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Whisky Lady – November 2017
November brought a trip to Germany and Singapore (with a side dish of WhiskyLive) that kept tastings on track for the Whisky Lady!
The best was all three groups aligned to my mad travel schedule so there was a concentrated burst of all three sessions in less than a week!
Our Whisky Ladies enjoyed a carefully selected affordable trio Gordon & MacPhail:
- Glendullan (2001/2014) 46% – Floral summer breeze!
- Aultmore (2000/2014) 46% – Versatile and volatile, a lovely light yet complex dram
- Longmorn (2002/2015) 43% – A Longmorn to love!!
For our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents, we explored a “Peat Unusual ” theme with narry an Islay whisky among the selection…
- Lowland –Alisa Bay 48.9%
- Islands – Ledaig “Very Cloudy” Vintage 2008 40%*
- Highland – Loch Lomond Peated 46%*
- Speyside – BenRiach 25 year 46%*
(*Tasting notes coming soon!)
Just as the BMC gents explored peat, our original group explored different Sherry Elements :
- Oban Limited Edition (2000/2015) 43%
- Amrut Intermediate Sherry 57.1%
- Kilkerran 10 year “Work in Progress Batch #6 46%
(*Tasting notes coming in December… too much to squeeze into one month!)
Thrown into the mix was a Glenmorangie evening revisiting The Original, The Lasanta, Quinta Ruban, Nectar d’Or and the piece de resistance… the Private Edition 8 Bacalta…

Rye (Photo: Nikkhil Shirodkar)
Back in October, our original club had a remarkable Rye Night with tasting notes by our guest writer Nikkhil published in November:
- Cody Road Rye (Iowa)
- Cascadia Rye (Português Port Barrels) 43.5% (Washington)
- High West Whiskey Double Rye 46% (Utah)
- With a bonus of Pikesville Straight Rye
I also got around to sharing notes from a peaty persuasion minis session:
- Peat Chimney 12 year 40% (Wemyss) – Sea swept salty maritime peat
- Big Peat 46% (Douglas Laing) – Kept shifting and changing, overall delightfully
- Longrow 46% – Earthy, organic peat
- BenRiach Peated Quarter Cask 46% – Peppery peat, Christmas treat!
- Ledaig 10 year 46.3% – Farm peat, spice and straight forward
Plus a revisit of Glenfarclas Minis:
- 15 year 46% – Straightforward, no pretence
- 105 60% – A full strength sherry berry cake, best had with a few drops of water
- 21 year 43% – Approachable and multi-dimensional
- 25 year 43% – A 2nd date dram that needs time to reveal its full character…
And guess what? I’m back on another plane to Germany next week… let’s see what more can be discovered!
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