Single Malts - Kilchoman and More

 I got introduced to the class of Whisky called Single Malts, around twenty years ago when I lived in Bangalore, and Prabhakar, a friend, ran his own company. He travelled to the U.K. and elsewhere frequently, and brought back a couple of Malts from there. We experimented, not knowing the right way to drink it. After some failed experiments, we finally got it. Neat, or with a bit of water is best. I think we started with a Glenfiddich (pronounced with a 'k' at the end, as I discovered much later!)

After that, till today, it has been a lot of Single Malts over the years, and each is distinctive. I have found friends- women too, who enjoy Single Malts, and have had some great get-togethers over a drink or two. India now has a decent range of Malts too.

Some malts I have tried- 

Delightful Drinks

 I have been experimenting with drinks all my life. In Calicut, my friend Ravi and I tried out innovative cocktails with local ingredients. Here's a recent pic with him in Bangalore. (Jan. 2022)

Anyway, here are a few recent trials. From red wine to Tequila, many types ... 

A favourite red, not expensive either. By Fratelli, Solapur.

Medicine for a cold day, above, and legendary stuff, below..

A special one named after a new-born nephew, Khayal, sent by his parents.

A favourite Single Malt.

Of course, Amrut -Peated is a current favourite malt made in India. I like the peated ones with the charcoal flavour, maybe coz I grew up in the Andhra Coal-mining belt. 

Highlights of 2010-2020

 Highlights of the Last 10 Years

2009-2010- Started blogging. Read the book Zorba The Greek. Revival of Osmania engineering batch meets. Joined IMT Nagpur, made new friends among faculty, staff and students. (Hundreds are still in touch, from there on till today, including those who went on strike 😊 )

2011- Met a few engineering classmates at Delhi’s Air Force Golf Club, IMT alumni meets in multiple cities, for the first time. Mr. Sunil Mittal at first convocation done independently at Nagpur (was with Ghaziabad before this). One helicopter landed at IMT grounds.

2012- Blog crossed 25,000 views, met Mr. Mukesh Ambani (IMT Nagpur convocation), Two choppers landed at IMT. Discovered an elixir-Amrut Single Malt, made in namma Bengaluru! Alumni meets, Goa Case conference continued.

2013- Formed a couple of Mutual Admiration Societies..and they kept growing, lots of them with students of mine. Crossed 50,000 views of my blog, met Mr. Azim Premji (convo again), family vacation to Thailand, including a boat ride in the Chao Phraya. Faculty outing at Marble Rocks, Bhedaghat. But the highlight was meeting my marketing prof. from IIMB, JD Singh, with friends at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Delhi.

2014- Joining IIM Indore and making new friends (actually joined in Dec. 2013), Started teaching a new course-Digital Marketing, Discovered Mandu- my favourite destination for a Day visit, blog crossed 200,000 views. Saw Daawat-e-ishq, set in Lucknow and Hyderabad, among great biryanis. 30-year alumni meet at IIMB.

2015- Trip to Jaisalmer and Chittaurgarh by road, a trip to Beppu with skinny-dipping in hot spring baths or Onsen. Started Golf on Indore IIM’s cricket ground, Kishore Kumar Nite in Mumbai with Sudesh Bhosle doing KK.

2016 -Bid farewell to Saumyaa, my Acad. Assistant, one of the best (we are in touch still), played Golf at Wellington and Ooty (getting my second Hole-in-one too), Went to Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh finally!

2017- Hridaynath Mangeshkar live in concert at Pune.

2018- Visited Kishore Kumar’s Khandwa Memorial, with ex-roomie Anil Lahoti. Also Kancheepuram and its amazing temples with Vijayakumar and my brother who was visiting. Wedding in the Nargundkar family at Hyderabad-bringing many of the rare species together. Met Krishna Nukala, a Malt Maniac from India (the only one from India) thanks to Hari, and tasted 15 different Single Malt whiskeys in a day! Red-letter day!! Went to Hanoi, Vietnam – Ha Long Bay cruise and Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi were highlights. Discovered there was a street named Hang Bong in Hanoi!

