Welcome to Whisky Lady‘s 3rd instalment… with a decidedly desi bent to our sampling adventures.

Just as February had a Japanese theme, March came home to feature whiskies from India! I could just as easily have called this ‘India pride month!’

While our formal monthly tasting was cancelled, most of our group took part in two events covering both of India’s Single Malt distilleries – Amrut and Paul John!

Amrut with Jim Murray

In recent years, Jim Murray has upset industry stalwarts by rating highly whiskies from outside of Scotland. He is credited for putting Amrut and others on the map of world whiskies.

Our tasting adventures with Jim Murray and Amrut covered:

• Amrut Single Malt – Sweet, spoilt fruit, not terribly interesting
• Amrut Fusion – Inconsistent quality
• Amrut Peated – Best of the bunch

Amrut whiskies were contrasted with a few drops each of:

• Glenmorangie 10 year – Perfumy, sweet, light, weak coffee… a bit insipid
• Jim Beam White Label 4 year – Sweet, lacks the robust character of a quality bourbon
• Talisker 10 year – Slipped to become a bit bland and ‘queer’

Jim Murray Amrut Tasting (Whisky Lady)

Paul John with tasting group and better halves

In January we were introduced to Paul John Edited and found it had real promise. During my recent trip to Goa, I ‘scored’ four Paul John expressions!

• Paul John Single Malt Brilliance – Tropical fruit delight!
• Paul John Single Malt Edited – Diverse notes – sweet nose, bitter taste yet yum!
• Paul John Select Cask Classic – A favourite for its tropical nose, balanced body and finish
• Paul John Select Cask Peated – Smoked bacon, peaty yet smooth

Paul John Quartet (Whisky Lady)

Outside of tasting sessions, Whisky Lady also shared notes on:

• Kavalan’s Concertmaster – Taiwan’s entry single malt – ok but pay double for Solist instead
• Sullivans Cove – Tasmanian treasure
• Amrut’s MaQintosh – What $15 will buy you… 
• Ardbeg Uigeadail –  When the peaty mood strikes… and only a classic Ardbeg will do!
• Tapatio Excelencia Gran Reserve Extra Anejo – A tequila for whisky afficionados – must try!!

Top pick?

An interesting question as the running theme this month was whiskies that mature in warmer climates.

• From India – Paul John Select Cask Classic
• For curiosity if you can get it? Sullivans Cove
• And frankly the non-whisky truly stands out as exceptional – Tapatio Excelencia Gran Reserve Extra Anejo

Slainthe!