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Whisky Lady – September 2017
September’s Whisky Lady tastings was a mixed month as one club didn’t meet and another did but it was a rare session I missed due to travel! Naturally I augmented with other experiences and shared the final set of tasting notes from our remarkable July which had seven different sessions!
The gents from the Bombay Malt & Cigar club met late August with an unusual selection of three Single Grains and two Indian whiskies:
- Girvan 8 years (2006/2014) Cask 532398 46% (Berrys’)
- Strathclyde 25 year (1990/2016) DL11335 51.5% (Douglas Laing’s Old Particular)
- Invergordon 28 year (1987/2015) DL11004 56.5% (Douglas Laing’s Old Particular)
- Sula’s Eclipse Blended Whisky 42.8% & Rampur 43%
Our whisky ladies had a lovely Sunday sundowner with this quartet:
- Mortlach NAS 49% – Sweet on the nose, apricot wood on palate… bit of a disappointment
- Arran Amarone Cask Finish 50% – Think pink summer blush, perfect afternoon sipper!
- Lochside (1981/2005) 43% G&MP – Stunning, simply stunning
- Aultmore 5 year (2007/2012) 66.8% Master of Malt – Provoked a very divided reaction
Whereas our original club enjoyed the following (alas without me as I was off gallivanting in the North America!):
- Writers Tears Cask Strength (2016 Release) 53%
- Springbank 12 year Burgundy (June 2016 Release) Cask Strength 53.5%
- Springbank 12 year (January 2017 Release) Cask Strength 54.2%
I also held a bottle polishing-off session with experiments in barley, wheats and more:
- Buckwheat from Bretagne, France – Eddu Silver 40%
- Ancient barley from Islay, Scotland – Bruichladdich Bere Barley (2008) 50%
- Hordeum Wild Barley Grass from Colorado, USA – AD Laws Hordeum Straight Malt 2 year (Batch #1B) 42.5%
- Triticum wheat from Colorado, USA – AD Laws Triticum Straight Wheat 2 year (Batch #1B) 50%
- American Corn, wheat, barley & rye – A.D. Laws Four Grain Straight Bourbon (Batch 8) 47.5%
Plus a sample session with Duty-Free No Age Statement (NAS) drams:
- Auchentoshan Heartwood 43% – Fermented fruit and pear tart
- Highland Park Einar 40% – Soft peat, accessible… quite “NASpy”
I shared July’s tasting notes from our “Dream Drams” evening with an exceptional set enjoyed with India’s Malt Maniac Krishna Nakula featuring:
- Mortlach 37 year (1976/2013) 43% G&MP – Classic restrained old style Mortlach
- Lochside (1981/2005) 43% G&MP – Simply a beautiful dram with an incredible finish
- Mosstowie 35 year (1979/2015) 48.1% Signatory – Lomond stills, nuanced complexity
- Aultmore 5 year (2007/2012) 66.8% Master of Malt – Punches boundaries of cask strength!
Plus revived the Whisky Tips with:
- A few ideas to keep in mind if you find yourself in need of Operation ‘House Clean’ – Whisky Style
- Vacu vin for whiskies – A way to keep your open bottles of whiskies from oxidation by using something like a ‘vacu vin’!
- And if you find yourself wanting to share a sample or two from your collection… some tips on whisky samples storage
Curious to know more? Check out recent Whisky Lady’s monthly missives:
You can also find even more Whisky bits ‘n bobs on:
- FaceBook Whisky Lady in India – https://www.facebook.com/WhiskyLadyIN
- Twitter @WhiskyLadyIN
Whisky Lady – August 2017
August was a bit of a catch-up month for Whisky Lady tastings… chock full of notes from July’s excesses with even more from those sessions to come next month.
August sessions were held with each Mumbai based whisky clubs – yet two were of a decidedly social bent!
The Original’s session featured an Islay Trio:
- Bunnahabhain Eirigh Na Greine 46.3% – Interesting to compare notes of our Batch #5 tasting with Batch #1
- Bowmore Gold Reef 43% – What a contrast to our Whisky Ladies experience!
- Ardbeg Uigeadail 52.4% – A proper peat bog, wildfire chilli on the palate and fab long finish (sampled earlier too!)
The Whisky Ladies turned two! With a celebration of whisky women fellowship…
And finally on 31st August 2017, we had our Bombay Malt & Cigar partners night where we explored a trio of single grains:
- Girvan 8 years (2006) Cask 532398 46% (Berrys’)
- Strathclyde 25 year (1990/2016) DL11335 51.5% (Douglas Laing’s Old Particular)
- Invergordon 28 year (1987/2015) DL 11004 56.5% (Douglas Laing’s Old Particular)
Followed by two Indian whiskies:
- Sula’s Eclipse Blended Whisky 42.8%
- Rampur 43%
I shared tasting notes from our July 2017 American Westland 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!
