CHENNAI: There are 85 flavours of Chivas Regal 18 year old that I’m sipping on, and I proudly announce that I’ve identified five of them. How Sandeep Arora is able to differentiate oak from cherries or chocolate from spice in the same glass is beyond me, but that’s why he holds the distinction of calling himself India’s whisky ambassador for the last 12 years.
We are at a celebration of sorts at Hilton’s Vintage Bank — French beverage giant Pernod Ricard and Arora’s Delhi-based spirits management company, Spiritual Luxury Living, have identified 18 of the finest whisky bars in the country will confer on them a ‘seal of gold.’ So over 18 weeks, Arora will travel to 18 bars where 18 different menus will be paired with the blended 18 YO. He tells us that Chipstead at Taj Coromandel and Library Blu at The Leela Palace are up next. But these are not sit-down whisky-paired dinners.
“This is easy drinking,” says Arora, as we place orders at the grill counter where smokey bratwurst are sizzling on a griddle. Bite-sized starters like Scottish smoked salmon roulade, roasted eggplant and goat cheese empanadas are doing the rounds too. Each dish has at least one or two flavours in common with the 85 that the whisky possesses, and they’ve been chosen by the executive chef after consulting Arora.
We settle down, glasses in hand, to talk whisky, and the first question that comes to mind is ‘water or soda?’ “Nothing stops you from drinking it with anything you want,” Arora says, and adds that most Indians prefer their whisky with water and ice. “Water opens up the whisky, and adds flavour and texture.”
If you think ice only waters your drink down, think again. “The beverage is best had at 16-18 C,” he shares.“But the glass must be thick enough to hold that temperature and taper at the top to capture the nose. These are just guidelines, and not rules.”
Arora enjoys the smokey palate and prefers whiskies like the Glenlivet 15 YO. But some drinkers buy their whisky going by its colour. “Colour is not an indication of the strength of a whisky. Close to 60 per cent of the colour of a whisky comes from the cask. And I personally like the copper colour that is a result of finishing the whisky in a sherry cask,” he says.
While new whisky drinkers prefer sweeter, floral whiskys like Glenfiddich and Ballantines, many prefer experimenting with Japanese whiskys today. “The Scots should be worried of the rate at which the world has started consuming Japanese whisky (sip on Yamazaki Single Malt and you’ll see what we mean),” he adds and attributes this increase in demand to intrigue. “People wanted to know what these whiskys tasted like and they started experimenting. The trials led to demand, the demand to shortage and the shortage to more intrigue.”
But the man who has organised over 800 whisky events across the country, says that 2016 will see a switch in drinking habits. “Sipping rum is going to become big in India because we love bold flavours. Matured and aged rums like Appleton for instance,” he says, as we empty our glasses and decide to call it a night. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll be back to taste a glass of Caribbean Angostura.