Category Archives: Whisky General

2024 London Whisky Show – Day 2

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Yeah yeah yeah! It has become a bit of a thing – I go to a whisky festival, try some 60+ whiskies, and then take the next 6-9 months to write up my notes and post. Sometimes I don’t even finish all the posts before going to the next festival! But that’s the thing – I do this for pleasure not professionally, so entitled to take my time. 


The reward is vicariously revisiting some marvelous malts through my scribbles. Yes – I do this analog style via small notebooks that neatly fit in my satchel.  I also tend to write in spurts – often on vacation – as a form of relaxation. My favourite place to write is on our farm in Kalote, about 1.5 hours outside of Mumbai. Lazy mornings over coffee with our cats. A play break romping around the field with our dogs. Then I’m ready to lounge about and write for hours!


Sometimes I set myself a goal – today I will finish London’s Whisky Show day 1. And when the post is prepared, I delight in crossing off the scribbles in my notebook – a small signal of accomplishment!


So there I was, in Mumbai late 2024, determined to finish London’s 2024 Whisky Show Day 1 followed in Kalote in early 2025 with a goal to complete Day 2. Did I achieve it? You bet! Then scheduled posts over the coming months – what fun!



Day 2 – September 8, 2024


Back for another day, we knew we wanted to have a mix of old and new plus I’d booked us a “Mainstage” session too – a real highlight. Here are a few stalls we visited on the last day:



  • Glenfarclas 15 year – a perfect calibration dram!

  • Whisky Auction – for our Dream Drams of Brora 1981 and Glen Grant 12 year from the 1970s

  • Decadent Drinks – Whisky Sponge, Solstice & Equinox, Notable Age Statements and more!

  • Ichiro’s Malt blends – a nice wander through their collection

  • Ardnahoe – Welcome to Hunter Laing’s Islay Distillery

  • Hunter Laing – First Editions and Old Malt Casks from Auchroisk, Ardmore, Craigellachie to a Glen Grant 25!

  • Mainstage with festival picks

  • Introducing a new English distillery with Wire Works 

  • Woven Blends – What a fabulous experience with a special blend made just for my tasting companion and I!

  • Cardrona – A couple whiskies and the most wonderful Vodka – The Reid!


Well worth the trip to London! Already bought our tickets for 2025!



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Whisky Show 2024 – The Whisky Festival Bottles

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Before we closed our 1st day of the 2024 London Whisky Show, we simply had to check out The Whisky Exchange’s festival bottles. I’ve often discovered something worthy of bringing back to share with others – fellow enthusiasts who aren’t able to jump on a plane to London, Paris, Singapore, Nurnberg. This way I can take an element unique and specific to be experienced beyond the event itself – because the best souvenir is shared!

Lowland Distillery 11 year (2012 / Dec 2023) Refill Hogshead 3478 58.8% (The Whisky Exchange – The Seasons: Summer) ~ GBP 70

We began with the Seasons series – with Summer! All that was disclosed was that it was from a Lowland distillery… possibly part of the Diageo stable.

Delightful! It was creamy and fruity on the nose – think warm apricots and peaches, joined by a fresh minty element too. On the palate, it was tingly and tart, tropical and bright. This was an uncomplicated summery dram – a perfect way to begin our explorations!

Old Orkney 2003 20 year old 55.8% (Decadent Drinks for Whisky Show 2024) ~ GBP 250

We were then guided in a completely different direction – to Highland Park! With a label inspired by a 1900s advertisement for Old Orkney whisky – once used for single malts from Stromness distillery.

We were greeted by a gentle peat, which morphed into a strong maritime stamp of brine and sea breeze. Not at all shy after all! On the palate, it had a spice kick, nice and balanced, closing with a peaty finish. What fun!

Ben Nevis 10 year (2023) Sherry 60.2% (Dawn Davies Whisky Show 2024) ~ GBP 72

What next? We were directed to The Whisky Show bottlings dedicated to their team. I have to admit, I’m not a Ben Nevis fan. The nose started a bit shy, then revealed a fudgy fruity quality… the palate was an explosion “kaboom!” of great big Christmasy flavours, chewy with even the finish having a spice kick. It was described as a “dirty” Ben Nevis.

Ardmore 26 Year (1997) 50.3% (The Whisky Exchange – The Seasons: Summer) ~ GBP 200

We shifted back to the Summer series. The nose was enchanting – gentle with a hint of fruit. Delicate with a hint of peat and tannins from maturing in a wine barrel. The palate, soft and juicy fruits, honeydew melon, restrained and complex. The finish was subtle with tobacco leaves, a bit of vegetation, light spice, long and lingering. Really quite something!

