Monthly Archives: October 2018

Whisky Lady – October 2018

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Happy Hallowe’en! In Europe or North America, October is full on fall… the trees change colour, there is a cool nip in the air and winter is just around the corner. Perfect weather for whisky.

In India, specifically in Mumbai, it is our 2nd summer which can be even hotter, more humid that our 1st summer! Not so perfect weather for whisky… except when finding refuge in air condition comfort.

All three of our tasting groups met, clinked glasses and explored…

Bombay Malt & Cigar’s Canadian Club:

Our Whisky Ladies Contributor’s Choice evening was a Sunday sundowner with:

  • Ballentine’s 17 year Glentauchers 40%
  • Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask 43%
  • Talisker 18 year 45.8%
  • Glentauchers 20 year (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)

Our third whisky tasting group went traditional with a Scottish Trio:

My month also began with a quandary – do I go to Whisky Live Singapore in November or not? Clearly I decided YES as I’m already in Singapore now!

Plus tasting notes from the previous month…

For our Whisky Ladies, we shifted gears to grains with:

Our original club explored 3 different bourbons with carefully curated cocktails. Wow!

Whereas our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents went for a more classic 21 year evening:

Plus shared brief notes of a marvellous evening with an exceptional rare malt:

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

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Royal Brackla 21 year 40%

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Royal favour has its benefits… including in the world of whisky.

The distillery was founded in 1812 by Captain William Fraser of Brackla House on the estate of Cawdor Castle and by 1833 was selected by King William the IV to be the royal court whisky. The distillery changed hands, had its ups and downs – including closing for some time in 1943-45 and 1964-66 then 1985-91.

And yet the “Royal” title remained, even as it changed hands eventually ending up as part of the Dewar & Sons portfolio.

We sampled this 21 year old whisky blind, with a reveal at the end. Here is what we thought…

Royal Brackla 21 year 40%

  • Nose – We were greeted with varnish, lime, sharp and direct, link control, medicinal soap, started to shift and become very sweet, cinnamon spice candy, bananas, hallowe’en corn candy, marshmallows, wood sap, toffee, burnt caramel, a puff of smoke, resin, white pear, leafy basil, curry leaf
  • Palate – Soft, a nice coating and well balanced, raisins and resin, a bit of chocolate, loads of wood, honey, with the 2nd sip was much spicier
  • Finish – Cinnamon spice – delicious!
  • Water – I never would have thought to try but others prompted – the whisky takes water quite well, opening up a complete fruit basket of aromas, butterscotch, rounds it out even more, with a lovely sweetness, revealing a nice fresh grassy element on the palate, surprisingly it also improved the mouthfeel

It was a rather nice way to finish up our Scottish traditional trio. Again it had the sense of being a combination of ex-bourbon with some ex-sherry too.

And the reveal?

A recognition this is a distillery we rarely encountered. Yet were pleased to do so that evening.

So what do the folks at Dewar (aka Barcardi) have to say? They have quite succinct tasting notes:

Richly fragrant with summer berries, dark chocolate, star anise, and a sherried sweetness.

Our original tasting group explored two other whiskies in our classic Scottish trio evening:

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Old Pulteney 17 year 46% revisited

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Sometimes it is nice to be reminded of how much you enjoy a particular distillery and its whiskies. We had just such an opportunity with our Scottish “classic” evening…

Naturally half the fun was tasting completely blind with the reveal only at the end. Here is what we found…

Old Pulteney 17 year 46%

  • Colour – Copper
  • Nose – Sweet perfume, floral, vanilla, a touch of salty brine, chocolate, butterscotch, so familiar and inviting, toffee, some gentle sherry influence. After the 1st sip we found marzipan, almonds, light sweet citrus like a lemon cake. As it opened even more, there was a hint of smoke. As we let it sit even longer, the citrus shifted into a lively orange peel oil.
  • Palate – Soft sweet spice with some salt. A lovely complexity, sweet lime, lightly bitter with a subtle touch of tobacco leaf, a wisp or puff of smoke, so beautifully balance
  • Finish – Ends on a sweet note, gentle spice, really quite beautiful, a bit of liquorice
  • Water – Mellows it out… some preferred with and some without

We all really enjoyed this whisky and found it quite lovely, with a “feel good” character. While exceedingly easy to drink, it also had complexity and kept evolving. We all were confident that it must be Scottish and clearly well crafted. It also had all the hallmarks of an ex-Bourbon cask with a bit of ex-Sherry too.

A few of us kept remarking how there was something so completely familiar about it. We settled on Highland, one even mentioned Old Pulteney, another an old style Balvenie.

And our reaction to the reveal that it was an Old Pulteney 17 year?

Delight! An excellent reminder of how this whisky is simply one good dram.

