Mumbai’s Whisky Ladies and Karen Walker sip a Speyburn 10 year

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Next up, the Whisky Ladies were introduced to Speyburn by Karen Walker, Global Marketing Head for Scottish Brands of InterBeverage Group.

Speyburn 10 (Courtesy International Beverage)

Speyburn 10 (Courtesy International Beverage)

Speyburn 10 year aka distillery visit footwear

Karen shared that her ‘goal’ for the evening was to bring the distillery to us ladies in Mumbai. Which then turned to some fashion advice showing off her rather stylish wedges:

Wear wedges or flats, no heels!

Why? There are typically slats in the stairs and hence heels can get caught… to avoid ankle twisting and accidents, sensible (but stylish!) footwear is recommended…

Karen then shared how this Speyburn is considered a ‘classic’ single malt in the US – more than holding its own with high competition.

Here is what we found…

  • Nose – Heavy caramel and spice, a bit of bananas, some raisiny goodness
  • Taste – Completely piquant on the tongue! Cayenne and orange. Sweet, with toffee and lemon.
  • Finish – Light with a bite on its way out…
  • Water – Opens up nicely with a drop or two of water
  • Overall – Interesting how it has a heavy nose but light mouthful

This whisky sparked remarks like:

  • “Something you could gift to someone and expect that they’d like it!” 
  • “Perfect for a hot whisky toddy!”

Already sampled in our evening with Karen:

Up next:

Related posts sampling with Stuart Harvey:

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Mumbai’s Whisky Ladies and Karen Walker explore Balblair 03 46%

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Next up with Karen Walker, Global Marketing Head for Scottish Brands of InterBeverage Group was the delightful Balblair 03.

Karen set the tone by taking us on a trip to the early days of the whisky industry, proudly sharing Balblair has been distilling legally since 1790… though no doubt drunk before the first official ledger entries!

Conversation turned to comments about the whiskies ‘thick legs’… to which Karen shared it is all about the viscosity. To which immediately there was the quip “Wouldn’t say that word after four of these!”

Balblair 03 (InterBev)

Balblair 03 (InterBev)

Balblair 03 aka 12 year 46%

Here’s what the whisky said to our whisky women:

  • Nose – There is a freshness, apples, sweet, heady, fruity. After airing a few vanilla notes emerge
  • Taste – Caramel apples, sticky apricot, a bit spiced, toasty, good mouth-feel, as it opens a little earthy element peaks out, smooth and easy.
  • Finish – Spicy finish, star anise, very smooth going down and curls with light smoke

Karen shared how the pale natural colour of Balblair has caused a marketing quandary. A certain country in Europe and well known retailer that shall remain nameless, called to say there was something ‘defective’ or ‘off’ about the entire Balblair shipment. Why? It wasn’t the ‘right’ colour. And consumers would not buy it. Hmm…

The Balblair was sampled after the refreshing Caorunn Gin and before:

What others say about Balblair 03:

  • Whisky Gospel – with a tour of the distillery too
  • Miss Whisky – on trying the 03, 90 and 69 with the distillery manager John MacDonald

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Mumbai’s Whisky Ladies with Karen Walker and Caorunn Gin

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To ease into our evening with Karen Walker, Marketing Director of InterBeverage Group, we began with a refreshing gin cocktail that greeted our ladies as they waltzed in the door from all corners of Mumbai.

Some chose with soda, some preferred tonic. All had their gin topped with a thin slice of apple.

Caorunn Gin (Courtesy International Beverage House)

Caorunn Gin (Courtesy InterBeverage House)

Caorunn Gin aka the appetiser

Here is what we found:

  • Nose – Like a perfume! Strong dandelion, sense of ‘branching out’ into different elements
  • Taste – Comparable to Hendrick’s yet more nuanced. Sweet, smooth on the tongue, complex with layering
  • Finish – Let’s just say, we all thought it was a brilliant ‘finish’ to a hard day’s work and a very welcome way to begin our whisky evening

Karen shared the care taken in sourcing and blending five local botanicals to make a gin that is distinctly Scottish, given life in their Balmenach distillery.

