December brought yet another a trip to Germany with much merriment and mischief for this  Whisky Lady on my return!

All three groups had an opportunity to meet…

Normally our original group does not meet in December. However I used my powers of persuasion to pull together an ‘off the books’ evening to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. Our “O Canada” evening included:

• Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye 45%
• Gooderham & Worts Four Grains Canadian Whisky 44.4%*
• Wayne Gretzky No 99 Red Cask Whisky 40%*
• Shelter Point Single Malt Whisky 46%  (Batch 2, 2017)
• Barrel of Sunshine Liqueur 30%*

Our Whisky Ladies embraced the season with an Après-ski theme featuring:

• France – Michel Couvreur Special Vatting Malt Whisky
• Sweden – Box Whisky Dálvve 46%
• Switzerland – Langatun Old Bear Cask Proof (2010/2016) 62.8%
• Austrian samples of Wieser’s Uuahouua Pinot Noir 40%, Waldviertler J.H. 5 year Single Malt 41% + Waldviertler J.H. 6 year Rye Malt 41%

Keeping with the decidedly non-Scottish theme for December, our Bombay Malt & Cigar did a “BMC goes Bourbon” night with:

• Jefferson’s Kentucky Straight Very Small Batch Bourbon 41.14%
• St George Single Malt Whiskey 43% (Ok so this isn’t bourbon but it is American!)
• Blanton’s
• Buffalo Trace’s Stagg 64.75%*

There was also an impromptu evening of Sinful Samples :

• Bunnahabhain 24 year (1990) 51% – Perfume to minerals… add water to open up
• Tullibardine Burgundy 43% – Honey dew melon with light spice… and soap??
• Millstone (1998/2016) 55.5% – Juicy fruits and biscuits!
• Glendronach 21 year (1993/2014) 58.1% – Full, rich and intense dark chocolate and sherry… a little goes a long way
• Wolfburn “Morven” 46%, Wolfburn “Aurora” 46% – Bubble gum to over-ripe pineapple…  both quite sweet
• Closing with a whisky glass experiment with Aberlour’s  A’bunadh #52 (2015) 60.5%

Plus I played some catch-up with notes from previous sessions, with more to come in the new year!

Here are notes from our November BMC’s “Peat Unusual” theme with narry an Islay whisky…

• Lowland – Alisa Bay 48.9% – Sweet peat
• Islands – Ledaig “Very Cloudy” Vintage 2008 40%*
• Highland – Loch Lomond Peated 46%*
• Speyside – BenRiach 25 year 46%*

Plus our original group’s November exploration of Sherry Elements:

• Oban Limited Edition (2000/2015) 43% – Straight in, neem leaves
• Amrut Intermediate Sherry 57.1% – A complete chameleon
• Kilkerran 10 year “Work in Progress Batch #6 46%  – Peat, sweet with a nose that kept evolving

Still to come is a wee glimpse into a Glenmorangie evening revisiting The Original, The Lasanta, Quinta Ruban, Nectar d’Or and the piece de resistance… the Private Edition 8 Bacalta…

*Whisky tasting notes coming soon…ish

Hope you had a terrific 2017 and may 2018 bring you much malty merriment!

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

• Whisky Lady – November 2017
• Whisky Lady – October 2017
• Whisky Lady – September 2017

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

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