Whisky Lady

May had some terrific sessions! All three Mumbai based tasting groups met plus we had a few extras too! Plus I had a chance to catch-up on previous tasting sessions notes as well. Read on…

All three tasting groups met, with most notes to follow next month…

The Whisky Ladies enjoyed a theme of “Northern Lights” exploring:

Gimli, Manitoba – Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye 40% – A terrific starter Rye
Iceland – Flóki Single Malt 47% – Not quite a single malt, lots of dusty granary, organic qualities – perfect after a hike in the glaciers!
Sweden – Mackmyra Mack 40% – Clear “hit” of the evening – summer peaches, light and most enjoyable

Whereas our original group tasted two Highland drams and an Irish pot still whiskey:

Highland – Glengoyne Distiller’s Gold 15 year 40% – Lovely nose, complete surprise as the Sherry element is barely discernible vs standard sherry forward Glengoyne
Highland – Blair Athol 12 year 43% – A hard to find official bottling from this Diageo favourite malt typically found in blends…
Ireland – Powers 12 year John’s Lane 46% – Clear pot still quality, quite companionable once it settles down

For our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents, I took them on a European Tour with:

Belgium – Gouden Carolus Single Malt 3 years 46% – Thrown in by our host who just “happened to have it”
France – Domaine Des Hautes Glace Organic Single Malt 42% – Picked up purely on ‘spec’ at La Maison du Whisky
Germany – DeCavo NAS Batch 10, Cask 92 46% – Purchased at a speciality store in Munich
Italy – Puni Nova Bourbon Cask, Batch #2 (2015) 43% – Acquired at La Maison du Whisky in Singapore after sampling a trio from Puni
Switzerland – Forty Three Swiss Highland Single Malt Whisky 43% – Another find from a trip to Germany
Oh… and just because I had it open already, I threw in a bonus from Bretagne with an unusual Buckwheat whisky Eddu Silver Buckwheat Whisky 40%

In addition to our normal tasting evenings, we were fortunate to have a few industry extras in April and May with:

An evening with Caitlin Hill, Brand Ambassador for Bruichladdich and Botanist over a quartet of cocktails and food pairing*
An evening with Stuart Harvey, Master Blender for IBHL with Balblair 05, 99, 00 and Speyburn 15 year*
An evening with Samantha Peters, Digital Marketing for IBHL with Speyburn 10 year 43%, Balblair 05 46%, Old Pultney 12 year 40%*

Which was augmented by a terrific evening at KODE with Keshav Prakash featuring a trio from the Vault Collection – Compass Box Asyla, Kilchoman Machir Bay and Edradour Caledonia.

In May, tasting notes were shared for our original club’s April session featuring The Vault Fine Spirits Collection, ably penned by our Guest Writer Nikkhil:

Australia – Hellyers Road Pinot Noir 46.2%
Speyside – Benromach 10 year 43%,
Scottish Blend – Compass Box Spice Tree 46%

There was also a Minis evening playing around with finishes:

Cambeltown – Glen Scotia Double Cask 46% – Fruity, baklava with body – must explore more from Glen Scotia…
Scotland to Spain – Nomad Outland Whisky 41.3% – A delicious afternoon blend of 30 malt and grain whiskies
Canada – Shelter Point Double Barrelled 50% – A lovely Canadian malt meets blackberry wine… yum!