Without a doubt, the Caorunn Gin was a complete hit and several whisky women later blamed the sample for sparking a re-interest in gin!

Up next:

Related posts sampling with Stuart Harvey:

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Mumbai’s Whisky Ladies meet Karen Walker of Inver House

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Now… I could tell you serious stories of sniffing, sipping, swishing, swilling, and eventually swallowing.

However this is the tale of how a bunch of women got together one evening and managed to still stand after five (or was it six?) fabulous beverages.

Some of Whisky Ladies of Mumbai

Karen with some of Whisky Ladies of Mumbai

Whisky Ladies go pro!

Yes… it was the night we graduated to power point presentations with insights from a real live whisky professional! Who just so happens to be the absolutely delightful, entertaining and highly knowledgeable Karen Walker, Global Marketing Head for Scottish Brands of InterBeverage Group.

Here is what we sampled with Karen with full posts about the Whisky Ladies experiences:

Related posts sampling Inver House offerings with Master Distiller Stuart Harvey from earlier in 2015:

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Whisky Lady’s 2015

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What a year!

While Whisky Lady started purely for my own indulgence, a few amazing things happened in 2015:

1980s whiskies

Malt Maniac’s 20th in Mumbai

2015 also brought some rather special events:

Sample setting

Amrut’s Jim Murray evening in Mumbai

Most popular whisky posts for the year were:

  1. Party Whisky – Amrut’s MaQintosh – I guess no one else has reviewed this??
  2. The Quandary of the KininVie 17 year – A quandary no more thanks to a sample!
  3. Glen Deveron 20 year – Infamous to us for being outclassed by a 3 year old Japanese whisky Chichibu ‘The Floor Malted’
  4. Mumbai Amrut and Jim Murray experience – Memorable but not for the reason they would want!
  5. Mystery Malt – Ichiro’s Malt Hou-oui – An exceptional blend of discontinued Japanese whiskies from Hanyu Distillery (12 & 20 year) and Kawasaki (30, 32 and 35 year)

20150604_Scotland Quartet

For me what stood out was:

WhiskyLady2015CountryViews

And who is tuning into Whisky Lady? The top 10 countries by views are:

  • No surprise that my adopted country India tops views by a wide margin!
  • US come up next followed by UK, Canada & Singapore
  • I wonder who my German friends are?
  • For Australia, I suspect most views come from just two fabulous Tasmanian guys!
  • Finishing up is France, Hong Kong / China and Japan…

I would also like to share a special ‘nod’ of thanks to fellow whisky bloggers for their comments and encouragement – particularly Malt Activist, Whisky Den, Whisky Waffle, Whiskyriffic (with extra thanks for the KininVie sample!), Whiskey and Whisky.

Any whiskies stand out for you? Anything you would like to see more of here on Whisky Lady? Ideas? Recommendations? I still consider myself a novice in the world of whisky and welcome words of wisdom from fellow whisky explorers!

Most important – wishing you a very Happy New Year – may you drink a quality dram over quantity!

Airport offerings (Whisky Lady)

Airport offerings (Whisky Lady)

For more 2015 highlights, check out WordPress 2015 Annual Report or delve into the details shared in Everyday Asia’s monthly Whisky Lady summaries: December delights, November novelties, October offerings, Sulty September, Awesome August, July journeys, June joy, May merriment, April adventures, March madness, February fun, January journal.

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Whisky Lady – December 2015

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Carissa Hickling's avatarEveryday Asia

Well… my Whisky Lady adventures continue!

With December being full of merriment and mischief as the year came to a close, our original tasting group cancelled our monthly tasting session with many members traveling.

However my new group – The Whisky Ladies of Mumbai – were not deterred from swirling, sniffing, sipping and mmmmm…. swallowing!

In honour of one member’s last days in India before returning to the US, we decided to enjoy a Goan theme featuring a quintet of whiskies kindly provided by Paul John’s master distiller Michael John for our ladies sampling pleasure.