Ledaig 17 year (2006) Sherry Butt 16 55.4% (The Whisky Exchange – The Seasons: Autumn) ~ GBP 240

And now finally, we progressed from summer to fall – clearly moving more to peat with Tobermoray’s peaty Ledaig. On the nose, it was briney, wet leaves, fruity with a hint of peat. And on the palate? It was pure pumpkin spice, and everything nice! The finish was long, gingery with a strong sherry close – I believe a PX?

Speyside (M) 18 year (2005) 1st Fill Oloroso 61.2% (Signatory for The Whisky Show) ~ GBP 235

We closed our 1st day on a strong sherry note with a Macallan. The nose was punchy with the clear stamp of sherry! Dark fruits and nuts. The palate was full-bodied and prickly with ginger spice. The finish was heavy with dates. There was nothing subtle about this dram!

Long after we left the venue, the memory of this powerhouse continued!

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Whisky Lady – October to December 2024

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Another year, another opportunity to reflect and revisit. This wee whisky blog has officially turned 10! Whilst some years are more active than others, explorations overall remain steady.

Many of my whisky posts this quarter captured different impressions and experiences from the 2024 London Whisky Show! 

Back in Canada, I spent a most enjoyable evening with friends where three of us explored a quartet from The Whisky Warehouse No 8:

This was followed by cracking open the 1st Shelter Point Club release:

The 2nd release arrived mere days after I flew back to Germany! It will just have to wait in Winnipeg til May/June 2025 to be opened!

I also went on a bit of a purchasing spree… including stockpiling some Gordon & Macphail independent bottlings. Included in the shipment was a wee bonus dram of Dingle Irish whisky.

With my job change in February 2024, my previous team kindly treated me to a gift voucher which I put to good use! They didn’t have the high-end bottles, so I shifted gears to pick an interesting mix of favorite independent bottlers, a couple entry-level “calibration” drams, and an experiment or two. Who knows how long til I have the right opportunity to open! I have too many open bottles in my whisky cabinet! This means I need to schedule a few more sociable evenings for these before opening something new!

I’m reminded of a member of our 1st Mumbai whisky-tasting club. He had a policy of only having three bottles open at any given time – the only exception being our tasting where he may open three new bottles whilst still having one or two already open. This meant guests would be given a choice – a limited choice. And whilst a less popular dram would remain longer, at some point, someone would gamely finish it up!

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

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Gordon + Macphail Stockpile

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Yet again, a favourite booth was notably absent at the 2024 London Whisky Show – Gordon & Macphail. Previously spending time with the folks from this venerable independent bottler was a festival highlight. 

With their 2023 announcement that they will cease filling new make spirit from other distilleries into their casks, the writing on the wall is clear. 

I know, I know, I know… they still have a decade or more of stock to slowly release, but I somehow found myself picking up a few bottles pro-actively…

It is already speculated that their entry-level whiskies will be the first to go. From their Discovery series, I acquired:

From the Distillery Labels range, I picked up another Glentauchers to join the Glenburgie purchased earlier:

  • Glentauchers 2008/2022 Distillery Labels 46% (Gordon & MacPhail) for Eur 64 + tax
  • Glenburgie 2004/2019 Distillery Labels 43% (Gordon & MacPhail)

And finally, the true treats (I hope!) are the Connoisseurs Choice duo:

  • Balmenach 2008/2024 15 year Single First Fill Sherry Hogshead No. 17603706 61.8% Connoisseurs Choice (Gordon & MacPhail) for Eur 134,99
  • Mannochmore 2006/2022 16 year bottled for whic.de Refill Sherry Hogshead No. 12932 56.6% Connoisseurs Choice (Gordon & MacPhail) for Eur 120 + tax

Knowing me, it could be either a few months or even a few years before these bottles will find the right place, time, and company to open! For now, they will sit patiently in Nurnberg…

And will think fondly on days gone by when exploring various Gordon & Macphail offerings was a Whisky Show favourite!

Remembering the good old days of Whisky Show experiences with Gordon & Macphail:

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London’s Whisky Show 2024

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It has become an annual pilgrimage. Fall is time for me to fly to London and join my friend for the Whisky Show weekend. This year we splurged and bought passes for both Saturday and Sunday. As we had manic work and travel leading up to the weekend, it was a bit last minute when we sat down with the whisky list to plan our priorities. We were clear this year would be fewer stalls, with more time spent in conversation wherever possible.  



