Learning about Whisky has been a lifelong mission for me. So when the Master of this golden liquid, Jim Murray was being brought to India by Nikhil Aggarwal of All Things Nice, I wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. I headed off to the Pullman New Delhi on a still scorching Delhi Sun as he was going to take us through a blind tasting of a delectable array of whiskies from all over the world.
The first thing we were introduced to by the master was the technique known as the Murray Method which he has used to compile the year Whisky Bible which features more than 4000 whiskies every year with over a thousand being added every year. The critical techniques that he uses are not stirring the whisky too much in the glass, probably not at all before raising it to one nostril at a time instead of plunging the whole nose into the glass(like the way we do with Wine Tasting). This stops the nose from inhaling in the sharp flavours of the alcohol instead allowing just the floral and fruity overtones to hit the nostrils. While swallowing, he tells us to start acting like a fish(quite literally) to let the tongue come in contact with air at the same time as the liquid and not try to inhale too sharply while the whisky is in mouth. Now this is one thing I have been guilty of in the post, quite literally choking down on the drink whilst embarrassing myself with bout of cough.
Although his British palate has been in love with Scottish whisky for over two decades now, but he has recently been quite critical of Sulphur fumes in quite a few of the Scottish distilleries. Although we do taste the Dewar’s 18 and the Aberlour 12, but the hit of Sulphur is something that he takes about quite seriously. The Whiskey no. 1 is a Tennessee whiskey which I recognise quite early as it is a Gentleman Jack which has been one of my favourite whiskies. Although there is also the Ballantine’s and Glenmorangie 10 years, but the biggest surprise of the lot is the Indian one.
With it’s characteristic smoky and spicy flavour, which many of us incorrectly identified as a Whisky from the Islay. But to our surprise, it the Bold from the stables of Paul John distillery which is located in Goa. Already certified by the master himself with a rating of 96 on the Whisky Bible, this is one whisky that you need to try out ASAP.
The Paul John Bold retails at INR 2600 at Goa.