Paul John Christmas Quintet Paul John Christmas Quintet

Here’s what our ladies quaffed in our Paul John evening with some rather cheeky tasting notes!

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Christmas Sherry Bomb – Aberlour A’bunadh Batch No 35 60.3%

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One of the first cask strength whiskies I remember picking up was Abelour A’bunadh. I was in Singapore airport, they had lots of different whiskies to sample however this one caught my eye. I will admit, I knew next to nothing about it at the time…but it was very affordable, I hadn’t tried it before so it joined my journey back to Bombay.

It was opened with a mad group of friends and became a hit. For many, it was also their first introduction to an unabashed sherry bomb. And yes it packs a punch with alcohol ranging from high 50s to low 60s.

Over the years, more than one A’bunadh has made its way in and out of my collection. While it is No Age Statement (NAS) blended from barrels between 5 to 25 years, you can tell immediately by the batch number what year the whisky was bottled. And there are slight variations between batches though the overall rich robust berry sherry element remains the core profile you can count on.

Most A’bunadh’s I’ve had were from the 20s… however a few from the 30s too.  Then we started our whisky tasting group and a whole new world of whiskies opened up! And Abelour’s A’bunadh was no longer a priority when passing through Singapore. However as it remains an affordable dram, I did pick up a bottle or two a few years ago. Which meant that I had both a Batch No 35 (bottled 2011) and Batch 40 (bottled 2012) kicking around in my cupboard.

For Diwali, Batch No 35 joined the Whisky Ladies Cask Strength evening – which was greeted by enthusiastic delight from one friend who remembered well our earlier A’bunadh evenings. Her infectious appreciation lead in no small part to the bottle being well dipped into that night!

20151229_A'bunadh

So when I was in the mood for something ‘Christmasy’ while we still had our tree up, revisiting the A’bunadh seemed about right. Overall, my findings were in complete agreement with our Whisky Ladies with only a few additional elements here and there.

Abelour A’bunadh Batch No 35 (NAS / 2011) 60.3%

  • Colour – A deep dark burgundy with ruby highlights
  • Nose – Figs, rum soaked plum cake, lots of cinnamon and cloves, gingerbread,  pronounced prunes, black cherries, Christmas cake, classic sherry-bomb
  • Taste – Oh baby! That rummy yummy rich plummy Christmas cake, a drizzle of caramel, warm and smooth, apply cider, raisins, prunes, robust and bursting with character, a little ginger, creamy and very berry Christmassy
  • Finish – Think curling up by a cosy warm fireplace… replete with roasting chestnuts, cinnamon
  • Water – This one works straight yet also does a happy dance with drops or a dollop!

Absolutely perfect for a chilly evening (ok that means 22’c in these parts!), with a kitten curled up purring beside me, watching the Christmas lights dance in our tree.

And just in case you were curious, here’s what the folks over at Abelour had to say about A’bunadh:

  • Nose: Terrific aromas of allspice, praline and spiced orange, in harmony with deep notes of Oloroso Sherry.
  • Palate: Orange, black cherries, dried fruit and ginger, spiked with dark bitter chocolate and enriched with lingering Sherry and oak. Superlatively full bodied and creamy.
  • Finish: Robust and long lasting, with bittersweet notes of exotic spices, dark chocolate and oak.

In short absolutely hits the spot for a Christmas sherry bomb dram!

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The Surprising Speyburn 10 year 43%

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Stuart Harvey calls Speyburn a “surprising” whisky that is “hugely under-rated.”

We sampled the Speyburn 10 year together with Stuart Harvey, master distiller with Inver House responsible for Balblair, Old Pulteney, AnCnoc and Speyburn whiskies – both at a sociable ‘home appreciation’ evening and then the next night at a masterclass.

Speaking about the Speyburn distillery, Stuart shared it is one of the 1st mechanical malting in the world, with an onion shaped still that produces heavy oils from its squat shape. The whisky is then matured in American oak bourbon casks, with some time in sherry butts for finishing.

