Writers’ Tears is a range of independently bottled Irish whiskey by Walsh Whiskey, a company founded by husband and wife team Rosemary and Bernard Walsh in 1999 to market their Hot Irishman brand of bottled Irish Coffee.

The Walshes introduced The Irishman Irish cream liqueur in 2005, and the following year, having secured a supply deal with Midleton distillery, The Irishman brand pivoted towards independent whiskey bottling with the launch of The Irishman Founders Reserve whiskey.

The Walsh’s clever twist on Irish whiskey blending was to eschew the use of grain whiskey in their creations. The Irishman whiskey began as a blend of single malt and single pot still whiskeys, and soon added small batch or single cask Irish single malts under the same brand.

In 2009 the Walshes expanded their brand portfolio with Writers’ Tears, another Irish whiskey blended only from single pot still and single malt Irish whiskeys. Writers’ Tears was an immediate hit with the Irish whiskey cognoscenti and the range was soon expanded to include different cask finishes and an annual Cask Strength release.

In 2013 the Italian company Illva Saronno, owners of Tia Maria, took a 50% stake in Walsh Whiskey for €25 million and the company soon began construction of a new Irish distillery in Co. Carlow, which was completed in 2016. In 2019, however, the partnership was dissolved, with the Walshes keeping their brands and relinquishing their stake in the Royal Oak distillery to Saronno.

In late 2021 it was announced that Walsh Whiskey had been acquired by Amber Beverage Group for a sum rumoured to be close to €100 million, with Bernard Walsh continuing as Managing Director. Walsh Whiskey continues to develop the Irishman and Writers’ Tears brands, with Writers’ Tears focusing mainly on single pot still-led blends and the revamped The Irishman brand now predominantly single malts or malt-led blends.