July was supposed to be a slow month… During monsoon, things can grind nearly to a halt in Mumbai under a deluge of rain. And with only two whisky clubs scheduled to meet, it seemed not much would be happening.

So a few friends and I decided to invite Krishna Nakula, India’s Malt Maniac to Mumbai. Which triggered going from a light month to become chock full of Whisky Lady tastings in Mumbai! Easily my busiest month this year – possibly ever…

It also just so happened to be the month, I celebrated Whisky Lady in India’s 500th post!! Woo hoo!!!

So join me in a synopsis of July 2017’s whisky adventures…

The Whisky Ladies Compass Box Quintet featured:

• Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza Special Edition (Aug 2016) 46% – An indulgent Thanksgiving feast of a whisky!
• Compass Box Great King Street Experimental Batch TR-06 (Sept 2013) 43% – A mouth-watering delicate balance between sweet, light spice and smoke
• Compass Box Hedonism 43% – Exquisite! Coconut cream meets fresh oranges
• Compass Box Flaming Heart 15th Anniversary Limited Edition (July 2015) 48.9% – A Game of Thrones whisky of Iron Isle, sex and dragons – complex, multi-layered, addictive and unforgettable
• Compass Box Peat Monster 46% – Dramatic dram that get’s straight to its peaty point

The gents from the Bombay Malt & Cigar club met twice to make up for missing the previous month’s session…

The 1st was the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Quartet:

• 37.85 “Eastern Promise” 14 year (1 Oct 2002) 56.8% – Rice congee, decomposing leaves, wet mop… (Cragganmore)
• 76.131 “Totally Tastylicious” 15 year (30 Sep 2001) 57.8% – Ripe, juicy fruits, vanilla and cream… indeed rather tasty! (Mortlach)
• 30.94 “Riding a duck bareback up Mount Etna” 9 year (6 June 2007) 64.5% – Bold, complex, incredibly balanced for such strength (Glenrothes)
• 29.216 “Moonlight night at the beach” 20 year (26 Nov 1996) 51.9% – Sweet smoke of maple glazed bacon (Laphroaig)

The 2nd set was the American Westland with a trio of:

• Westland Peated 46% – Curiously shy peat, ginger honey, bacon and smoke 
• Westland American Oak 46% – Sweet creamy banana split, dangerously drinkable. My current favourite! 
• Westland Sherry 46% – Tropical fruits, mocha toffee with a lovely finish!

An impromptu excuse to share a few interesting open bottles and samples lead to an evening of Monsoon Malts & More – including a cocktail too!

• Eddu Silver 40% – Buckwheat whisky from Bretagne, France 
• R & B Distillers – New entrant bottling interesting whiskies
  • Borders Single Grain 51.7%
  • Raasay “While We Wait” 46%
• The Exceptional – Craft Distillers Sutcliffe and Ex Macallan’s Willie Phillips new baby
  • Blended Grain Scotch Whisky 43%
  • Blend Small Batch Scotch Whisky 43%
• Highland Park 12 year 40% – An echo of the old 18 year favourite
• Finlaggan Cask Strength 58% – A most enjoyable mystery Islay

Just for fun, we held a “Speed Tasting” session by Keshav Prakash of The Vault Fine Spirits featuring:

• Hyde Single Grain 46%
• Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye 45%
• Pikesville 110 Proof Straight Rye 55%
• House Blend
• Midleton Dair Ghaelach 58.7%

We then had a “Dream Drams” evening with an exceptional set enjoyed with India’s Malt Maniac Krishna Nakula featuring:

• Mortlach 37 year (1976/2013) 43% G&MP
• Lochside (1981/2005) 43% G&MP
• Mosstowie 35 year (1979/2015) 48.1% Signatory
• Aultmore 5 year (2007/2012) 66.8% Master of Malt

From Krishna’s Collection we packed into under an hour a few drops of:

• Glen Grant 60 year (1950/2010) 40%
• Bowmore 12 year (1970s/19802) 40%
• “The Prestonfield” Vintage 1972 43%
• Glen Garioch 17 year (1996)  55.7%
• Caol Ila 36 year (1980) 52.3% (Cadenheads)
• Laphroaig 19 year (1996) 53.9% (Old Particular)

I finally shared posts about the February Glenmorangie Bacalta Launch where we sampled:

• The Original 40% – Foundation of all Glenmorangie “with 140 flavours” — Bill Lumsden
• Lasanta 12 year 46% – Classic yet enhanced …Creamy, caramel custard, sweet spices 
• Bacalta 46% – Shows how marvellous a malt an ex-Malmsey Madeira finish can be!

A busy month indeed! There was no way all the tasting notes could be published in July, so you will simply have to be patient over the coming months as all will be revealed…

Curious to know more? Check out recent Whisky Lady’s monthly missives:

• Whisky Lady – June
• Whisky Lady – May
• Whisky Lady – April 

You can also find even more Whisky bits ‘n bobs on:

• FaceBook Whisky Lady in India – https://www.facebook.com/WhiskyLadyIN 
• Twitter @WhiskyLadyIN