Speyburn 10 (Courtesy International Beverage)

Speyburn 10 (Courtesy International Beverage)

And what did we find with the 10 year?

  • Colour – Bright yellow
  • Nose – Lots of sour honey, overripe bananas, fruity on the citrus side, light sherry notes
  • Taste – Bit chewy, buttery, toffee, coffee and caramel, bitter, slightly raw, yet full-bodied, a hint of salt. Spicy yet surprisingly light with a citrus twist
  • Finish – Quite peaty, a bit dry
  • Water – Smooths it out
  • Ice – Cranks up the sweetness on the nose, adds a freshness

Interestingly, it was the least expensive of the whiskies sampled with the Inver House folks, however it was also one which appealed to many at the ‘home appreciation’ evening… Partly as it works well with the desi style to drinking whisky… chill with ice and drown with water!

The next evening in the Masterclass it also held its own… It will be interesting to see whether Speyburn tickles the desi whisky palate and gains popularity. It certainly does well in the US, so why not India?

Here’s what the Speyburn folks have to say about the 10 year:

  • Nose – Fresh, clean with a hint of lemon
  • Taste – Medium bodied with hints of toffee & butterscotch and a long, sweet finish. A global favourite, Speyburn 10 year old is ever the crowd-pleaser.

We sampled the Speyburn 10 year together with:

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Whisky Ladies Go Goan! Paul John Quintet

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After our Whisky Ladies conquered a cask strength Diwali and then went on a mini ‘world tour’ in November, you might think we would go slow for December. After all – our collective livers need to survive the holiday season!!

What we decided instead is to go Goan.. in honour of a merry malt member abandoning Mumbai for SanFran. She, quite understandably, wanted to squeeze in every desi moment remaining. Naturally this was a perfect excuse to pull out the Paul John expressions, courtesy of master distiller Michael John.

Paul John is India’s “other” single malt whisky distillery found in South Goa. Since launching their first whisky to the world in 2013, they have been making their mark.

We were first introduced to Edited in a blind tasting early 2015. Then, Michael reached out with a generous offer to send our tasting group more expressions leading to a most enjoyable evening! After those bottles were gleefully polished off, came a new set with the brand new Bold expression added to tempt our Whisky Ladies…

Whisky Ladies Paul John Evening

Whisky Ladies Paul John Evening

Here is what the lasses thought!
  • Nose – Caramel, mango, papaya, jackfruit a whiff of ahem.. Formaldehyde, then a chocolatey flavour when ‘aggressively’ inhaled
  • Taste – Sweet with lots of caramel, buttery caramel popcorn, marzipan, a little malty too
  • Finish – Soft and easy… warming… a bit of black pepper, slightly bitter finish a la dark chocolate
  • Water – Better… much better
  • Comments – “A step up from Blue Ribbon and Old Monk! Multiple steps…. Possibly full flights” “A good ‘intro’ whisky for new whisky ladies”
  • Nose – Bursting with fruit especially pineapple, more citrusy than Brilliance. Soft butter, a curl of peaty smoke playing peek-a-boo… a little cocoa, most of all… it is “Like breathing in pina colada!”
  • Taste – Hugely sweet rush, smoked pineapple with a hint of banana, has a bit more of a ‘manly’ kick, meatier and richer, some woodsy spices
  • Finish – Some found it unremarkable, others found a sweetish note with a hint of bitter, perhaps a dash of oak. One remarked “Better than most recent dates!”
  • Water – Much preferred with a few drops of water
  • Observations – Pairs well with food – especially cheese!
  • Nose – Back to being almost overly fruity! This time with a hint of floral elements, some lemon citrus sweetness, a bit of caramel, white pepper, with a good inhale – heavy vanilla, lots of white pepper and some sage
  • Taste – Sweet and a bit spicy if you take a serious swig, hold and let it linger. Nice warm burn.
  • Finish – A bit of a bitter aftertaste, yet still sweet – almost like cough syrup
  • Comment – “It is making us nice and warm… but alas not hot.” 
  • Nose – Yum! Now we are talking! Delicious bacon jam, some pastrami, think procsutto and cantaloupe, with a caramel glaze
  • Taste – Hickory, smokey, warm and sweet, rich, a little rough with character – in a way that we like! Fabulous balance of peat and sweet, fruit and earthy elements. Again – yum!
  • Finish – Leaves its mark like a scratchy stubble burn…
  • Water – A little citrus orange high note peeps out then settles back into bacon goodness
  • Comment – “It is like a really GOOD Canadian man – Bacon, maple syrup, lumberjack fantasies and ice hockey!”
  • Nose – Bergamont, light, restrained, not quite sweet, a sense of being a bit more sophisticated, with a little vanilla
  • Taste – Dare we say… after a name like BOLD  we expected the whisky to jump out at us, swaggering into our senses… instead it was… um… almost tame? Light, honey sweet, some citrus, a puff of smoke, lovely but a step back from the luscious Peated
  • Finish – Here was where we found peat – a lightly peaty finish with walnut. Some found it slightly bitter, others found it wasn’t bitter at all – particularly when compared with the bitterness of  the Edited finish.
  • Overall – Character of the whisky contrasts with the name. We realised afterwards, we should have tried it together with Brilliance after Edited, as part of the ‘Trio’ of entry level Single Malts vs the ‘Pair’ of cask strength whiskies. Particularly after the fabulous Peated, the Bold was a bit overshadowed. Me thinks this one needs to be re-sampled just on its own…