Naturally this was one of many enjoyable evenings with Old Pulteney of which a few included:

Our original tasting group took an evening with a classic Scottish trio:

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Tragedy Struck! Gordon + MacPhail’s Linkwood 1998 46%

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Once upon a time there was a Linkwood that was poured into a bottle in 2012… to make its way from Scotland to a World of Whisky store to a home in Mumbai, India. And then find its way into our glasses in October 2018…

We sampled it blind and here is what we found…

Linkwood 13 year (8 Dec1998 / Jan 2010) Cask No 5014 Refill Sherry Hogshead 46% for World of Whiskies

  • Colour – Very yellow
  • Nose – When first opened it was so fruity – particularly jackfruit, cashew fruit then red fruits… then as strong as it came on, the basket of fruits slipped away… Particularly after the first sip. Instead there was biscuits, cereal notes with hay, grass… more and more it became dusty, musty, woody… after even more time there was a light coconut and even some marshmallow but… something wasn’t quite right….
  • Palate – Sharp, initially fruity, then musty, sour, earthy, bitter, very woody, some spice, quite thin with little body, wet fallen leaves
  • Finish – Very short finish
  • Water – Some found it horrible, bitter vs others finding it became tart with lemons then sweet, the fruit came back with some spice yet was still very musty with dry coconut husks

We struggled with this one… it seemed oddly incomplete or off… something or other wasn’t quite right. Over and over we kept remarking on the peculiar musty element.

With the reveal we were all surprised.

Linkwood.

Gordon & Macphail.

Really?? The character wasn’t in keeping with our past experience with Linkwood whiskies and certainly not Gordon & Macphail bottles.

And that is when our host revealed that the reason he served this single malt from a lovely decanter was the cork had crumbled completely. He further shared he had purchased this years ago – likely not long after it was released in 2012.

It seemed that tragedy had struck. What could have once been a fine dram was given no favours by being stored in a Mumbai cupboard for years. There actually have been studies on the impact of storage conditions on whisky bottles. Mumbai’s heat isn’t kind to bottles… and this seems to have happened in this case. Sigh….

What about other Linkwood experiences?

Our original tasting group continued in our “classic” evening with two other Scottish single malts:

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Scottish Trio – Linkwood, Old Pulteney, Royal Brackla

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Sometimes you just want to enjoy classic styled whiskies… with a flight that has a straight forward age progression from younger to older… no experimentation, just a standard combination of ex-bourbon cask and ex-sherry maturation.

That is exactly what we did this month, sampling each malt blind… And yet it wasn’t entirely as “traditional” an experience as one would think…

Our original tasting group went “traditional” with a Scottish trio:

Curious to know more about what we found? Just click on the whisky links above and get all the juicy details!

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Whisky Ladies Contributor’s Choice – Glentauchers, Balvenie, Talisker

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When doing whisky tastings, themes are great but sometimes going a bit random is even better! And that’s exactly what we did this month with the Whisky Ladies…. we invited contributions and then discovered what they brought!

What did we explore in our Ladies Choice evening?

Our core focus was a trio with a wee ‘appetizer’ blend thrown in at the last minute:

Curious to know more? Just click on the whisky links to read what we thought!

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Bombay Canadian Club – Lohin McKinnon Single Malt Lot 0001 43%

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From blends to a single grain to a single malt, our Bombay Canadian evening had a rather civilized progression ending on this new single malt from Central City Brewing. The whisky’s name is a combination of Gary Lohin, Brewmaster and Stuart McKinnon, Head Distiller. Started as a brewpub in Surrey, British Columbia, Central City Brewing then grew to build a full fledged craft brewery and distillery – continuing to make beer, adding cigar, gins, rum and now whisky.

Lohin McKinnon Single Malt Lot 0001 43%

  • Nose – Going bananas big time! Initially sour overripe bananas it then shifted to more ripe fruits like apricots and pineapples, lots of barley, then a delicious banana cake, very fruit forward
  • Palate – You that banana cake on the nose? It was banana bread on the palate with cinnamon, still oodles of fruit with peach, apricot like that 5 fruit Tropicana juice
  • Finish – Simple yet long, light and satisfying

For most this was the favourite of our Canadian quartet – the banana cake quality was simply lip smacking! It also paired rather well with the cigars of choice for the evening too.

And here’s what the folks over at the LCBO have to say:

The brewing talent of Gary Lohin of Central City Brewing Co. and the distilling artistry of Stuart McKinnon culminate in this smooth craft whisky. Bourbon barrel ageing gives complexity to this malt that is layered with hints of cherry, vanilla, and wood smoke on a medium weight/creamy palate, finishing with gentle spice.

While still only available through your provincial LCBO, this new single malt from BC is a bit harder to track down and may require going to a “specialty” store, finding the folks with the key to the locked cabinet. However the price remains most reasonable – currently C$60.40. This 1st edition was released in July 2017.

