What a month… in Germany we are back in a period of restrictions (I wouldn’t say lockdown). What to do? Switch gears to some fabulous virtual tastings!

The month was clearly made more joyful with the launch of our European chapter of the Whisky Ladies of Mumbai…

1st session with a Chorlton Trio

• Miltonduff 11 years 62%
• Mackmyra 12 years 50.2%
• Blair Athol 12 years 56.6%

3rd session with North Star’s 

• Royal Brackla 11 year (Oct 2006 / Feb 2018) Refill Hogshead 55.2%
• Fettercairn 12 year (2006/2019) Refill Barrel 57.4%
• Inchgower 11 year (2007/2019) Refill Hogshead 52.5%

4th session with North Star’s 

• Speyside 12 year 50%
• Auchroisk 13 year (2006/2019) Oloroso Sherry Hogshead 51.2%
• Glenturret 8 year (2010/2019) Refill Hogshead 58.3%

What else?

I finished a few more tasting notes from my September Glasgow / London trip which included creation of a Glengoyne 16 year Original “Carissa” Cask Strength. And a merry evening of American minis featuring:

• Hudson Baby Bourbon 46%,
• TBWC 24 year Bourbon No 1 48%,
• Balcones Single Malt 53%, 
• Whistle Pig Rye 50%

Plus some miscellaneous malty musings with:

• Anticipating my “score” from Nurnberg’s “The Village” Fest from February 2019 – Bruichladdich, Glencadam, St Kilian
• Meandered down tasting notes from an evening in July 2019 at  Berlin’s Union Jack
• Most summers I try to fit a trip to Manitoba to see family and friends… Obviously this year was unthinkable however as the fall colours arrived, I found myself missing Canada… The solution? Order up a few Shelter Point for a mythical future trip!

It was a busy month with still more to come…

• A London evening with Sukhinder Singh, The Whisky Exchange
• Germany’s Willkommen with a weekend trip to Ziegler Distillery with a tasting tour of Aureum Whiskies together with the German Sharing Angels
• St Kilian samples

Curious to know more? Check out recent Whisky Lady’s semi-monthly summaries:

• Whisky Lady – Sep to Oct 2020
• Whisky Lady – June to Aug 2020
• Whisky Lady – Mar to May 2020
• Whisky Lady – Feb 2020
• Whisky Lady – Jan 2020
• Celebrating 1000 whisky posts!

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Soon after the announcement of the European chapter of our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai, our tasting sessions kicked off! It was a bit of a bumpy start as our Parisian Whisky Lady could only listen as her boxes took several weeks instead of days to reach!

Our journey began with an interesting array from independent bottlers… starting with this trio from Chorlton.

1. Miltonduff 11 years 62.0% first fill bourbon 1 of 176 bottles (MD 11) – Great contrast between fruity nose and surprisingly rich palate
2. Mackmyra 12 years 50.2% bourbon barrel, undiluted, uncoloured, unchill filtered, 1 of 278 bottles (MC 12) – Fresh, clean, cherry wood and honey
3. Blair Athol 12 years 56.6% hogshead, undiluted, uncoloured, unchill filtered, 1 of 268 bottles (BA 12)

Truly, it was such a pleasure to taste whiskies again with a small group of women. A much needed moment of malty merriment!

From Chorlton’s L’Ancien Régime series, I was fortunate to try earlier in Mumbai:

• Miltonduff 9 year 58.3% – Creamy desert with fruits, breakfast cereals… in short delicious!
• Orkney 9 year 63.1% – Copper, minerals, salted caramel and smoke, all beautifully balanced
• Ruadh Maor 8 year 62.5% (aka Glenturret) – Seasoned meats and fried snacks…. a chameleon quality that evolved differently in each glass

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It now seems so surreal… end of February large events were still happening in Germany – including The Village whisky festival here in Nurnberg.

I was quite conservative in my acquisitions assuming this was the start of a whisky festival season with plenty of upcoming opportunities. I also assumed that I could easily go to a specialty whisky store and gradually start collecting…

And then, our world changed.

As we enter into our 2nd wave of caution, I finally cracked open one from The Village festival to share with a couple Whisky Ladies also in Europe. I can’t wait to enjoy it with others! As for the other two… will hang on for just the right occasion!

• St Kilian One (2016/2019) 45% – Their first offering matured in 37% ex Bourbon, 37% ex Martinique Rum, 18% ex PX Sherry, 5% Chestnut, 3% ex Bourbon Quarter Casks… double distilled in copper pot stills, natural colour, non-chill filtered, master distiller Mario Rudolf
• Bruchladdich 14 year 59.5% (The Single Cask for The Village 2020) 1of 250 100ml
• Glencadam 8 year 61% (23 Feb 2011/6 June 2019) Bourbon Barrel Cask W8 800125 (The Warehouse Collection) 1 of 240 bottles

PS – I finally opened St Kilian “One” late 2021 together with two tasting sessions – virtual between Europe & India, then with the Mumbai Whisky Ladies. Well worth the wait!