As you can see… the Peated was ‘dipped’ into again after our initial tasting. I do believe that is a rather obvious sign that we liked it rather a lot!

20151224_Paul John Quintet

Previous posts on Paul John:

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80s flashback – Lagavulin 16 year ‘White Horse’ 43%

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Often when people of a peaty persuasion are looking for a reliable single malt to enjoy or gift, I will direct them to Lagavulin 16 year. This islay whisky is known for its ‘house style’ of well balanced peat, rich, dry and entirely dependable.

Lagavulin will officially turn 200 next year… unofficially it actually is a wee bit illegally older harkening back to 1795. So what a treat to sample an earlier incarnation of the iconic Lagavulin 16 year!

20151121_Lagavulin 16 'White Horse'

The third from our remarkable evening featuring rare malts… we tasted blind discovering:

  • Colour – Burnished copper (clearly sherry cask!)
  • Nose – Honey, vanilla, a very ‘classic’ feel, spice, sweet basil, light plum, saunf (fennel), a bit of nougat peeping beneath, mild pinch of peat
  • Palate – Oily, rancid, rust, copper, iron.. in short quite metallic, dry, chilly pepper, then starts to sweeten, cinnamon, a bit of chocolate, smooth and increasingly sweet with each sip
  • Finish – Sits there, doesn’t do anything in particular except for a bit of pepper

Comments included “has the smell of an old library” and the “taste of rust.” Which may not sound terribly pleasant however when you experience it, has a compelling quality.

With the reveal, it was considered the “dark horse” of the evening as it displays the classic roots of our familiar friend – the modern avatar of Lagavulin 16 year – with some distinctly different notes.

This particular bottle is a collectors item – part of the initial 16 year old releases in the 1980s under the ‘White Horse’ label.

Interestingly, Lagavulin was indirectly responsible for our evening… it was the ‘amazing discovery’ of Lagavulin whisky that sparked the whisky explorations that became Malt Madness – read the story here.

It also, in turn, transformed a regular working man on a trip postponing his flight back to India, getting a car and driving straight to the distillery to morph into India’s Malt Maniac.

It even brought together members of our Mumbai private whisky tasting group who 1st met at the Lagavulin distillery… A fitting note indeed to close our rare malt transport back in time to the flavours and feel of whisky from the 1980s.

This remarkable malt came courtesy of India’s Malt Maniac Krishna Nakula at an evening organised by The Secret Supper Project and The Vault Fine Spirits in celebration of 20 years of Malt Madness.

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