically I steer well clear of heavy sherry / port / or just wine cask offerings in general. I don't think whiskey should taste like you're shoving an angry fistful of red fruit in your mouth. However, my buddy swears up and down by this stuff and let's be fair - $65/bottle isn't exactly going to break the bank. The nose is fruity for sure but surprisingly doesn't invade your nose holes with red fruit. Smells a little like flambéed orange peel, some nutty sweet pralines and a little bit of fresh cut grass. Interesting. The taste is pretty heavy on the sherry influence for sure, but not overly so. This whiskey has a rather oily mouthfeel which I didn't expect. A pleasant surprise. There's a bit of fruitcake about the front of the taste but doesn't bring much of the mustiness typically associated with those dried fruit/candy things. The palate turns drier midway through the taste and brings on leather jacket and a little bit of orange pith. The medium length finish doesn't switch up the flavor profile heavily from the palate, so its difficult to know when it starts. Leather jacket carries through, underlying some cinnamon red hots candy. It's good. But it isn't amazing. This is certainly better than most Irish Whiskies I have tried and I'd put it right up there with most of what Redbreast offers. But I still firmly believe that Spot whiskies are just a cut above.