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Suddenly everything changed! From a whisky famine to a feast. From being in the same place morning, noon and night to traipsing from one country to another, different homes, even a couple of Scottish distilleries, an exceptional evening with The Whisky Exchange’s Sukhinder Singh, four different evenings of minis…. wow!

Then to top off my travels… arriving back in Germany to literally go straight to Ziegler Distillery to spend a weekend with the fabulous Sharing Angels.

And that wasn’t all… it was also time to reach out to our desi connects in Europe to virtually launch our European chapter of the Whisky Ladies. What better excuse to crack open all the whiskies I’ve managed to acquire in Germany so far!

It will take a while to share all the tasting notes and insights… however here is a summary of what’s in store!

Scotland Highlights

• Arran Lochranza and Lagg distillery visits
• Glengoyne distilery visit – 12 year 43%, 16 year Original Creation Cask Strength, Teapot Dram 1st Fill Oloroso Casks, Batch No 007 59.9%

London and Bath Tastings

• An evening with Sukhinder Singh, The Whisky Exchange
• That Boutique-y Whisky Company Chinese New Year Quintet: Teaninich 11 year 47.9%, Glenburgie 8 year 55.2%, Speyside #3 8 year 50.7%, Linkwood 10 year 48.2%, Auchroisk 12 year 47.9%
• Summer minis – Brenne Cuvée Spéciale French Single Malt Whisky 40%, Mackmyra Äppelblom 46.1%, Mackmyra Glöd 46.1%, Longmorn 10 year Batch 3, 48.3% (TBWC)
• Dunkerton Drams – Nikka Days 40%, Lakes Distillery Steel Bonnets 46.6%, Starward Nova 41%, Fettercairn 10 year 40%
• American minis – Hudson Baby Bourbon 46%, TBWC 24 year Bourbon No 1 48%, Balcones Single Malt 53%, Whistle Pig Rye 50%

Germany’s Willkommen with a weekend trip to Ziegler Distillery with a tasting tour of Aureum Whiskies together with the German Sharing Angels

And last but certainly not least, preparations for the European chapter of the Whisky Ladies of Mumbai… and remembering our Whisky Ladies tasting at Paul John distillery.

Curious to know more? Check out recent Whisky Lady’s semi-monthly summaries:

• Whisky Lady – June to Aug 2020
• Whisky Lady – Mar to May 2020
• Whisky Lady – Feb 2020
• Whisky Lady – Jan 2020
• Celebrating 1000 whisky posts!

And if you don’t want to miss a post, why not follow Whisky Lady on:

• WordPress https://whiskylady.co/
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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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One of the highlights this fall was a weekend in Dunkerton, Somerset, which also included a most enjoyable meander through some minis from the 2019 Master of Malt Advent Calendar.

We wanted to mix things up our second evening, so our selection reflected a wee jaunt around the world from Japan to England to Australia to Scotland.

It was so beautiful outside that we decided to sip and savour outdoors, looking out at the Dunkerton Parish Church. What an enchanting view, great company and interesting drams to discover!

What did we try?

• Japan – Nikka Days 40%
• England – Lakes Distillery Steel Bonnets 46.6%
• Scotland – Fettercairn 10 year 40%
• Australia – Starward Nova 41%

What a terrific weekend get away with huge thanks to our fabulous hosts for welcoming us into their lovely home. And even more – such terrific tasting adventures – call it icing on a delicious cake!

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We found ourselves in a late summer evening in Dunkerton, Somerset, relaxing in the sitting room with an abundance of minis from the 2019 Master of Malt Advent Calendar.

We were in a light, summery mood….

My eye spotted a trio of European whiskies – one I knew would be delightful desert dram influenced by maturation in a Cognac cask (Brenne), another I anticipated would be equally cheerful with a Calvados cask finish (Mackmyra Äppelblom) and the last was something of a departure with a combination of PX and Swedish Mulled Wine (Vinterglöd). That was to be it, but I was curious about the That Boutique-y Whisky Company Longmorn…. so a trio became a quartet! (sneaky Longmorn!)

What did we try?

• Brenne Cuvée Spéciale French Single Malt Whisky 40% – A delightful dessert whisky!
• Mackmyra Äppelblom 46.1% – An aptly named apple blossom of a dram
• Mackmyra Vinterglöd 46.1% – Christmas ode with mulled wine…
• Longmorn 10 year Batch 3, 48.3% (TBWC) – Contrasting character

This was part of a much larger set of minis – the 2019 Master of Malt Advent Calendar to be precise – chock full of whiskies from around the world. So stay tuned for even more mini sessions! While we didn’t manage to get through all 24, we did a respectable job trying 12 whiskies in three different sessions… this was the 1st evening with a most enjoyable kick off!

PS I don’t normally show either myself or tasting companion however this was truly such a memorable trip and I just have to say a huge thank you to our amazing hosts and friends!

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