Category Archives: Beyond Scotland

Northern Lights – Mackmyra Mack 40%

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Yet again we have returned to Sweden, compliments of our Swedish Whisky Lady’s summer trip to the land of her birth. She considered other options then settled on their entry level whisky.

Mackmyra Mack 40%

  • Nose – Oranges, warm peaches in the sunshine, bubble gum, candy floss. Just a fabulous warm and inviting nose, some caramel custard too
  • Palate – Initially came across as a bit flat, like apple juice, but keep sipping and you’ll enjoy the light spice and amiable character, quite satisfying
  • Finish – Light restrained and quite tasty

Overall it reminded us of a summery county fair. Though most of us would have preferred a bit more “oomph!”, perhaps a bit higher than 40%.

Disappointing to learn they use caramel for colouring but it was quite accommodating and easy to drink.

Truth me told – it was the “hit” of the evening and we had to set it aside to keep it from being emptied completely!

Here’s what the chaps over at Master of Malt have to say:

  • Nose: Vanilla, boiled sweets and soft orchard fruit. Pear drops and spicy caramel. 
  • Palate: Candies peels, vanilla fudge, hint of basil, stewed fruit. 
  • Finish: Sweet oak spices.

It was purchased in Sweden in August 2017 and opened in Mumbai May 2018.

Whisky Ladies Northern Lights:

Curious to try more Nordic whiskies? Check out the European whisky section with a selection of Swedish whiskies:

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Northern Lights – Flóki Young Malt 47%

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Our intrepid Whisky Lady host brought back from her trip to Iceland some remarkable images, memories and yes a malt too! She shared how she considered  the Sheep Dung (smoked with Icelandic sheep poo) but settled on the Young Malt.

As we opened the bottle, she told us tales of her winter adventures in Iceland. With others chiming in with their experiences too. Stories swirled about a remarkable land of exceptional natural landscape, socializing in hot springs, quixotic nightlife, music and more…

Flóki Young Malt 47% 1st Impression

  • Nose – Lots of hay, like being inside a granary, dusty, a bit yeasty, young, a little metallic, quite organic
  • Palate – What a contrast! Cinnamon candy, a bit peculiar- not necessarily in a bad way just something very unfamiliar, a tough whisky with a hint of light leather from tannery, rubber
  • Finish – Back to hay with a bit of spice, had an almost “flat” quality with cedar

At one point we joked that we’d stumbled inside a barnyard! It was quite rustic, unique and definitely different. We began to joke it was like wandering into a set of Game of Thrones.

There was no doubt it would be welcome after hiking in the glaciers! Very apt for Iceland.

Here is what the folks who create Flóki have to say:

100% Icelandic locally grown barley. Named after one of Icelands first explorers, Hrafna-Flóki (Flóki of the ravens).

Carefully distilled using our custom made distillation equipment to extract the full flavor of the barley and then matured in new wood american oak barrels.

Flóki is a complex and unique malt with a blend of characteristics you´d expect in Bourbon, Irish Whisky and Scottish Highland Whiskys.

Not sure I’d call it complex, but it is certainly unique and worth exploring for the novelty!

Whisky Ladies Northern Lights:

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Northern Lights – Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye 40%

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This wasn’t the 1st, 2nd or even my 3rd time sampling this particular whisky.  However it was an exceedingly apt way to kick start our Whisky Ladies evening exploring whiskies with a Northern Lights connect.

As soon as the bottle came out, a fellow Canadian couldn’t help but recall her youthful follies with a quintessential Canadian drink – Rye and Ginger aka ginger ale.

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye 40%

  • Nose – Maple, very sweet, light rye yet accessible, sparkling cider, juicy fruit gum
  • Palate – Ginger, sweet, bit spicy then  back to sweet
  • Finish – Short, sweet, light wood

It made us think of making a terrific Old Fashioned or Manhattan.

Whisky Ladies Northern Lights:

You can read about other tasting adventures with the Northern Harvest Rye here:

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Northern Lights – Crown Royal, Flóki, Mack

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It can be a lot of fun playing around with a whisky theme. With the right combination, you can discover something different even in a familiar dram, or appreciate nuances in a spirit you may otherwise dismiss.

