Welcome to what will hopefully be a new series within this Whisky Lady blog! A much needed intro to a small Whisky Ladies of Europe group – an offshoot of our beloved and terribly missed Whisky Ladies of Mumbai. Each of us are currently living in parts of Europe, having both a malty and Mumbai connect. And given that we are scattered between Sweden, Germany, and a couple locations in France, the only recourse is to go virtual!

I offered to get things started by cracking open bottles I’d acquired since moving to Germany. With great care, 12 small sample bottles for each lady was poured, packed up and shipped. Alas one box didn’t make its destination in Paris, so a 2nd set was sent with a determination to explore together a hopefully good dram or two!

What did I think would make for a good starting point? Evenings exclusively featuring cask strength whiskies from independent bottlers…

• North Star which we’d collectively enjoyed a quintet nearly two years ago with another Mumbai based group – including a most memorable reading of Iain’s imaginative tasting notes
• Chorlton which I’d experienced with a different Mumbai group– falling in love both with the labels and the quality of Dave’s choices
• The Warehouse Collection which I had sampled at The Village whisky event in Nurnberg just before the shut down…

My plan is to start with the Chorlton quintet to sample over two occasions.

1. Miltonduff 11 years 62% 1st fill bourbon, 1 of 176 bottles (MD 11)
2. Tomintoul 14 year 57.6% Sherry butt, undiluted, uncoloured, unchill filtered, 1 of 455 bottles (TM 14)
3. Mackmyra 12 years 50.2% bourbon barrel, undiluted, uncoloured, unchill filtered, 1 of 278 bottles (MC 12)
4. Mannochmore 12 year 58.7% bourbon barrel, distilled 10 Sept 2008, cask strength, natural colour, unchill filtered, 1 of 108 bottles (MN 12)
5. Blair Athol 12 years 56.6% hogshead undiluted, uncoloured, unchill filtered, 1 of 268 bottles (BA 12)

Augmenting the 2nd Chorlton session with a whisky from a German independent bottler The Whisky Warehouse No 8 under their label The Warehouse Collection:

• Glencadam 8 year 61% (23 Feb 2011/6 June 2019) Bourbon Barrel Cask W8 800125

I closed with two sessions meandering through the North Star Spirits, of which the initial three – Royal Brackla, Fettercairn and Inchgower – I’d also sampled and shared earlier my personal tasting notes.

• Auchroisk 13 year (2006/2019) Oloroso Sherry Hogshead 51.2%
• Fettercairn 12 year (2006/2019) Refill Barrel 57.4%
• Glenturret 8 year (2010/2019) Refill Hogshead 58.3%
• Inchgower 11 year (2007/2019) Refill Hogshead 52.5%
• Royal Brackla 11 year (Oct 2006 / Feb 2018) Refill Hogshead 55.2%
• Speyside 12 year 50%

While not the same as tasting together in person, virtual tasting with the right companions is soooooo much better than no tasting!

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