Happy New Year! It is so good to be home celebrating with family and friends. And reflecting on how busy the last few months have been!

Unexpected tastings, sharing special drams with fabulous folks, birthday celebrations, and to top it all off – two whisky festival weekends in a row!! Wow wow wow!!! Paris Whisky Live and London’s Whisky Show – let me repeat – WOW!!

Let’s start with birthday drams….

We also had the Chorlton birthday drams – with the gift that kept on giving! So far we have held 4 tastings just from this quartet… Two in London and two in Mumbai where one session brought together two birthday ladies! (including yours truly)

• Bunnahabhain 18 year 53.4% – Such a chameleon! Must take your time with this dram – absolutely fantastic with its quirky character 
• Glen Elgin 12 year 56.6% – Deceptive with a nose promising sweetness and light with a surprisingly peppery palate!
• Orkney (Highland Park) 22 year 53.4% – Prompted quite different reactions in different contexts – from big and full to curiously shy, there is a lot going on with this one
• Tormore 28 year 42.4% – A summer dram by the seaside with rare yet rewarding mineral and nutty elements joining a fruit basket 

Paris Whisky Live was divided between Day 1, which was devoted to the VIP area:

• LMdW Biere & Whisky – Focus on Arran
• LMdW Ex-Libris – With Ireland’s Knappogue Castle trio chased by a 40-year JP Wiesers
• LMdW Artist #12 – As always, such a treat!
• LMdW Chichibu artist quartet
• Atom Brands – That Boutique-y Whisky Co 10th anniversary drams with a 45-year-old Blended Grain, Clynelish, Ben Nevis, and a trio from their Darkness range – a complete highlight! Closing with Character of Islay with Ardbeg, Octmore
• Gordon & MacPhail – From Discovery to Connaisseurs to Collectors
• LMdW Scottish Whisky – A few special drams
• Valinch & Mallet – With Linkwood & Knockdhuu
• Lagg Masterclass having a first chance to explore what I had only a glimpse of when I visited the new distillery in 2020

Day 2 was meandering around the main section with a penchant for French whiskies, a smattering of Scottish, and one Indian thrown in for good measure!

• France – Amorik, Arlette, Maison Benjamin Kuentz, Nationale 10
• India – Rampur
• Scotland – Craigellachie, Fettercairn, Glenallachie, Mortlach

Then the following weekend was London’s Whisky Show with:

• Cotswolds – Where our journey began
• Paul John – Couldn’t pass up one from the Astrological Sign series – Methuna
• Gordon & Macphail – Always a delight – don’t miss! We began with a couple from the Discovery range, an Ardmore Distillery Label, then a pair of Connoisseurs Choice, closing with the Private Collection – Imperial & Inverleven
• The Macallan – Indulged my companion’s memory of Macallan
• That Boutique-y Whisky Company – One of our mainstays, joining their 10th-anniversary celebrations!
• Arran – Focused on the peaty Machrie Moor
• Fettercairn – Dipped in for a nice nip
• The Diageo Dram room – Missed the chocolate pairing so simply sampled a Clynelish and moved on
• Kyro – Finnish Rye discovery
• Berry Brothers & Rudd – Enjoyed a Speyside pit stop
• Watt Whisky – A new independent bottler founded by the Watts
• The Whisky Exchange: Whisky Show Bottlings – Where Duncan shared an extra special ‘showstopper’ treat – the Rosebank 21!

Masterclass: The Unbelievable Truth About Whisky with Gregg Glass, James Saxon, Alex Bruce, Sam Simmonds, Phil & Simon Thompson… like stepping into a private gathering of old friends, catching up telling tall tales over a fine dram or two.

What a wonderful peak into some quite marvelous malts and more at two fabulous whisky fests!

And then back in India at the close of the year, our Swedish Whisky Lady treated us to a trio from a new distillery – Agitator – where we explored:

• Agitator Single Malt 43% – Swedish summery dram
• Agitator Single Malt Rök 43% – Their “smoky” expression
• Agitator Argument: Småfat 46% – Small batch & small cask, a complex expression

Obviously, the links above mean you can learn more by checking out a specific post…. whereas, for the balance, you will just have to be a wee bit patient as I slowly enjoy putting the virtual pen to virtual paper and then post!

Happy New Year!

Curious to know more? Check out a few more monthly summaries:

• Whisky Lady – July – September 2022
• Whisky Lady – May + June 2022
• Whisky Lady – March + April 2022
• Whisky Lady – February 2022
• Whisky Lady – January 2022

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