It was one of those kinds of sessions, held together by a distinctly “northern” theme. So while it it was swelteringly hot outdoors, we retreated to the cool ac of indoors and enjoyed our Northern Lights evening of:

While none would be considered outstanding, yet each was unique and as a set, enabled us to appreciate their different dimensions.

Talk turned to affordability… these days in the quest for something special, prices can become daunting. This was a terrific reminder that in the right company, context and frame of mind, there is no need to spend a “bomb” to obtain something quite enjoyable.

Case in point, when we looked up prices discovered:

  • Northern Harvest Rye $32
  • Mack $42
  • Flóki $52

From our perspective, these are all eminently affordable for quite affable drams.

What was even better was the tales of how each made it from their respective locales to Mumbai… details coming over the next few days!

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Powers 12 year 46%

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One fine evening in Mumbai our tasting group settled down to sample a trio… completely blind followed by the reveal. We closed with a dram from Ireland.

Powers 12 year John’s Lane Release 46%

  • Nose – Distinctly different, pot still, chocolate, hazelnut, milky, bit of varnish, oily, green and spic, tumeric, cinnamon, organic. Opened up and took on a forest quality – particularly spruce wood, green apple, some cumin, bay leaf, a bit of floral like rose essence…. After a long time came back and it was pure candy sweet!
  • Palate – Quite tasty and with spice! Pineapple, more of that gulab jaman with rose essence, while it certainly wasn’t completely, was quite sociable with a happy easy style
  • Finish – Butter, spice, not long but nice
  • Water – Absolutely no need

Our speculations?

One immediately identified it as Irish pot still. Talk turned to Bushmill Black, Powers.. we all found it to bhquite

And the reveal?

Guess what? Powers! It was a nice amiable ending to our evening.

Here’s what the folks at Powers have to say:

Powers John’s Lane Release is a Single Pot Still whiskey that celebrates the origin of the Powers Whiskey tradition and provides a glimpse of the whiskey style that made Powers famous. The distillate has been matured for no less than 12 years, mainly in American Oak casks with a small inclusion of Iberian Oak for balance and complexity and then married to create the distinctive honey and spice flavor of Powers.

  • Nose: An abundance of earthy aromas, leather, tobacco with layers of charred wood, dark chocolate and treacle toffee.
  • Taste: Full bodied spice front followed by vanilla, honey and dried apricot.
  • Finish: Lingering honey sweetness on toasted oak.

What else did we sample that evening?

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Trio of Glengoyne, Blair Athol, Powers

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A warm evening in Mumbai brought a trio of drams… Our original group kept with tradition and sampled completely blind, giving us an opportunity to discern and dissect our impressions without the distraction of past experience with any of the distilleries.

Here is what we tried:

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Vault Collection – Hellyers Road Pinot Noir Finish 46.2%

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The Vault Fine Spirits has single handed expanded the range of whiskies and other spirits available in India – more specifically through our Duty Free. Which is exactly the theme of the session – exploring a trio from this collection.

First up in the “The Vault Collection” trio was a blind tasting of a whisky from Tasmania, Australia. Our guest writer Nikkhil had the following tasting notes to share.

Pour 1: Hellyers Road-Pinot Noir Finish 46.2% | Non Chill Filtered | NAS

  • Color: Gold
  • Nose: Dense sweet chocolate, sweet and lactic at the same time. Light varnish notes, burnt matches. Then starfruit citrus with curious notes of paan and nutmeg. Most unusual nose and certainly non-Scottish. Let’s see how the palate lives up
  • Palate: Intensely roasted coffee beans. It was literally like chewing on the beans. Then came the sweet fruity flavors of pears and overripe pineapples. That lactic, porridge flavor was back. With a little time, it got spicy with bitter tannic notes at the back of the throat. This seems young and confused. Bottled a tad too early?
  • With water and about 20 mins of rest it didn’t change much. On the palate, it was now a tad oily with some cold coffee but the bitterness continues.
  • Finish: Very dry and the tannic bitterness continues.

As usual it was time to guess. This was most definitely non-Scottish. One member nailed it down to Tasmanian. And there it was, Hellyers Road! A very challenging whisky certainly not for the novice. Would like to revisit it once it settles down in the bottle. But based on the first impression it was certainly not my kind of a dram.