Check out what else our Bombay “Canadian” evening covered:

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Bombay Canadian Club – Gibson’s Finest Venerable 18 year 40%

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When you think of a Canadian whisky, one typically assumes a 3 year old, normally a blend or a rye… not an 18 year old whiskey.

This time from Gibson’s Finest – a distillery that started in Pennsylvania then with prohibition relocated to Quebec, where they have been producing whiskey every since.

Gibson’s Finest Venerable 18 year 40%

  • Nose – Sweet lemon, clean and simple, a touch of butterscotch
  • Palate – Very soft on the front, boiled sweets at the back then bread, sweet lemon cake, settling into a cream and biscuits with a hint of maple
  • Finish – Very light, warm

Overall we found it to be the epitome of spring, fresh and light, just skipping around ones palate. It is a day whisky, easy going, with a gentle single note. Not one harsh element and while one would ideally want a bit more complexity in an 18 year old, it was enjoyable in a innocuous and pleasant way.

As we tried this in one of Bombay Malt & Cigar evenings, the next step was to consider that combination. With this Gibson’s a cigar simply overpowers… best to enjoy each separately!

In Canada, you can find this through your provincial LCBO – currently for C$89.95.

Check out what else our Bombay “Canadian” evening covered:

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Bombay Canadian Club – G+W, Gibson’s, JP Wiser’s, Lohin McKinnon

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The funny thing about Canadians is we pop up all over the globe. It just so happens that one of our Bombay Malt and Cigar members is married to a fellow Canadian… and happened to have a trip back there recently… and just so happened to pick up a few bottles of Canadian whisky.

Which meant this month, our Bombay Malt and Cigar group was temporarily dubbed the “Bombay Canadian Club” with a chance to check out some offerings from my home and native land Canada!

Here is what we sampled, standing politely in a row:

Read on in the coming days for more details and impressions about our tasting experiences.

I had barely recovered from a rousing Canadian Thanksgiving feast the previous week with friends in Mumbai when our host followed up our whiskies and cigars with Canadian cuisine of tourtiere meat pie, poutine and nanaimo bars! After such an evening, we practically stood up to sing “O Canada!” (But were too polite to do such a thing.)

What was clear across the board is that these were all quite approachable and easy to enjoy whiskies. Not a single one was priced above CND 100, with most around (or even below) the C$50 mark. Making them equally approachable on the financial front as well.

However in terms of availability, some may need an extra check to see which local Canadian LCB (Liquor Control Board) has stock… as not all are “standard” fare. Case in point, our host really did try to track down other single malts such as Shelter Point… alas not a drop to be found where he went in the East or West!

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Bombay Canadian Club – Gooderham and Worts Four Grains (Take Two!)

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This wasn’t my 1st brush with Corby’s reconstruction of an old time Canadian blend which had a checkered past of being sold from Ontario to Quebec and smuggled back to meet the demand during temperance times…

Nope! This Gooderham and Worts Four Grain featured in an earlier “O Canada” evening – with initially not so enthusiastic impression followed by social occasions where it was a complete hit!

Gooderham & Worts Four Grains A.A1129 44.4%

  • Nose – It started off quite musty, grainy like wallowing in a granary, definitely had rye, then shifted into a lovely citrus, settling on a clear orange, even chocolate orange, some caramel, warm… back to wheat husk and barley, a drizzle of honey
  • Palate – Sourdough bread, very malty, sweet sugar on the 2nd sip, light spice, and lots of sourgum, more substance than expected
  • Finish – Surprisingly long, paprika and cinnamon

Overall we found it was very sweet. A clear reflection of all its components of corn, rye, wheat and barley. Most had started with rather – ahem! – modest expectations and were quite pleasantly surprised.

After resting covered for some time, we came back for a revisit – initially greeted with a sharp grain, vanilla and then… remarkably a most distinctive chaat masala emerged with full on black salt. It may sound odd but it wasn’t bad, just unexpected.

As we settled into the cigar puffing part of the evening, this blend held its own… not such a bad start to our Canadian explorations.

Here’s what the folks at the LCBO have to say:

A blend of corn, rye, wheat and barley and bottled at 44.4% ABV this pours a golden/amber colour. On the nose look for notes of honey, toffee, dried flowers, and bubble-gum; the palate is rich and full with a smooth/viscous mouthfeel and flavours of sweet floral and stone fruit followed by a medium-length spicy finish.

Thanks to Canada’s regulated approach to the sale of liquor, one can easily find both where to buy (simple – your provincial LCBO) and how much (currently C$44.95), with this blend relatively easy to find in Ontario.

And if you are picking this up in Toronto and feeling a little nostalgic, I’d recommend a wander through the old distillery district where you can see what once upon a time was the building that produced an earlier avatar!

Check out what our Bombay “Canadian” evening covered:

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