Day 1 – September 7, 2024


From past experience, we knew after a wee warm-up, we should make a bee-line for our preferred Dream Dram before it was too late! Here is how our 1st day unfolded:




Day 2 – September 8, 2024

Back for another day, we knew we wanted to have a mix of old and new plus I’d booked us a “Mainstage” session too – a real highlight. Here are a few stalls we visited on the last day:


  • Glenfarclas 15 year – a perfect calibration dram!

  • Whisky Auction – for our Dream Drams of Brora 1981 and Glen Grant 12 year from the 1970s

  • Decadent Drinks – Farewell to Whisky Sponge, Solstice & Equinox, Notable Age Statements and more!

  • Ichiro’s Malt blends – a nice wander through their collection

  • Ardnahoe – Welcome to Hunter Laing’s Islay Distillery

  • Hunter Laing – First Editions and Old Malt Casks from Auchroisk, Ardmore, Craigellachie to a Glen Grant 25!

  • Mainstage with festival picks

  • Introducing a new English distillery with Wire Works 

  • Woven Blends – What a fabulous experience with a special blend made just for my tasting companion and me!

  • Cardrona – A couple whiskies and the most wonderful Vodka – The Reid!

And KI-One from South Korea

Don’t laugh, but one of the “hits” of the Whisky Show was the Cardrona vodka! A fest tasting tip I’m glad we received!


In the coming months, I will take my time to slowly share a few impressions of specific experiences. As always, it is worth the trip – both for the company and the curation of a wide array of whiskies!



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Whisky Lady – July to September 2024

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Summer-time is filled with long warm days and ideally, a more relaxed approach to work and play. This year, I can definitely say the “relaxed” part was missing! The summer this year also marked a major milestone for this wee whisky blog – 1,500 posts!! This prompted a refresh of the “Top 5 posts which may surprise you!”

It was a predictably packed quarter – July brought multiple jaunts from Nurnberg to Munich and a week in the UK – primarily for work. August was home to India – with plenty of plans to share a dram or two. Alas, a nasty monsoon fever and flu felled all such frivolity! What a pity as my whisky cabinet could do with some assistance… And September was our annual pilgrimage to the London Whisky Show – filled with interesting exchanges and memorable drams. 

Whisky-wise, our Nurnberg Whisky Explorers held a special evening in July devoted to Glens. What did we try?

  • After a small sip of the Arran as a calibration dram, we checked out the Chorlton Glentaucher’s pair of 14 and 8 year
  • Glenlivet 17 year (2006 – 2023)  First Fill Oloroso Sherry Butt 62.3% (Signatory)  – A good reminder that not all Glenlivet’s are created equally – in this case a mighty fine cask!
  • Glenburgie 26 year (1995 – 2022) First Fill Sherry Puncheon 6349, 56.8% (Gordon & MacPhail) – Always dependable as an elegant and exceptional dram 

September followed with a fun evening dubbed “Bring your bottle!” Just a few folks coming together to share interesting drams from our respective whisky cabinets.

I also caught up with tasting notes from our June session – devoted to a Canadian theme with British Columbia’s Shelter Point whiskies. After the session in India earlier in the year, it was such fun to also share a little slide of Canadiana in Germany too!

With my February job change, colleagues kindly treated me to a gift voucher, which was naturally put to good use. None of the bottles have been opened yet – too much whisky, too little time – but there is little doubt that the right occasions will come! 

And last but not least, I finally got around to tasting and posting a few impressions of samples set aside for me by our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents who had a session last summer devoted to the theme: What’s in a Name…

And there you have it – another quarterly whisky round-up! Slainthe!

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

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Nurnberg’s Bring your bottle!

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Ah… September in Nurnberg… a time of cooler evenings, bursts of summery sunshine that slips into fall. In a departure from our Nurnberg’s Whisky Explorer format, just a few of us gathered to share some interesting bottles from our respective whisky cabinets. With such an extended array of offerings, we did not sample all but instead focused on a few that caught our fancy.

So, what did some folks explore?

As for me? My attention veered to drams not previously sampled:

It was a lovely relaxed evening with friends. A perfect sharing over an interesting array of whiskies from Scotland to Europe and India.

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Whisky Lady’s Top 5 Popular Posts (that may surprise you!) 2nd edition

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As part of reflecting back on the last few years and a new milestone of 1,500 whisky posts, I continue to be amused by this blog’s top whisky content… What is it about these posts that attracts so much attention?