Our July Monsoon Malts & More evening covered an eclectic range with:
- Eddu Silver 40% – Buckwheat whisky from Bretagne, France
- R & B Distillers – New entrant bottling interesting whiskies
- The Exceptional – Craft Distillers Sutcliffe and Ex Macallan’s Willie Phillips new baby
- Highland Park 12 year 40% – An echo of the old 18 year favourite
- Finlaggan Cask Strength 58% – A most enjoyable mystery Islay
Check out what can be squeezed into just a couple of minutes “Speed Tasting” impressions with:
- Hyde Single Grain 46% – Roasted wood, fruity, clean with spice
- Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye 45% – Piquant, bright, young and sweet like chewing Juicy Fruit gum!
- Pikesville 110 Proof Straight Rye 55% – Vanilla, flowers, fruit, nuts with a clear Rye quality, savoury finish
- House Blend – Amazing balance between sherry sweet and smoky peat
- Midleton Dair Ghaelach 58.7% – Milk chocolate, banana, dash of coffee, spicy swagger, touch of vanilla, though young was a ‘3 in 1’ whisky for its different dimensions
I also published tasting notes from July’s Krishna’s Collection with:
- Glen Grant 60 year (1950/2010) 40% – Old polished wood, delicate perfume, fruits & cream, elegant, nuanced, exceedingly easy to drink
- Bowmore 12 year (1970s/19802) 40% – Absolutely stunning! Restrained, brilliant body, kiss of peat with a joyful host enjoyable quality
- “The Prestonfield” Vintage 1972 43% – Phenolyic, camphor, peculiar… to the point of not being enjoyable
- Glen Garioch 17 year (1996) 55.7% – Orange cream cookies, almost brandy-like, exceedingly smooth
- Caol Ila 36 year (1980) 52.3% (Cadenheads) – Bitter hing, quite vegetal, echo of peat growing into proper peat, sweet with a long cinnamon spice finish
- Laphroaig 19 year (1996) 53.9% (Old Particular) – Chewy leather, toffee, tobacco, beautifully complex, nuanced dram of substance
Naturally with a few odds and ends… including:
Curious to know more? Check out recent Whisky Lady’s monthly missives:
You can also find even more Whisky bits ‘n bobs on:
- FaceBook Whisky Lady in India – https://www.facebook.com/WhiskyLadyIN
- Twitter @WhiskyLadyIN
Whisky Lady – July 2017
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:
You can also find even more Whisky bits ‘n bobs on:
- FaceBook Whisky Lady in India – https://www.facebook.com/WhiskyLadyIN
- Twitter @WhiskyLadyIN
Whisky Lady – June 2017
June was full of so many things – work, travel to London, Winnipeg, Singapore and more!
As for the Whisky Lady side of things?
We had a wee bit of media attention… with a full page feature in the Mumbai Mirror. Be amused… be very amused….
“What next shall why try?”
I was completely humbled by meeting Sukhinder Singh, the guru of The Whisky Exchange, with an opportunity to visit his temple to whisky aka Board Room private collection, rare malts room and private bar in his head office. What a remarkable experience!!
Naturally, our tasting sessions continued…
The Whisky Ladies decided to have ‘A Night with Glen‘ featuring:
- Glencadam 15 year 46% – Serve chilled…
- Glenlivet Master Distiller’s Reserve 40% – It isn’t offensive…
- Glenmorangie The Original 40% – Nice to revisit the base for all Glenmorangies!
- Glenmorangie The Tayne 43% – Clearly the best of the bunch!!
Our original group had an unusual range:
- From India… Rampur 43% – A quite decent start…
- From near Buckingham Palace… Royal Lochnagar 12 year 40% – Varnish, sharp then settles in…
- From an aged grain… Girvan Patent Still 28 year 43% – Rare opportunity to sample an aged grain
- with Suntory’s Toki 43% bonus which pairs great with deserts!
The gents from the Bombay Malt & Cigar club didn’t have a June session, but I did post our May tasting of undisclosed distilleries with:
And while I was off gallivanting around Canada, decided to share some light summery whiskey cocktail recipes, courtesy of DISCUS with American whiskies:
- Old Fashioned – Bourbon, bitters, sugar with a twist of orange
- Manhattan – Bourbon, vermouth + bitters
- Mint Julep – Bourbon, simple syrup, bitters + mint
- The Ginger Baker – Tennessee whisky, ginger, lime + pineapple juice, orgeat syrup with a slice of pineapple
- Spiced Boulevardier – Infused bourbon, vermouth, campari with a twist of orange or almonds
With a few more posts including:
Curious to know more? Check out recent Whisky Lady’s monthly missives:
You can also find even more Whisky bits ‘n bobs on:
- FaceBook Whisky Lady in India – https://www.facebook.com/WhiskyLadyIN
- Twitter @WhiskyLadyIN
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