This quarter, I was criss-crossing the globe between Canada, the UK, Germany, Abu Dhabi, and India. However, after a long time, I was more at home in Mumbai than anywhere else and was able to rejoin my wonderful whisky clubs – The Whisky Ladies of Mumbai and the Bombay Malt & Cigar Club! I can’t tell you what a privilege it is to enjoy good company over exploring a few new drams.

This quarter got off to a bang with a trip to London for the 2025 Whisky Show in October!

• Day 1: Decadent Drinks + Drams, Lochside 46 year, Elixir,  Glen Grant core range 1 + 2, Amrut, Arbikie, Gordon & Macphail, The Heart Cut, Compass Box, Agitator, Thy, Carpathia
• Day 2: Arran, Tamdhu, Aberargie, Ichiro’s Malts & Chichibu, Deanston, Glen Grant Birth year drams, Annandale, Macaloney’s, Decadent Drams 2, Teerenpelli, Bivrost, High Coast, Octave
• Mainstage: Independents, Nordics, Islands

Several of the above links will be updated later in 2026 – understandable as we tasted over 100 whiskies and I’m taking my time to research more before sharing our light impressions.

The day I landed in Mumbai was perfectly timed to join an evening with the Bombay Malt & Cigar (BMC) club, this time with our partners! It was my turn to host the whiskies. I put together a slightly random selection – broadly based around a theme of “Hard to get“! In other words, only available via auction, nearly sold out… in one case, only 63 bottles were produced! What did we sample?

• Glenkinchie 10 year (~1990s) 43% – A delightful reminder that a classic Lowland whisky shouldn’t be missed!
• Aultmore 9 year (Autumn 2000 / Spring 2010) Provenance Cask No 6211 46.8% (Douglas McGibbon & Co. Ltd) – A delicious dessert dram
• Balblair 16 year (Spring 2025) hogshead 55.8% (Chorlton) – A beautiful whisky in an equally beautiful bottle!
• Plus a special bonus dram: Craigallachie 17 year (Jun 2008 / 25 Aug 2025) Madeira Wine Cask No 7547103 54% (Duncan Taylor – Octave) 63 bottles – A marvel!

This was followed by another BMC evening late October featuring a Nc’Nean vertical – what fun!

• Nc’Nean Organic Single Malt Original 46% – An easy-drinking, enjoyable flagship expression
• Nc’Nean Huntress – Orchard Cobbler (2019 / 2024) 3rd Release 48.5% – Youthful and fruity – just as the name suggests!
• Nc’Nean Quiet Rebels – Gordon (2018 / 2023) 3rd Release 48.5% – A limited edition series designed as a tribute to key members of the Nc’Nean team – in this case, for their distillery manager Gordon Wood

We even managed to fit in a 3rd BMC evening in December! This time, we joined an evening hosted by Glen Grant at the Bombay Breach Candy Club.

Whilst the ladies took a break in October for Diwali, they were back on November 1st for a round of celebratory drams!

• Johnie Walker Blue Label Xordinaire Cognac Cask 40% – A treat to try, however, not so extraordinary to justify its price!
• Auchentoshan American Oak 40% – A delightful tutti fruitti value dram
• Laphroaig “The Cask Legacy” 48% (Laphroaig Cask Collection) – Yummy bacon jam joins the familiar Laphroaig ash

Whilst I missed the Whisky Ladies early December session as I was in Germany, one event I really look forward to annually is bringing the ladies and gentlemen together! This year, I put together a line-up of what I called “Bold & Beautiful” Chorlton expressions.

• Blair Athol 12 year 54.9% – Sugar on toast, rum raisin, gingerbread, yum!
• Speyside (Glenrothes) 13 year 64.6% – Complex, layered, savoury then sweet, quite something!
• Caol Ila 11 year 60.4% – What a treat! Deceptively good – all those classic Caol Ila elements with something a bit more!
• Faemussach (BenRiach) 21 year 56% – Diverse elements co-exist in this one – from fresh to umami, sweet to peat, floral perfumes to fish oil.

As for Germany? It was so fabulous to be back in my home away from home. I perused Christmas Markets, had a weekend getaway in the mountains, and naturally also a night of drams with the Nuremberg Whisky Explorers! We used it as an opportunity to revisit a few past favourites and open a special bottle!

I also caught up with a few previous quarter tasing experiences:

• Royal Brackla 16 year 40% – A nice reminder of a delightful standard
• Glen Grant 15 year Batch Strength 1st Edition 50% – A proper Scottish dram!

Thanks to a trip to Canada, I had a lovely weekend getaway in a cabin on a lake – naturally accompanied by a wee whisky tasting from That Boutique-y Whisky Co’s 2018 Advent Calendar – carefully selected to explore blends!

• Blend of Scottish and Japanese malt and grain whiskies 21 Year Old, Batch 1, 43%
• Scottish Blended Malt #4 6 Year Old Batch 1, 53.6%
• Scottish Blended Malt #1 18 Year Old, Batch 3, 47.3%
• Scottish Blended Whisky #2 22 Year Old Batch 3, 41.8%
• Scottish Blended Whisky #3, 23 Year Old Batch 1, 48.2%

There you have it – quite the active quarter!

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

• Whisky Lady – July to September 2025
• Whisky Lady – April to June 2025
• Whisky Lady – January to March 2025
• Whisky Lady – October to December 2024

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