2019-early 2020 before COVID struck: Alumni meetings at Bangalore (Anshita and gang, Savitha, Anushka), Delhi (Sunil and Sharmistha), Ahmedabad (Ishan, Keyur, Manjari, Punyashlok), Mumbai (THE gang- Abha, Tosha, Siri, Anuj and another bigger IMTN party (with Abhinav Kamal, Garima, Dwipa, Divya Pragati the camera-girl) and then Sheetal and Abha again at the Koyla overlooking the Taj), Delhi (Bhuvneet Raheja, Surbhi Mehta Chadha, Kanika Mhendiratta, Pranksters Shruti/Aditya/ Nikita), Pune (Divya Singh, Neha Adiga), Wedding at Prabhakar’s house (his daughter’s). Met a childhood friend Kiran Kenjale who visited from L.A. Some alums visited Indore, like Anam, Harshad Sachani, Arshia, Ritu, Sapna Patni and Ruminder. Visited Pulicat Lake near Chennai with Vijayakumar-boat ride to the sea!

The blog views stand at 700, 000 plus now.

Malt Mania

There is this group called Malt Maniacs, and it has as its only Indian member, Krishna Nukala, my new guru. If you have to follow your passion, do so in style, is a lesson I learnt from him the other day, when he gave us a fascinating insight into the art of appreciating Single Malts from around the world (Taiwanese and Japanese included!). Starting with lighter-flavoured sherry-cask ones (Glenfarclas 21 year-old), we moved towards some known and some unknown (to me, not him) names that went towards the peaty, topping off with some Ardbeg that he got in an auction. A rare version of Amrut and a Paul John, both Indian, were represented, and made me proud. Some glimpses into the tasting - heady stuff!

I won't forget this evening in  a hurry!

 He launches into the fascinating stories, and a taste of the best.

For more on Single Malts, you can go read https://www.maltmadness.com/index.html

The ABC of Single Malts

This is an educational post, about a class of drinks that has no parallel. These are called Single Malt whiskys, or sometimes, just Malts.

My limited experience with them, about ten years now, has led me to the following conclusions (though influenced by writers or friends, mostly mine)-

There are a variety of single malts, and you may become a devotee of one or more over time. Once you are a Malt worshipper, it's hard to go back to the blends (see below for definition).

There are areas of Scotland (like Islay, Highlands, and others) which have somewhat distinct Malts. Ageing and the casks used for these (previously used for carrying Sherry or Bourbon sometimes) add to the flavours of a Malt. So does the use of peat (a sort of coal) for the roasting of Barley used in its making.

The Single Malt is so named because it does not get mixed with whiskys from other distillers. Blends (like Johnnie Walker or Ballantines) are usually a mix of several whiskys blended together. Just like Brooke Bond Red Label (a blend of teas) and tea from a single estate (equivalent to a Single Malt). Consistency of blends is maintained by tasters who do taste-tests.

My own favourites are Ardbeg, Laphroaig, The Glenlivet, and Glenfiddich, and I have also tried The Balvenie, Glenmorangie, Talisker, Jura, Macallan, Dalmore. My favourites tend to be the smoky or peaty ones.

Amrut, an Indian Single Malt, is available in a few variants and I like its peaty variant the best, out of the three I have tried.

Indus Pride Beers

I got to taste a newly relaunched beer in four different flavours recently. The brand is called Indus Pride, and is produced by SAB-Miller in India. It is flavoured with spices such as cardamom, coriander, cinnamon and so on. There are more variants, which are seasonal and available only at certain times. It was at the house of a friend who works there, so it was a great experience learning first-hand about the relaunch at a premium price. A first for an India-based brand? Maybe, at least for a product such as this.

But I also had the opportunity to taste an Indian Single Malt that has made waves internationally. The Jagdale group makes it near Bangalore. It is called Amrut single malt, and one of their creations has been ranked among the top ten malts by a respected critic/ranker. I liked it, and it is 'duty-free' to Indians, and therefore significantly cheaper than the malts from Scotland. A good option to have, apart from the Laphroaigs and the Ardbegs and the like, which one can pick up at the duty free shops. Also found some imported (read French) brandy that is of high quality and sold in Goa, during a recent survey.

Not So Secret Service

A joke that I had not heard about 9-11 times.

The Prime Minister of China called President Bush to console him after the attack on the Pentagon: "I'm sorry to hear about the attack. It is a very big tragedy. But in case you are missing any documents from the Pentagon, we have copies of everything."

I also had a chance to taste the single malt whiskey that India is famous for-yes, it's called Amrut, and it's made in Bangalore. But it is hard to find, apparently. So I am glad I got that item on the bucket list out of the way. It tastes pretty good, incidentally. I would put it in the top ten, after Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin- the Islay malts with a peaty, smoky flavour.