Official notes:  

The nose is immediately drawn to crisp summer citrus, lemon and orange that obediently withdraws on the palate to manifest a sweet, gentle layer of pepper and spice – a persuasion of the red wine cameo. Burnt blackberry sauce lingers in the aftertaste foreclosing a treasured confusion of the senses.

The Vault Collection trio:

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“Trans Tasman Tour” Crazy Uncle Monsoon 43%

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It was inspired by a crazy 90 year old uncle, saved for 2 years to share with the Whisky Ladies of Mumbai and finally opened one fine evening…

Whipersnapper’s Crazy Uncle Moonshine Barrel Aged 43%, Bottle 1/15

Truth be told, there were no tasting notes taken… instead we passed around this mad moonshine and shared tales of the crazy uncles in our lives. Some stories terribly amusing, others humbling and touching… all testament to the cantankerous and curiously compellingly kind mad men who make an impact.

So what else made it into our “Trans Tasman” explorations?

Curious about more? Check out the Australia and New Zealand section in the Asia Pacific whiskies page.

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“Trans Tasman Tour” – Sullivans Cove Double Cask 40%

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After some experimental whiskies from Australia and New Zealand, it was time to turn to one we had high hopes would satisfy our craving for something a bit more complex and perhaps even a bit more classic…

Based in Tasmania, Sullivans Cove is one of the distilleries that put Australian whiskies on the world map. And with good reason.

Tasmania’s Sullivans Cove Double Cask (2008/2015) 40%

  • Nose – Fruity, spice, finally a “proper” whisky, a bit of Amarula creaminess, some ripe bananas, forest greens, mud and moss, nice and earthy, then flowers
  • Palate – Comes together beautifully, some coriander, full and well rounded, some raisins, accessible yet satisfying
  • Finish – The icing on the cake, fabulous light yet has substance morphing into cherry, dark chocolate, cinnamon

There is a certain elegance to this whisky. It is both classic and modern. What we also remarked is that though only 40%, this was a proper full whisky that left nothing out.

We sampled the DC080 which is a combination of a French Oak Australian Port Cask and American Oak Bourbon Cask, using barrels HH0203, HH0206, HH0272, HH0408, HH0437 with the youngest from 22/08/2000, Bottled 13/07/2015. We sampled Bottle 1,458 of 1,556, freshly opened that evening.

Here is what the Sullivans Cove have to say about their Double Cask, appreciating there is variation between editions:

  • Nose – Vanilla, soft malt and orchard fruits
  • Palate – Honey, boiled lollies and buttered scones
  • Finish – Mild spices and soft oak with lingering creamy sweetness

So what else made it into our “Trans Tasman” explorations?

Curious about more? Check out the Australia and New Zealand section in the Asia Pacific whiskies page.

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“Trans Tasman Tour” – Willowbank Doublewood 10 Year 40%

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Next up on our Trans Tasman tour is another Kiwi whisky from the closed Willowbank distillery – this time a 10 year old matured in “double wood” in other words two different sets of casks – bottled by the New Zealand Malt Whisky Co. Ltd.

Our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai sampled it one fine March evening… and here is what we thought…

New Zealand Willowbank Doublewood 10 year Blended Whisky 40%

  • Nose – Salty caramel popcorn, candy toffee, heavy vanilla, cotton candy, cognac, salt water taffy, shifted to grapes and raisins, then into perfume nose and quite beautiful
  • Palate – Almost wine-like in the region of prosecco, then a bit mineral, shifts back to toffee coffee like a coffee liquor or an instant coffee, then almonds
  • Finish – Strangely, there was an almost red vermouth quality

We found this much more enjoyable than the 22 year old and, dare I say it, the Hellyers Road Pinot Noire.

The colour was exceptional – a bright red that clearly showed off its time spent finishing in ex red wine casks.

What more do we know?

This whisky is a  blend of 70% malt and 30% grain, spent 6 years maturing in Bourbon casks before spending 4 years finishing in French oak barrels which previously held red wine. It was distilled at the closed Willowbank distillery in Dunedin on the South Island, then was released by The New Zealand Malt Whisky Company.

So what else made it into our Kiwi and Taz explorations?

Curious about more “Trans Tasman” drams? Check out the Australia and New Zealand section in the Asia Pacific whiskies page.

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