Whisky Ladies 4th Anniversary!

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Carissa Hickling

Wow! How time flies! From a “wouldn’t it be great if…” to four full and flourishing years of sharing, pairing, discussing, debating, friendship and tasting with the Whisky Ladies of Mumbai!

Originally scheduled for when I was out galavanting around the globe, mother nature had other plans and Mumbai was effectively shut down by rains and floods.

Lucky for me this meant it could be rescheduled to a weekend when I could very happily join!

We decided after our last anniversary that the way to go is have a fun, sociable gathering – where each lady can invite a guest, bring an open bottle, have a grand meal, celebrating together the wonderful world of whiskies with fabulous women! After all – sharing is caring!

The collection was impressive! Here is where we started before most even arrived…

Given some were not able to join our Goan Paul John Distillery tour, I decided to bring ALL of the nearly empty bottles with me – including some never tried by all Whisky Ladies. Here’s what we started with from left to right…

As the sun set and the evening progressed, more and more bottles made their way to our lips… To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even TRY to track the variety and quantity that made its appearance over the course of our gathering… Suffice it to say, it beautifully reflected the diversity of our palates, preferences and penchant to track down something interesting or to simply kick back, relax and sociably enjoy.

For my part, after traveling for weeks from Mumbai – Munich – Winnipeg – Munich & Nuremberg – Mumbai – Goa – Mumbai – Kalote straight from the rice paddy fields of our country home to Mumbai’s urban jungle for our Whisky Ladies celebration, I could not have had a better day or way to celebrate!

I’m so lucky to have been part of creating such a special whisky tasting group in India and am going to miss it terribly in the coming months and years.

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BMC “shabby chic” evening

Posted on August 25, 2019 by Carissa Hickling

Date juggling with the Bombay Malt & Cigar gentlemen can be a challenge as we all travel extensively and, let’s face it, have busy lives!

So when one member could not join our originally scheduled August date, we decided to shift from a planned tasting of curated closed bottles to pulling out something open from our whisky cabinets to share.

As they didn’t earlier have the pleasure of trying Shelter Point – yet heard so much from all my past experiences – I decided it was time they experience – even if oxidized dregs!

And yes – the plan was to bring just one but when there was so little left, how could I resist bringing all four?

Shelter Point Artisanal Single Malt (2018) 46% – Only one dram of their ‘core’ expression remained which was shared… while it lost some of its character it was still delightfully charming
Shelter Point Montfort District Lot 141 Grain (2018) 46% – Nothing wrong however it didn’t stand out
Shelter Point Double Barrelled Single Malt (2018) 50% (Quail’s Gate Pinot Noir) – Remarkable how even after sitting in an open bottle for six months, it kept such personality! Considered by far the most complex and interesting, it kept shifting and changing, revealing different elements… the remainder was left with our host to continue to enjoy!
Shelter Point Artisanal Cask Strength (2018) 58.7% – As we had other bottles to sip and enjoy, this rye blend wasn’t tried by one… so he took the bottle home!

While there were other bottles on offer, here is what I recall:

Mosstowie 35 year (1979/2015) 48.1% (Signatory) – Surprisingly similar to the Shelter Point (at a fraction of the cost!)… went well with our cigars
From earlier this year Four Roses Small Batch 45% – A time pass bourbon
And new to me at least the Kavalan Podium 46% – Combo of new American virgin oak and distillery refill barrels, not a bad entry level Kavalan for those who don’t care for the power punch of the Solist line

As for the cigars, it was a revisit of Gurka Seduction, also from an earlier session.

I must confess I took narry a photo nor tasting note that evening – what I’ve shared here are mere recollections of impressions rather than specifics.

This was an evening where we simply came together, sipped our drams, planned our upcoming sessions and September Scottish whisky tour with the whiskies taking a supporting role rather than featured cast.

Which sometimes is exactly what you ask of a good dram – to be the best possible accompaniment to a rather enjoyable time with friends.

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Whisky Ladies Highland Treat – anCnoc Black Hill + Rùdhan, Glen Garioch

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Carissa Hickling

Sometimes with our tasting order we realize – oops! A different approach would have enabled a more interesting experience aligned to the whisky character.

However at other times we get it spot on! Which was completely the case with our Highland Treat trio!

And the Whisky Ladies? We had a Highland Treat with:

AnCnoc Black Hill Reserve 46% – Honeyed treat, lovey and well balanced
AnCnoc Rùdhan 46% – A peatier persuasion, spice, apples, interesting…
Glen Garioch 15 year Sherry Cask 53.7% – Coffee candy, heavy sherry and brilliant paired with cheese

Read on over the next few days for more details on what we discovered!

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