This Chorlton quartet was the birthday gift that just kept giving! It began as a single bottle purchased as an extra special 60th birthday gift. Then the other Bombay Malt & Cigar gents offered to ‘chip in’, so I purchased another 2 bottles. The trio was then augmented with an additional bottle to become a remarkable quartet!

All four were from the La Nouvelle Vague series:

• Glen Elgin 12 year (21 Apr 2009/July 2021) Refill Hogshead 52.6% 287 bottles, intended as an “appetizer”, packs a “kick” too!
• Tormore 28 year (Nov 1992/Jul 2021) 42.45% 253 bottles, an irresistible offering from the summer season
• Orkney (Highland Park) 22 year (9 Jun 1999/Feb 2022) Bourbon Hogshead 53.4% 311 bottles, tasted both from a bottle brought to Mumbai in April 2022 and 2nd bottle as part of this set
• Bunnahabhain 18 year (28 Feb 2002 / 2021) Sherry Butt 53.4% 322 bottles offered for pre-order in December 2020

The quartet was originally opened in June 2022 in London during a special evening with Sukhinder Singh (Elixir, The Whisky Exchange) and two Bombay Malt & Cigar gents (naturally including the “birthday boy!). As I missed it, we rescheduled for October 2022, also in London, sharing with a former Bombay Whisky Lady and other friends.

However, our tastings with these bottles weren’t done! Two sets of 100ml samples were re-bottled and dispatched to Mumbai for two evenings:

• Whisky Ladies on November 1 as a special joint birthday treat for myself and one other Whisky Lady (sharing the same birthday) who flew in from Hyderabad… the only challenge here was splitting 100ml between 8 ladies!
• Bombay Malt & Cigar gents on Nov 6 to share with the others who were intended to be part of the original 60th birthday celebration that inspired the whole set! Which just so happened to also be my partner’s birthday (who joined us for dinner)

It was so interesting to see the commonalities and differences between the tasting sessions! Different settings, different personalities, and different whisky style preferences meant we could experience different dimensions. What an incredibly rewarding way to experience such lovely and varied whiskies!

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