We are no strangers to Shelter Point from British Colombia, Canada. In fact, back in 2016, we had the pleasure of sampling their inaugural batch of single malt. We loved it then and we love this “Artisinal Single Malt” expression now too! As soon as it was launched, I was keen to try their 1st edition cask strength 10-year single malt. I purchased it online in August 2021, and then shipped it together with other bottles from British Columbia to Manitoba. This was followed by bringing it from Winnipeg to Nurnberg to Mumbai. Quite the traveling bottle! After beginning our evening with “The Colle ..read more

One of our Whisky Ladies has already tried Shelter Point‘s ex-blackberry wine matured whisky. This was years ago with their 1st batch – however, it seemed a quintessentially Canadian alternative to the plethora of wine finishes to be found today. So back in June 2021, when the 6th Edition of the Double Barrel was released, I couldn’t resist picking this up! Thankfully it was available in a 375 ml bottle – which is perfect when bringing whiskies to other parts of the world! Fast forward to April 2024 in Mumbai, India and I was happy to open it to explore what this 6th edition had to offer! Doub ..read more

In our Whisky Ladies of Mumbai original group, we have three Canadians. Yes, that is completely disproportionate, however, it just so happened that when starting the group, I knew one fellow Canadian who, like myself, has long-term adopted India as home and another settled in Mumbai who heard of our group and was interested in joining. Yet before you conclude this is a purely Canadian club, far from it! We have women from a range of backgrounds, ages, and experiences, from professionals to entrepreneurs, we are drawn together by a common interest in exploring a dram or two or three. Over the y ..read more

Over the years, I remotely acquired some Shelter Point whiskies. First I had to get them from Vancouver to Winnipeg. Then from Winnipeg to Nurnberg. And then for some, from Nurnberg to Mumbai! Why bring Canadian whiskies halfway around the world? We have a few Whisky Ladies who have followed their journey from the 1st bottle of their inaugural batch that Patrick Evans kindly gifted us in 2016. We were captivated by their Single Malts from this farm to cask distillery in British Columbia. So it was only fitting that I share more recent releases. I was all primed to offer a trio in January ..read more

The beauty of being part of the world whisky fabric is how even if you miss the main tasting experience, a generous soul or two can help arrange for a sample. This was the case with the Bombay Malt & Cigar lads February 2024 session which featured a trio of independent bottles. I was warned that the experience had been a bit of a disappointment. However, one whisky was the clear favourite. I decided to shake things up a bit more! I took the samples with me to our farm in rural Maharashtra and put their Singatory Vintage Benrinnes side by side with a recently opened Chorlton cask strength ..read more

Whilst the cat is away, the mice will play! At least that was the case with our Bombay Malt & Cigar gents who enjoyed a trio of whiskies from independent bottlers without me. Kindly, they decided to share a generous sample of each! They made their way to me in late March and were sampled in two sittings in early April. The theme was Highland “independents” from two different well-known independent bottlers – Signatory and Gordon & Macphail, mostly acquired via La Maison du Whisky: Tomatin Reserve 8 year 2007-2015 (Gordon & Macphail for La Maison du Whisky) Ardmore 1993 43% (Gordo ..read more

Independent bottlers can truly be the “next level” of whisky explorations. For North Star Spirits, Ian and team have been bringing a range of whiskies to the world since just 2016. They’ve now branched into another series – Periodical – available only in the UK and launching soon – Obscurities and Curiosities. Even more recently, the lads are setting the stage for whisky production – with a new distillery Dal Riata in Campbeltown. And yet, with all these developments, the foundation remains their North Star bottlings – which include in addition to their staple single malts, both a blended scot ..read more

In the world of whiskies, Wemyss has created a space for whisky curation since 2005. Known for their core range of The Hive, Spice King, and Peat Chimney, an interesting array of limited editions, plus a special range of single casks. The last I tried was an absolute delight –  the Summer Breeze Lnkwood 20 year (1995/2015) Cask #20877 46%.  For our evening of “Not your ordinary blend!“, we were treated to a limited edition “Nectar Grove”. What I particularly appreciate about the contributor is how he carefully researches what he brings, and also opens it just before so he gets an ini ..read more

Is it really possible to get a 30-year-old whisky for under Eur 60? Impossible, right? Well, not at all if you are shopping in Lidl and don’t mind trying a Scottish blend – where it even occasionally goes on sale! (PS other places sell for ~300 Eur?!) The theme of the evening was “Not your ordinary blend!“, and our Glen Alba contributor shared that we should begin with the oldest offering. The reasoning was both the style and that it was the only traditional “blend” of the evening – meaning a combination of grain and single malt. Given the price, it is assumed there must be a fair amount of gr ..read more

We were toying around with ideas for whisky themes for our wee Nurnberg International Whisky Explorers group, and proposed exploring inventive and interesting blends. The goal was to avoid all mass-produced well-known names. Instead, we challenged ourselves to research and bring something a bit different for each other to discover! So what made its way into our theme of “Not Your Ordinary Blend“? Glenalba 30 year Blended Scotch Whisky 41.4% – Though Scottish, it is bottled for Lidl supermarket in Germany and can be found on sale for a mere Eur 59! A true “preis leistungsverhaeltnis” dra ..read more