My 1st edition of the Whisky Lady’s Top 5 Popular Posts was in January 2020. And now? Only one post remains in the top 5 today.

So, without further fanfare, I give you the latest, if not greatest, Whisky Lady’s Top 5 Popular Posts as of August 2024!

#4 Party Whisky – Amrut’s MaQintosh (Mar 13, 2015)

Previously, this was the “all-time” most popular post. For a whisky that I’ve purchased only once and have had a few times at parties. I feel compelled to buy another bottle just to refresh the photo (one of my all-time WORST whisky pictures!).

20150111_Maqintosh

MaQintosh (WhiskyLady.co)

#5 Happy Whiskies – Bhutan’s K5 vs Misty Peak (October 23, 2017)

Bhutan makes whiskies? Yes, you may indeed be surprised that they do! One of our intrepid Whisky Ladies of Mumbai traveled in 2017 to bring back two whisky blends – K5 and Misty Peaks.

Our conclusion was that, while neither was remarkable, there was an easy-drinking, approachable quality that simply makes one “happy”- much like the touted “happiness quotient” for which Bhutan is also known.

And there you have it, the 2024 edition of this Whisky Lady’s Top 5 most popular posts!

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Whisky Lady’s 1,500 Posts Celebration!

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Sometimes milestones come with great effort and focus, and others simply arrive with time. When I reached 100 posts with 100 whiskies, I couldn’t believe it was possible. Then 200 posts, 300 posts, 500 posts, followed four years ago by the 1,000 post milestone!!!

Today, I welcome you to the next mega milestone – 1,500 posts! Wow!

What has sustained me is being very clear about my purpose. I share whisky-tasting notes as a chronicle of experience and impressions, not for any professional motivation. This is a personal indulgence as a counterpoint to a demanding yet rewarding day job.

I see myself as an avid amateur, not an expert, preferring accessibility over snobbery, and am very grateful for the generosity of a few kind souls who have enabled me to try drams well beyond my means!

There have been a few events or whiskies hosted by distilleries or groups – when this happens it is always acknowledged with opinions remaining unbiased – reflecting what I think and the people joining such tastings with me.

And I have never been alone in this journey. Most of my explorations are anchored by a tasting group. I have been joined by friends from around the world, entertained by TRUE experts, supported by sample swaps, and more!

Here are a few “stats” gathered along the way:

  • My highest posting activity was from 2016 – 2018 when I was part of 3 remarkable tasting groups in Mumbai, India; Our original and now defunct group, the evolving  Whisky Ladies of Mumbai who have rebounded post-COVID and our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents who still meet despite being scattered around the globe!
  • Top posting month was December 2020 with 32 posts when I challenged myself to get through an entire Advent Calendar! It was a malty marathon indeed!
  • My Farewell 2020 post was a very personal update about a year challenging for many – and yes I did make it to India by traveling on New Years eve, paying a fortune to be followed by being sequestered in a quarantine hotel for a week!
  • With my primary home shiting from India to Germany, my content and audience have taken on a more European element, whilst still remaining true to my desi foundation!
  • Over the years, over 185,000 unique folks have dropped by… including a dedicated core who keep coming back post after post, year after year – you know who you are – thank you!

I will admit that I have lost count of how many whiskies I’ve explored over the years, however, you can find a relatively complete listing here: Whiskies by Country / Region. And my Top 10 most memorable malts you won’t find anywhere remain unchanged!

Thank you for taking the time to drop by, read, engage, and reach out!

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A generous gift with Der Schnapsstodl!

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2024 has professionally been a year of change! Whilst still with the same company, my role and team changed significantly. The old gang knew I have a certain penchant for a nice dram or two… hence got together to send me off with a generous gift from a speciality spirits store!

What did I get? Quite a mixed group of different options:

  • Fettercairn 10 year Vintage Cask No 18 46% (Mossburn) ~Eur 54
  • Glen Moray (Elgin Classic) Chardonnay Cask Finish 40% ~Eur 25
  • Glasgow 5 year Oloroso Finish 51.5% (North Star) ~Eur 86
  • Rozelieures Le Parcellaire Clay Limestone 43% ~Eur 70
  • St Kilians Terence Hill “The Hero” Blended Malt Mild 46% ~ Eur 40
  • Christian Drouin Le Gin Calvados Cask Small Batch 2022-K No 1250/2850 42% ~ Eur 32
  • Albfink Dry Gin 40% ~Eur 27 from Finch Distillery

All good things come to those who wait, so tasting notes will be spread out in the coming months (or years!) as bottles are opened in various tasting sessions.

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